'Scared to death' settled for 1.6M

NY Daily News ^ | October 29, 2003 | HELEN PETERSON and LEO STANDORA

[yonif]

The city has agreed to pay $1.6 million to the family of a woman who was scared to death after cops mistakenly burst into her Harlem apartment and exploded a flash grenade in a bungled raid, it was announced yesterday. The deal settles a $500 million lawsuit filed in May by 57-year-old Alberta Spruill's two sisters and a niece.

"While compensation cannot bring Ms. Spruill back, it nevertheless reflects the city's sorrow over her unintended and tragic death," said Corporation Counsel Michael Cardozo.

Neither family members nor their attorney, former O.J. Simpson Dream Team lawyer Johnnie Cochran, could be reached for comment.

Spruill, a city worker, suffered a fatal heart attack after heavily armed cops stormed her home at 310 W. 143rd St. on May 16 looking for drugs. They were acting on a bad tip from an informant.

Cops found her, dressed for work, on the floor of her bedroom. It was unclear whether she hit the floor herself or if the grenade knocked her down. Minutes later, she went into cardiac arrest. She died shortly after arriving at Harlem Hospital.

An Internal Affairs Bureau investigation revealed the informant had a vendetta against a local drug dealer and that police did no surveillance at Spruill's apartment to verify the tip.

Based on that tip, a Manhattan Criminal Court judge issued a "no-knock" warrant May 6 that was good for 10 days.

In filing the lawsuit, Cochran had said money was secondary to changing police procedure.

Cardozo noted the NYPD "voluntarily made changes to warrant procedures in the immediate aftermath of the incident."

Hours after the botched raid, Commissioner Raymond Kelly suspended the use of flash grenades and placed an Emergency Service Unit commander on modified duty.

The NYPD later announced the creation of a search warrant database to assure accuracy and began enhanced training on the use of confidential informants.

[Dr Warmoose]

This kind of story just feeds the junkies in the Libertarian Party.

Stupid judge and trigger happy drug thugs. If we only had a US constitution, this kind of thing wouldn't take place.

[oats]

Heck fire, I'd have settled for half that !!

[Billthedrill]

An Internal Affairs Bureau investigation revealed the informant had a vendetta against a local drug dealer and that police did no surveillance at Spruill's apartment to verify the tip.

Translation - this woman had a local drug dealer drop a dime on her for revenge and the local JBTs obliged by killing her.

[jmc813]

WOD Ping

[jmc813]

Stupid judge and trigger happy drug thugs.

Who are the "trigger happy gun thugs" in this story?

[spodefly]

Heck fire, I'd have settled for half that !!

So the cops bust into your mom's house, flashbang her into a heart attack, and you'd be cool to only get $800G out of it?

Some people would spend the rest of my life making sure that everyone of the cops / judges involved in that clusterf__k had to look over their shoulder.

Diversity!

[hattend]

After Cochran is done billing, they will get 1/10 of the settlement.

Cochran should have asked for 15 million if he was going to settle.

[jmc813]

Who are the "trigger happy gun thugs" in this story?

Rather, Trigger Happy drug thugs.

[robertpaulsen]

See, Cochran was right. It's not about the money.

That's because his client will get none after he's done.

[Dr Warmoose]

Who are the "trigger happy gun thugs" in this story?

Those whose zeal for performing no-recon no-knocks rather than a zeal for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is quite possible to enforce this nation's drug laws without getting a hard-on everytime a chance to kick down doors, bust out windows, throw bombs at unsuspecting people, waving automatic weapons around, and chaining people up.

When the word of a low-life is taken as the gospel truth, or reason enough to perform home invasions without every once checking the validity of the informant's "tip", then it becomes a bit more appealing to live in Iraq than here - at least our military shows more professionalism and respect for the Iraqis then US police and courts show for their employers.

[jmc813]

Thoughts?

[rogue yam]

An Internal Affairs Bureau investigation revealed the informant had a vendetta against a local drug dealer and that police did no surveillance at Spruill's apartment to verify the tip.

This is illogical. The article offers this as an explanation for why the police were at this woman's apartment. But this statement explains no such thing. What is the relationship between the "local drug dealer" and this woman? Why would a police informant who had a vendetta send the cops to this particular apartment as opposed to any other apartment in NYC? It's the central issue of the entire story and it makes no sense!

[ellery]

More detail:

"It came a mere five and a half months after Ms. Spruill, a longtime city employee, died of a heart attack induced by the use of the grenade in a no-knock raid on her apartment, which the police had been told was used by a drug dealer. At the time, the drug dealer was already in custody."

-snip- "The Police Department quickly issued a report detailing the communication failures and a failure to follow its own procedures." (my comment: how will new procedures prevent this in the future if the police weren't following the old ones?)

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/29/nyregion/29GREN.html?ex=1068094800&en=a890c468f3b34976&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE

[Guillermo]

I wonder why they were using grenades.

[ellery]

Here's a similar case. Note that if the city is found at fault here, it may raise taxes to pay the bill. Another case where WOD abuses hurt law-abiding citizens, not just drug offenders.

"No-Knock" Police Case Draws National Interest
10/1/2003

Major interest surrounds the outcome of a civil-rights lawsuit underway in a federal court in Allentown, Pa., which deals with the issue of "no-knock" police searches for drugs, the Associated Press reported Sept. 25.

The case stems from an April 1997 no-knock raid in which Bethlehem police stormed the house of John Hirko Jr., a 21-year-old drug suspect. The "flash-bang" device used in the raid started a fire that prevented police from rescuing Hirko after they had shot him.

"Everything we did was proper and within the bounds of constitutional law at that time," said Bethlehem Solicitor Joseph Leeson Jr.

Five days after the incident, the U.S. Supreme Court limited the instances when law enforcement can conduct "no-knock" police searches.

The victim's family filed a civil-rights lawsuit against the city of Bethlehem for wrongful death and negligence. They rejected a $500,000 settlement offer from the city.

If the city loses the case and a substantial judgment is awarded, it could force Bethlehem officials to raise taxes or take out a loan. The city, with a population of 78,000, has an annual budget of $34 million.

"I think everybody's concerned," said Mayor James Delgrosso.

http://www.jointogether.org/sa/news/summaries/reader/0,1854,567034,00.html

[Moonman62]

Based on that tip, a Manhattan Criminal Court judge issued a "no-knock" warrant May 6 that was good for 10 days.

I could be wrong about this due to local or state laws, but I thought all warrants were "no knock." It's up to the judgement of the police, which in this case was terrible.

[MrLeRoy]

police did no surveillance at Spruill's apartment to verify the tip.

Based on that tip, a Manhattan Criminal Court judge issued a "no-knock" warrant May 6 that was good for 10 days.

That judge and those cops should be required to contribute a year's salary to the settlement.

[ellery]

Nope -- from this article: http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/news/stories/20031021/localnews/492463.html

"The Supreme Court has said that in most cases officers are required to knock and announce themselves, under the Constitution's Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches. There are exceptions, for example if police have reason to believe a suspect would be dangerous or destroy evidence. Officers usually must get a special warrant from a judge for a no-knock raid, but can make on-the-scene judgments."

A former officer in an LA corruption trial testified that police violated "knock and announce" most of the time.

[ellery]

The taxpayers will foot the bill -- including any taxpaying relatives of the dead woman. It's sick.