NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Police kicked down the wrong door at a New York apartment house on Friday and a woman with a heart condition died on the way to the hospital.
A bungled tip about a drug dealer's cache led police to kick down the door and toss a stun grenade into the apartment of a woman with a heart condition; she died of a heart attack within an hour, police said.
"This is a tragedy. This should not have happened. No doubt about that," said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.
Police were led to the apartment of city employee Alberta Spruill, 57, by a registered, but apparently untested, informant, officials said. The dealer they sought lived in the same building but had been arrested by a different police unit four days earlier, they explained.
Spruill had just dressed for work, where she certified eligibility for civil service candidates, when the raiding party executed its "No Knock" warrant at 6 a.m., broke down her door, tossed in the grenade and handcuffed the stunned woman to a chair.
Police soon realized the mistake, took off the handcuffs and called an ambulance to take her to a hospital for observation.
While on the way to Harlem Hospital she suffered a heart attack and was pronounced dead on arrival.
Kelly said the "flash bang" grenades are usually used to dislodge barricaded suspects. He said that police have executed more than 1,900 warrants this year and four of those were at the wrong addresses.
The lieutenant who ordered use of the grenade in the misguided raid was put on administrative leave, officials said.
A bungled tip about a drug dealer's cache led police to kick down the door and toss a stun grenade into the apartment of a woman with a heart condition; she died of a heart attack within an hour, police said.
"This is a tragedy. This should not have happened. No doubt about that," said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.
Police were led to the apartment of city employee Alberta Spruill, 57, by a registered, but apparently untested, informant, officials said. The dealer they sought lived in the same building but had been arrested by a different police unit four days earlier, they explained.
Spruill had just dressed for work, where she certified eligibility for civil service candidates, when the raiding party executed its "No Knock" warrant at 6 a.m., broke down her door, tossed in the grenade and handcuffed the stunned woman to a chair.
Police soon realized the mistake, took off the handcuffs and called an ambulance to take her to a hospital for observation.
While on the way to Harlem Hospital she suffered a heart attack and was pronounced dead on arrival.
Kelly said the "flash bang" grenades are usually used to dislodge barricaded suspects. He said that police have executed more than 1,900 warrants this year and four of those were at the wrong addresses.
The lieutenant who ordered use of the grenade in the misguided raid was put on administrative leave, officials said.
