[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Another botched Police raid. (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 4/13/2008 12:53:59 PM EDT
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Couldn't belive my ears last week. Our police are goining down the drain. Their Son Already Jailed, Couple Faces Police Raid on Home by David Crowder The El Paso Police Department has opened an internal investigation into allegations aired at Tuesday’s El Paso City Council meeting by Paula and Ricky Bell that police barged into their house in 2006 looking for their son, who had been in police custody for three days, police spokesman Javier Sambrano said. Posted on April 11, 2008 Paula and Ricky Bell Paula and Ricky Bell During the public comment period that opens City Council meetings Tuesday, Paula Bell, a tall, imposing woman in her 40s, said she was naked behind the door at a little past 5 p.m. on Aug. 22, 2006 when four or five well-armed El Paso police officers pushed their way into the family’s Northeast El Paso home looking for her 19-year-old son who was wanted on an aggravated robbery charge. At the same time, said her husband, an Army sergeant, officers had him on the ground in the back yard. Just back from Iraq, he said, he was nursing a combat injury and the resulting back surgery, and was still in uniform. What the officers didn’t know and had not bothered to check was that Paula and Ricky Bell had turned their son over police on Aug. 19, three days earlier, and he was behind bars in the county detention center when the police came looking for him in the Bells’ house at 4621 Loma del Rey Circle. Neither of the Bells was injured and the police left the residence after confirming that the son, Ricky Paul Bennett Bell, was already in custody. But Paula Bell said she was so traumatized by the events that she left El Paso a month later, leaving her husband behind. He retired in December 2007 and the couple now lives in Austin. They have hired El Paso attorneys Angelina Lugo and Sam Snoddy, who said they will a civil rights lawsuit against the Police Department and the city, probably in May. Shaking and talking through her tears, Paula Bell told her story to City Council and an audience of more than 100 people in the allotted five minutes for public comment and was followed by her husband, who gave his account. “I heard banging on the door and thought it was my husband who had locked himself outside,” Paula Bell began. “I looked in the peep hole, and I saw El Paso police department officers yelling, ‘Open this damn door now!’ “They never said anything about a warrant. I told them to please wait; I did not have any clothes on. I then saw that they were ready to hit down the door with a battering ram, so I opened the door a little so they could see that I was undressed. “An officer immediately barged into my house carrying a shot gun and all officers ran in, too, behind. They never showed me any paperwork. I was undressed. I wasn’t even allowed to put on my robe. I could only cover my private parts.” She said the officers repeatedly yelled at her, “Where is Ricky?” and told her the house had been under surveillance for four days. She said she told the officers several times that her son was in jail. “Sgt. (Victor) Bulos continued yelling at me and calling me a liar. I kept telling him, ‘Please call your jail. We took our son there ourselves.’ “He kept yelling at me to shut up. After about 10 minutes, one officer eventually said he confirmed that our son had been in jail for four days and had turned himself in. I looked over at the front door and saw neighbors and kids looking into my house while I stood there naked. I felt humiliated and degraded. “I took a step towards the restroom and realized that I had urinated on myself. Another officer then brought me a small towel but it was too small to cover myself. Sgt. Bulos then told me you can change and put clothes on now. As I proceeded to go to the bathroom, four El Paso police officers stood there and watched me walk in my own house to put clothes on.” Though the event lasted only about 15 minutes, she said it has had a lasting effect on her. “As a result of this horrible day, I am now on depression pills, and I can’t sleep,” she said. “Until now, only now, am I able to stand up and tell others about what happened to me. “I have been hurt by this situation. Before this happened, I volunteered in El Paso churches, I helped feed the homeless. I never deserved this. I did not do anything to create this issue. I pleaded numerous times to explain what was going on and all I was told was ‘Shut up.’ “I have never even as much as got a driver’s ticket. I do not understand how and why this is allowed to go on. As I landed today, I wanted to turn and get back on the plane and go back, but it’s time for me now to say, it’s not right, it’s not right.” Ricky Bell, whose 24-year Army career ended at Fort Bliss, concluded his statement to the council saying Aug. 22, 2006 “was just a very dog day for the community of El Paso and a bad reflection on my life, my service in the United States Army serving this country, and nobody, no soldier, no person that follows orders and does the right thing for their country, and their community deserves this -- then, now and never. Thank you.” Based on the Bells’ accounts, 2006, Sambrano said, the Police Department’s Internal Affairs Division and the chief’s office have opened an investigation. What is known, he said, is that officers from the department’s tactical squad arrived in four cars with an arrest warrant for Ricky Paul Bennett Bell for allegedly taking part in the July 29, 2006 robbery at knife-point of Mr. Goldteeth at 4501 Hercules. A grand jury indicted the younger Bell for aggravated robbery on Sept. 6, 2006 and he was released on bond a week later. Now 21, he was given deferred adjudication and is now on probation in El Paso because he had no prior offenses and because of the peripheral role he played in the robbery, Lugo, the Bells’ lawyer, said. “When he turned himself in, it was just as Mr. and Mrs. Bell said, on the 19th … at the Central Station,” Sambrano said. “What’s happening now is we’re trying to see what occurred. We’re pulling up the communications that took place on that particular call. We’re also going to be talking to the officers that were there, trying to see exactly what occurred. “The only thing that seemed strange was they waited two years before making a complaint, because there wasn’t a complaint filed. It’s very important for the community to keep in mind that if there’s a question about contact with an officer, that information needs to come to our attention right away.” Sambrano said the investigation is focusing on two issues: what occurred when the officers entered the Bell home and why they failed to check on whether the younger Bell was in custody. “Definitely, all the information (the Bells) provided so far seems accurate)," Sambrano said. Asked about police procedures for entering a home in light of the Bells’ account, Sambrano said arresting a suspect charged with a crime involving a deadly weapon is risky business and officers act accordingly. “Anytime you execute a warrant involving a violent crime and a weapon, the officers executing it are going to be taking a lot of precautions,” he said. “They are going to be putting people down on the ground. They are going to be handcuffing individuals and, of course, ensuring that there’s not any person out there that can hurt anybody else. They’re going to have to ensure that everything’s is safe and controlled. “It’s definitely going to be a situation where the officers are have got to be more forceful than they would for the execution of other types of warrants. We do strive to be professional, but there’s definitely situations or cases where certain ways of speaking may not work as well when addressing a violent felon.” Asked why officers might have found it necessary to confront Paula Bell aggressively when she was unarmed and undressed, Sambrano said, “That’s what we’re looking into right now.” Snoddy said there were several reasons why the Bells did not come forward with their complaints before now and why they went to City Council first. “Here’s the problem, a lot of these things that occur, people never file a complaint because they’re intimidated by the police. They go unreported,” he said. “Mrs. Bell has not been able to muster up enough strength to come back and face these people until now.” Snoddy, who has brought a number of lawsuits against the police department, said he wanted Paula Bell to go before City Council partly as a test of her own courage in preparation for the legal action to come. “And, I wanted City Council to see how the police have treated live human beings,” he said. “Once the gauntlet has been thrown down and the suit is filed, the city attorney’s office will be filtering everything that goes to the council.” West Central Rep. Susie Byrd said Paula Bell’s account got her attention. “That was awful. That was really awful,” Byrd said. “From Mrs. Bell’s story about what happened to her, by anybody’s account, is really horrifying. “The only thing that gave me any pause was the Sam Snoddy element and why they didn’t file a complaint about it immediately. “That’s unacceptable conduct by police officers. … If it actually happened as she described, then some very strong action should have been taken, something should have happened to those officers to make sure it didn’t happen again.” David Crowder can be reached at [email protected] and (915) 351-0605 http://newspapertree.com/news/2313-their-son-already-jailed-couple-faces-police-raid-on-home |
The warrant was for armed robbery, so I'm not going to argue why they chose the tactics they used. But that still leaves no excuse for not knowing you already have the target in custody. And nice officers that ask where he is then tell you to shut up when you tell them the truth. |
, Ah, yea here's some Bennigans gift certificates.
Thats what I always thought but they watched the house for some 4 days and didn't bother to check if the warrant was active. |
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Bad case of one hand not knowing what the other one is doing. Communication is your friend. Methinks that a policy change of checking with booking before kicking in doors would be cheap and effective. If they were really watching the house for 4 days then I'd LOVE to see proof he was actually there before the raid. |
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nothing new here link City to Pay $1.6 Million in Fatal, Mistaken Raid By SHAILA K. DEWAN Published: October 29, 2003 City lawyers have agreed to pay $1.6 million to the family of Alberta Spruill, a 57-year-old Harlem woman who died after the police threw a stun grenade into her apartment during a mistaken raid, officials said late yesterday. The settlement was notable not so much for the amount as for the speed with which it was reached. 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. Derek S. Sells, a lawyer for the Spruill family, declined to comment on the settlement. City officials suggested that the speed of the settlement showed Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's determination to lower legal costs and speed up the resolution of cases. Settlements in wrongful death cases usually do not come until after preliminary proceedings, like the taking of depositions, a process that takes about two years, said Sanford Rubenstein, a lawyer who has represented plaintiffs in several such cases. ''I think it's a signal perhaps that the city is doing the right thing where it's appropriate,'' he said. In the Spruill case, the city was unusually frank about its culpability. ''Clearly, the police made a mistake,'' Mayor Bloomberg said 10 days after the shooting in May. The Police Department quickly issued a report detailing the communication failures and a failure to follow its own procedures. The settlement was only monetary, said Kate O'Brien Ahlers, a spokesman for the city's corporation counsel, in a written statement. ''Changes to warrant procedure were voluntarily made by the N.Y.P.D. in the incident's immediate aftermath,'' she said. After Ms. Spruill's death, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly ordered that any use of a stun grenade, designed to disorient but not cause injury, be approved by the department's highest uniform official. The department has also created a database for tracking search warrants from request to execution. |
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My Uncle Kevin was a career NYC Police Detective. I remember admiring him as a kid and wanting to be a cop like him. Fast forward 30 years. From personal experience, I don't trust cops. I view them with suspicion and distrust. Does anyone who is a cop wonder why when we read about stuff like this every day? |
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Hey, new reality TV show. Interviews, videos and court transcripts where the police screw the pooch for all of our entertainment. Think it would fly???? Me neither, can't have this stuff aired all over the country where all the american idol cultist might see it. Translation; If for some totally incomprehensible reason all these "rare occurrences" were to known by the general population there would be some serious consequences. But since most people are too damn stupid and this sort of event gets downplayed there will be nothing done and business will continue as usual. |
Damn. Don't we all feel better? Citizen dies as a result of LEO incompetence. $1.6 million pay off from taxpayers... LE issues report while paid by taxpayers... LE creates database (at the expense of the taxpayers I'm sure)... Everybody moves on... Now that is what I call justice.  CPO SWCC US Navy (Retired) |
Cops get lied to a lot in their line of work. I guess after a while they treat anyone who gives them information contradictory to what they believe is the truth as a pathological liar. |
True. But you would think they could check and see if they already had somebody in custody before they go serve a warrant and kick in people's doors waving loaded guns around. It should be simple enough... enter the name in the computer system and see what it says? Should have taken all of 30 seconds. But I guess that ranks right up there with "... let's make sure we have the right address..." |
Then you would agree that these "officers" should be prosecuted for their obvious criminal behavior wouldn't you? |
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Yes, lets believe those people 100% and condem the Police right off the bat. Never mind the fact that if you really read the article there are all kinds of questions that need to be answered. Oh, but as one poster stated, his dad was in the Army so this kid couldn't have been a threat and he was only 19. WTF?????????? So everyone in the Army is patron saints and never do anything wrong? And young adults are always non-violent? And why is it that in all of these stories the woman is always naked and she pees herself. I'm seeing a pattern here. Could it be because they have a lawyer who has made his career going after the Police and maybe coached them on what to say? I mean they have had two years to get the story. And I am sure that they love the Police who made the case against their son and had him put in jail. Because as we all know, "My son would never do that, he is always such a good, polite boy."  Now, to be honest I don't know what really happened that night. But I just get really annoyed when people just jump and believe everything someone says against the Police. Yes I am an LEO (the enemy here) and people always say they are going to sue us for God knows what. And I hate to shock all of you here but sometimes people LIE! I had an incident one time that if it wasn't for a small pocket digital recorder and my in car camera I might have been in serious trouble. Long story short, a woman accused me of something but got a nice suprise when I presented the evidence with her present in my chief's office. If I didn't have that evidence I could have been in big trouble, mainly because of people like on this board would have been on the citizen review board and condemed me right off of the bat. I have noticed one thing though, from many people on here. There is a lot of hypocracy. If there is a negative story on guns than the media is wrong (and I agree on this). If some members of our military are accused of wrong doing in Iraq than you say lets support the troops and it is probably the anti-war media (again, I agree with you on this). BUT! If a story like this appears about the Police, then damn the Police. They are storm troopers who want to take away our guns and shoot our dogs and make our naked wives pee while we rape and pillage. So the media is all of a sudden right about the Police but not anything else. Oh and BTW my agency always confirms the warrant with the jail before we make an arrest. Every other agency that I know of also does the same. |
I tend to be more suspicious of LEOs because have a greater advantage to lie and get away with it. Sorry, but being a Super Citizen comes with extra accountability. |
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I would guess that the two year wait was for two reasons. First, to make sure thier son wasn't used like some pawn by the system. They wanted to get his issues cleared up and him out of the grasp of the law. Second, you can't sue for damages until you can show they have happened. It may take a couple of years to figure out what impact there has been, if any - and if there was, to determine the extent [value] of the damages. If they had sued immediately, the son's legal outcome may have been different and the settlement would likely have been a lower $. You typically only get one opportunity to set the pricetag - better to wait for accuracy - to me it gives them more credibity. They didn't jump on this to get a free win, they've suffered damages and now would like some justice. Personally - I think all LEOs should be part of ARFCOM. |
This from the CHP. "These Officers are well liked in this department... remember that we all have to live in this town when it's over." God knows what the El Paso bulls are capable of but I'd suggest this couple get their kid out of town pronto. If they haven't already.
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