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Denver Cops' Botched Use of Find My iPhone App Behind SWAT Raid on Grandmother
Westword ^ | December 2, 2022 | MICHAEL ROBERTS

Posted on 12/03/2022 10:33:32 AM PST by Fido969

The SWAT team used a battering ram on Johnson's garage door, and in the fruitless search that followed, "a prized doll from our client's collection had its head broken off — and the things in her home were left in disarray," Silverstein recounts.

And although almost a year has passed since the raid, Johnson still "feels unsafe in her home," he adds. "She's afraid to answer the phone, and for several months, she stayed with her daughter, and then she stayed with her son, rather than the home she's owned and lived in for forty years."

(Excerpt) Read more at westword.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: swat; wronghouse
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Oops.
1 posted on 12/03/2022 10:33:32 AM PST by Fido969
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To: All
The SWAT team used a battering ram on Johnson's garage door, and in the fruitless search that followed,

Pretty sure I could have opened that door without a battering ram and with minimal damage (if any).

2 posted on 12/03/2022 10:36:42 AM PST by BipolarBob (The party never stops until someone calls the cops.)
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To: Fido969

There’s going to be a BIG payout. Do the SWAT (high speed, low drag, special operators) teams always have to trash the place or are they just trying to emulate the FBI?


3 posted on 12/03/2022 10:38:43 AM PST by dljordan
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To: dljordan

She must not have had a dog. There’s no mention of it getting shot.


4 posted on 12/03/2022 10:40:39 AM PST by glorgau
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To: BipolarBob

Check out the Civil Rights Lawyer. He covers this stuff in West Virginia:

https://www.youtube.com/@thecivilrightslawyer


5 posted on 12/03/2022 10:41:23 AM PST by GeorgianaCavendish (Beam me up Scotty. There's no sign of intelligent life down here.)
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To: Fido969

Time after time of stories of untrained cops.


6 posted on 12/03/2022 10:41:32 AM PST by SkyDancer (I Walk In The Rain So Nobody Can See My Tears)
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To: BipolarBob
Actually, there is video of the raid, and the cops with the battering ram had a tough time getting that door open.

The attorney had a great commentary:

In Silverstein's view, such lessons are necessary. "What we're saying is that the detective didn't have enough facts to justify a raid on our client's house," he notes. "He didn't do a proper investigation. He should never have asked for a search warrant, his supervisor should never have signed off on it, the DA shouldn't have greenlighted it, the judge shouldn't have issued it, and the SWAT team should have stayed home."

7 posted on 12/03/2022 10:41:34 AM PST by Fido969 (45 is Superman! )
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To: glorgau

I think they went next door afterwards and kicked a puppy.


8 posted on 12/03/2022 10:42:27 AM PST by EEGator
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To: Fido969
"The police were investigating the theft of a truck that had occurred the day before, and the owner of the truck reported that there were six weapons in the truck that was stolen. He also had an old iPhone 11 in the truck, and he reported to the detective that he had used the Find My app to track the location of the truck after it was stolen — and he said that it pinged to our client's house."

Unfortunately, Silverstein continues, Staab "didn't do any corroboration. He didn't investigate further. He just wrote up a search warrant based on the truck owner's use of the Find My app. The affidavit even included a screenshot that was evidently from the truck owner's operation of the app, and the detective wrote that it showed the iPhone inside the house. But this statement was wrong. It was false — a misrepresentation of what the app was showing."

Just another in a long, long list of examples of lazy and incompetent police work. In fact, there was no police work here at all. Just the amped-up SWAT team ultimately leaping into action on a whim. Then they say, oh, gee, my bad.

9 posted on 12/03/2022 10:45:43 AM PST by FoxInSocks ("Hope is not a course of action." — M. O'Neal, USMC)
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To: Fido969

Did they at least try turning the knob first?


10 posted on 12/03/2022 10:46:43 AM PST by FoxInSocks ("Hope is not a course of action." — M. O'Neal, USMC)
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To: Fido969

Most cops/swat guys are just jumped up wanna be rambo’s. A lot of them like the authority and being able to boss/push people around...”because I said so” type attitude.

I don’t really have much use for cops...know way too many who are nothing control freaks and thugs. And has we all witnessed in Alvarado many are just plain cowards when push comes to shove. But they are real brave when ordering around little old ladies and others. Take their guns away and they are all just talk and pansy’s.


11 posted on 12/03/2022 10:50:01 AM PST by oldguy1776
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To: Fido969

Hey, at least they all got home safely.


12 posted on 12/03/2022 10:51:08 AM PST by HartleyMBaldwin
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To: FoxInSocks

Unlikely.

“Dave” didn’t do his last cycle of D-Bol to open doors with the doorknob...


13 posted on 12/03/2022 10:53:28 AM PST by EEGator
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To: Fido969; All

The SWAT team used a battering ram on Johnson’s garage door, and in the fruitless search that followed, “a prized doll from our client’s collection had its head broken off — and the things in her home were left in disarray,” Silverstein recounts. And although almost a year has passed since the raid, Johnson still “feels unsafe in her home,” he adds. “She’s afraid to answer the phone, and for several months, she stayed with her daughter, and then she stayed with her son, rather than the home she’s owned and lived in for forty years.”


14 posted on 12/03/2022 10:59:50 AM PST by robowombat
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To: dljordan

There’s going to be a BIG payout. Do the SWAT (high speed, low drag, special operators) teams always have to trash the place or are they just trying to emulate the FBI?

I remember several years back the cops in this rather large metro where I reside did a full blown swat raid with a battering ram on the house *next door* to the house they were supposed to swat. The result was they caused a fatal heart attack to a retired pastor living in the home. Multi-million dollar settlement (which is fair) paid by the taxpayers (which is not).


15 posted on 12/03/2022 11:13:05 AM PST by Flick Lives (Cui bono)
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To: BipolarBob
What fun is there in having a battering ram if you don’t get to use it?
It’s kinda like having a tracked armored car. You’ve got to find reasons to roll it out.


16 posted on 12/03/2022 11:19:41 AM PST by Leaning Right (The steal is real.)
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To: Fido969

Democrat police…


17 posted on 12/03/2022 11:24:15 AM PST by Skywise
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To: BipolarBob

“I could have opened that door without a battering ram”

But where’s the fun in that? If the cops are not allowed to use all their paramilitary toys to terrorize the citizenry, then what good are they?


18 posted on 12/03/2022 11:35:01 AM PST by Boogieman
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To: Fido969

‘Once Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas was made aware of concerns expressed by Ms. Johnson’s family regarding the warrant, the Department reached out to the family.”’

Unless they reached out with a big bag full of cash, and confirmation that the detective writing the warrant was fired and the judge who signed off on it is impeached, that don’t mean squat.


19 posted on 12/03/2022 11:39:21 AM PST by Boogieman
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To: Leaning Right

𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘳. 𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘷𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵.

San Franciscans are going to learn a one hell of a lesson in tyranny when the SFPD eventually starts finding more “extreme” circumstances which the use lethal force via drone/robot.


20 posted on 12/03/2022 12:03:19 PM PST by Antihero101607
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