77-year-old Ruby Johnson was traumatized after a Denver Police SWAT team stormed her home in January
DENVER — ACLU of Colorado lawyers filed suit today on behalf of Ruby Johnson — a 77-year-old grandmother whose Montbello home was subjected to a terrifying hours-long search last January by a Denver Police Department (DPD) SWAT team dressed out in body armor and carrying automatic weapons.
警察空手而归. 他们没有发现任何证据能将希拉里. Johnson or her home to any criminal activity whatsoever, 但他们把她的家弄坏了, 混乱，并导致了Ms. Johnson physical and emotional harm that persists to this day.
The lawsuit accuses DPD Detective Gary 无助 of unjustifiably violating the privacy and security of Ms. 约翰逊的家被匆匆寻觅, 获得, and executing a search warrant without proper investigation, 足够的事实, 以及法律依据, in violation of the Colorado Constitution.
“Detective 无助 had no grounds to seek a search warrant,马克·西尔弗斯坦说, 科罗拉多州ACLU法律总监. “他的主管应该否决它. The district attorney should not have green-lighted it, the judge should have rejected it and the SWAT team should have stayed home.”
The Complaint states that on January 4, 2022, Detective 无助 was assigned to investigate a January 3 theft of a truck whose owner, 杰里米•麦克丹尼尔, 说里面有两架无人机, 六个武器, 4000美元现金, 还有一部旧的iPhone 11. 无助 rested his brief investigation when McDaniel said he had used Apple’s “Find My” technology and tracked his stolen phone to an address in Montbello — Ms. 约翰逊的家.
无助 did no independent police work to corroborate the tip or further investigate the supposed connection between the crime and Ms. 约翰逊的地址. Instead, he applied for a search warrant.
The Colorado Constitution requires that search warrants be based on probable cause supported by a written affidavit. The affidavit provides the facts; the judge must then determine whether those facts justify authorizing police to invade the privacy of the home.
The complaint charges that 无助 submitted a ‘bare bones’ affidavit that blatantly misrepresented the facts and misled the reviewing judge; 无助 claimed the Apple technology demonstrated that the stolen iPhone — and presumably the stolen guns and drones — were inside Ms. 约翰逊的房子. 正相反, the app indicated that the phone’s location could not accurately be identified and there was zero basis to single out Ms. 约翰逊的家.
On the authority of the illegally issued warrant, Denver police arrived at 77-year-old Ms. 约翰逊的家, 她独自生活的地方, with an overwhelming and intimidating show of unnecessary force. 她又困惑又害怕. Johnson opened her front door to the sound of a bullhorn and the sight of swarming officers in militarized gear, an armored vehicle parked on her lawn and marked cars flanking her property. She was ordered to wait in a police car for hours while officers searched her home.
两个女士. Johnson and her home of 40 years carry wounds from that day that have not healed. Johnson no longer feels safe in her own home. She developed health issues due to the extreme stress and anxiety the unlawful search caused her.
“我们珍惜妈妈。. It’s painful to witness how this violation has affected her,” said Ms. 约翰逊的儿子格雷格·布伦森. “她还在疼. She still doesn’t understand why this happened to her. And after everything, she still hasn’t gotten as much as an apology from the police.”
Ms. Johnson's case is just one example of a larger problem of police 获得 warrants and invading people's homes based on false information, including — like in this case —when police misrepresent the significance and accuracy of technology.
In 1999, Ismael中东和北非地区 was shot and killed by SWAT officers in Denver after police obtained a warrant to search his home for illegal drugs, 他们从未找到. 最近，在2020年， Breonna泰勒 was shot and killed by officers during a botched raid in Louisville, Kentucky. 这两种情况, the warrants were issued based on poor investigative work that lacked the necessary information to obtain them.
The ACLU’s lawsuit relies on a 2020 Colorado statute that allows individuals to hold law enforcement officers accountable for violating rights secured under the Colorado Constitution.
除了Silverstein女士，她还曾在纽约工作. Johnson’s legal team includes ACLU of Colorado 工作人员 Attorney Annie Kurtz, Senior 工作人员 Attorney Sara Neel and ACLU of Colorado Cooperating Attorneys Ann Roan, 保罗Karlsgodt, 科尔比埃弗雷特, 和Jon Maddalone.
请参阅 约翰逊v. 无助 在这里: http://vqcnl.basilinfracon.com/sites/default/files/wysiwyg/complaint_and_jury_demand_12-01-2022_redacted.pdf
