Pubdate: Thu, 15 Feb 2001
Source: Waukesha Freeman (WI)
Copyright: 2001 The Waukesha Freeman
Address: 801 N. Barstow St., POB 7, Waukesha, WI 53187
Fax: (262) 542-8259
Author: Anne E. Schwartz

BUST GONE BAD SHERIFF'S DRUG COPS HIT WRONG HOUSE IN SEARCH WARRANT

[Photo Caption: Sue Wilson sits outside her friend's home with her dog,
Bogey, near the bush where Waukesha County sheriff's drug unit officers
surprised her at gunpoint while serving a search warrant that was intended
for a different house.]

MUSKEGO - It was all over but the search.

The guns had been drawn.

A suspect was taken down in the driveway at gunpoint.

She was shown the search warrant - for the house down the block.

"I get over to the bushes and there's a gun in my face and a guy with a
helmet and a shield in front of it," Sue Wilson, 49, of Muskego, said this
morning - a day after the Waukesha County Sheriff's Department's drug unit
hit the wrong house with a search warrant Wednesday night.

"They're screaming, 'Get on the ground,' and then I'm getting handcuffed
while I'm laying on the wet driveway. I'm saying 'What in the world could
this be about?'"

"I'm readily admitting we made a mistake," Sheriff Bill Kruziki said this
morning. Believing they knew where someone was dealing drugs in Muskego,
officers from the sheriff's department's Metro Drug Group got a search
warrant for a home on Ranch Drive. They rolled up to the house at about 6:30
p.m., piled out of their squads and guns drawn, surrounded the home.

A woman who had just come out the front door to walk her dog was taken down
at gunpoint by officers in the driveway. When she was shown the search
warrant, she told officers the name on the warrant was not hers, nor was the
address, Kruziki said. Officers had been in the house about two minutes, no
one was injured and nothing in the house was disturbed, he said.

"There's nothing I can do to make up for this," Kruziki said. "Given my
training and experience, I think we are dealing with a training issue. There
are going to be some changes made, I can tell you that.  "Kruziki ran the
drug unit as its captain for seven years, during which, he said, his men
never hit the wrong house.

"This is a detail-oriented job," Kruziki said, his voice rising along with
his anger over the mistake. "You can't forget anything, especially when
you're dealing with a search warrant.  "Kruziki said he met with the
homeowner Wednesday night after the incident, and also planned to talk with
him again tonight. He also said he would be looking at the incident with a
microscope.

"I'm going to look at every angle - at the investigation, the briefing and
the execution of the search warrant, step-by-step," Kruziki said. "I'm going
to make some changes and make sure this doesn't happen again.  "Wilson said
she would be calling Waukesha County District Attorney Paul Bucher and a
lawyer.
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