Oh, I don't think we can let Johnny Law bogart all the blame on this one; there's plenty to pass around.
Let's start from the top:
1) Contractors show up, find front door unlocked and someone walking around and talking upstairs. No mention is given of whether or not a vehicle is parked outside, but on my planet this is usually a pretty good indicator that the inhabitants of the dwelling are present. Anyhow, the Yale Debate Team decides that the best way to see if this is actually the homeowner or not is to yell up the stairs. When they don't get an answer, they evacuate and call the heat. Strike one.
2) Mr. Freed was upstairs walking around and talking. He didn't answer the contractors. We don't know why. He may have been addled. He may have been deaf as a post. He may have been dictating an important memo. He could have been on an important long-distance phone call. He may have been engaged in a potentially embarrassing wanking scenario. Whatever. He really, really, should have said "Hang on a minute, Mildred, these knobs downstairs keep yelling for me," and answered them. Strike two.
3) Finally, the guys with the guns show up and proceed to sweep & clear. One would hope that they loudly identified themselves as the heat, but I'm not sure what the approved tactics of the staties in PA are. Anyway, Mr. Freed, now apparently aware of men with guns moving through the house, panicked and hid in the shower, rather than saying, "Hey! I live here! Get out of my house!" or some other such thing to establish his identity. Thankfully his response to intruders was to cower in the shower, and not bunker down with a shotgun. Strike three, split evenly (pending further evidence) 'tween the cops and Freed.
4) Only now do we get to the troopers Keystone Kops trigger discipline.
