SWAT team blows up innocent woman's house, city tries to stop her from suing for damages
When a McKinney, Texas SWAT team caused $50,000 of damage to Vicki Baker's home, making it unlivable, the owner sued the city after it refused to compensate her for the repair costs. The city tried to stop the lawsuit, but a federal court ruled that Baker can proceed with the lawsuit.
From Reason:
In July 2020, Wesley Little—who Vicki Baker had terminated as her handyman about a year and a half prior—arrived at Baker's home in McKinney, Texas. Baker's daughter answered. Recognizing him from news reports that he was wanted for the abduction of a 15-year-old girl, she left the premises and called the police.
SWAT agents soon arrived. They set off explosives to open the garage entryway, detonated tear gas grenades inside the building, ran over Baker's fence with an armored vehicle, and ripped off her front door, despite being given a garage door opener, a code to the back gate, and a key to the home. The house was unlivable when they were through.
She sued. So the city asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit.
This is far from the first time that sloppy SWAT teams have destroyed innocent people's homes with no consequences.
Again, from Reason:
It's not unheard of for SWAT teams to destroy innocent peoples' homes in pursuit of fugitives unrelated to them or because the police didn't verify they had the correct address. The Supreme Court rejected a case brought by a Colorado family who tried to sue after SWAT agents mutilated their $580,000 home while pursuing a shoplifting suspect. And a group of more than two dozen police officers received qualified immunity after throwing explosives into the wrong man's home during a drug raid—meaning the 78-year-old victim, Onree Norris, could not sue them.
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Mark Frauenfelder, Khareem Sudlow
