Pubdate: Mon, 07 May 2001
Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI)
Copyright: 2001 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Contact:  http://www.jsonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/265
Author: Tom Kertscher, Journal Sentinel staff

SUIT OVER SWAT TEAM ERROR THROWN OUT

A judge has thrown out a lawsuit filed by a woman who wanted $10,000 for 
damage and stress she said she suffered when a sheriff's SWAT team 
mistakenly broke down her door while serving a search warrant.

Attorneys had predicted that Jennifer Switalski's chances in court wouldn't 
be good. But the 27-year-old said Saturday that she plans to try to revive 
the case.

As part of a drug investigation, sheriff's deputies obtained a search 
warrant for a home in the 300 block of N. 31st St. in the Merrill Park 
neighborhood on Milwaukee's west side. They showed up at Switalski's duplex 
about 6:30 a.m. Feb. 2, 1998.

No one answered a knock at the door, so the SWAT team smashed it open, 
handcuffed Switalski's two tenants and threw them to the floor as a crying 
2-year-old girl watched. A few minutes later, the deputies realized that 
the house they had meant to search was three doors to the south.

Switalski, who lived in the upstairs unit but wasn't home at the time, 
filed a claim with the county seeking $10,000 for damage, lost rental 
income and "lost sleep and peace of mind." After the county rejected the 
claim, she sued last February in Milwaukee County Circuit Court.

The county, which had offered Switalski $1,100 for damage to the door but 
did not want to pay for other alleged damage, asked Circuit Judge Stanley 
Miller to throw the case out. He granted the county's request, ruling that 
the Sheriff's Department has immunity for its actions under the law.

Switalski's lawyer, Stephen Needham of Milwaukee, declined to comment.
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MAP posted-by: Beth