Pubdate: Fri, 13 Mar 2015
Source: Daily Citizen, The (Dalton, GA)
Copyright: 2015 Daily Citizen
Contact:  http://daltondailycitizen.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1929
Author: Chris Whitfield
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids)

WRONG HOUSE, WRONG DOOR, WRONG GUY

Wrong house, wrong door, wrong guy: Dalton police bust into wrong 
home while serving warrants

A case of confusion while serving warrants has the Dalton Police 
Department apologizing for a mistake and in the market for a new door.

Late Tuesday night, detectives from the department's drug unit were 
attempting to serve a search warrant two arrest warrants. When no one 
answered, law enforcement personnel busted through the door with a 
handheld ram. But they were at the wrong address.

Instead of knocking through the door of Eric Ashton at 1150 Whittle 
Drive in southwest Whitfield County near Connector 3, officers 
knocked through the door on Justin Faulknor's home at 1138 Whittle 
Drive. Inside, Faulknor and his wife Tiffany were watching television 
when they heard the announcement of the detectives and then the door 
was rammed a few times before being knocked in.

Officials said the officers announced their presence and then waited 
"several minutes" before crashing through the door, according to a 
press release by the Dalton Police Department. Justin Faulknor said 
he never heard an initial announcement and he and his wife were 
shocked when officers began banging in their front door.

"I was not ever frightened and knew what was happening," Faulknor 
said. "I don't know that I had a whole lot of time to react to it. 
When they got into the house, it was pretty clear pretty soon that 
they had the wrong place."

Dalton Police Chief Jason Parker said officials are reviewing the 
incident and were thankful that the mistake didn't result in anything 
worse than a broken entryway.

"In this case it was an honest mistake, and we are fortunate that no 
one was hurt," Parker said.

The drug unit was targeting Ashton after he had twice sold marijuana 
to undercover agents. According to the release, detectives drove past 
his residence early in the evening and observed his truck and several 
people inside. Officers made the decision to return around 11 p.m.

Parker said when the unit returned, the weather was foggy, and 
detectives made a mistake. Both the home owned by Faulknor and the 
address for Ashton are designed nearly identically with each building 
divided into a duplex. Officers were two houses east of where they 
intended to go.

"These are good officers and they do good work," Parker said. "It was 
a simple mistake, and the weather conditions may have played a part. 
We will review our officers' actions against our policies and 
procedures and try to determine what led to this mistake and 
safeguard this from happening again in the future."

Ashton was arrested Thursday morning and is charged with two counts 
of selling marijuana, possession of methamphetamine, possession of 
marijuana and possession of tools for commission of a crime. Even 
though Ashton's residence is outside of the Dalton city limits, 
members of the drug unit are also sworn as officers of the Whitfield 
County Sheriff's Office.

Faulknor said his wife was shaken up by the incident, but he has been 
pleased with how the police department has handled the mistake.

"They were very apologetic from the moment they realized something 
was off," Faulknor said. "They have done everything they could do to 
rectify the situation. It turned out fine in the end, and I am just 
happy they got the right guy off of the street."

The door was replaced on Wednesday by the police department with a 
temporary door until the police department can find a door that 
matches the one busted in during the raid.

Parker said the department will review all of its procedures 
regarding serving warrants and raids to avoid the same mistake again.

"There are three things - good policy, good training and good 
supervision," Parker said. "When we have an incident, we look at all 
of those parts. If there is a mistake, we say so and take appropriate 
action. Sometimes you adjust the policy and sometime you adjust the 
training so that going forward you do not have the same kinds of problems."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom