The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ran a brief news item illustrating one of the most dangerous aspects of the war on drugs — an end to holding agents of the state accountable for their actions.
In this case, a SWAT team was attempting to serve an arrest warrant at 6:30 a.m., and knocked on a home owned by 27-year-old Jennifer Switalski. Switalski wasn’t home at the time, but two tenants who rent half of the duplex from her were home along with their two-year-old daughter. When nobody answered the door, the SWAT team smashed the door down, threw the tenants to the floor and handcuffed them.
As happen so often with these supposedly highly trained paramilitary forces, it turned out they were at the wrong house. The warrant was for the house three doors down.
Switalski sued the Milwaukee police department for damage to the door as well as for lost rental income and lost “peace of mind.” Circuit Judge Stanley Miller threw her lawsuit out saying that since the SWAT team was acting on a lawful warrant, they were immune from such lawsuits.
So much for living in a nation of laws rather than capricious power.
Source:
Suit over SWAT team error thrown out. Tom Kertscher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, May 6, 2001.