Source: New York Times (NY) 
Author: David Kocieniewski
Contact:  
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/ 
Pubdate: Pubdate: Tue, 3 Mar 1998

AFTER RAID IN ERROR, POLICE PAY FOR DAMAGE

Acting on a tip from an informer, police narcotics officers last week
raided an apartment in the Bronx, sparking a wild shootout with the
frightened occupant who apparently thought that the officers were burglars.
But the address where the raid took place turned out to be wrong, and
Monday, chagrined police officials agreed to pay for the damage.
Investigators used a battering ram at 8 A.M. Friday to open the door of a
fourth-floor apartment at 930 Sheridan Avenue. Inside the apartment, Ellis
Elliott, 44, was roused from his bed by the commotion and, fearing that the
detectives behind the door were burglars, drew an unlicensed .25-caliber
revolver from his nightstand and fired a shot through the top of the door.
The detectives then leveled the door, and fired at least 24 rounds into the
apartment before arresting Elliott on charges of reckless endangerment,
illegal possession of a firearm and attempted murder of a police officer.
No one was injured during the exchange of shots.

After an exhaustive search of the apartment turned up no drugs, narcotics
officials realized that they had mistakenly raided the wrong fourth floor
apartment and that Elliott, who has no criminal record, was not the
suspected drug dealer they had sought.

In turn, the police dropped the charges, except for illegal possession of a
firearm, a count which in most cases does not result in jail time if the
weapon was not used while committing another crime.

According to a police narcotics report, the raiding officers received a tip
from their informant and conducted a pre-raid reconnaissance mission, but
they apparently misidentified the door behind which the drugs and guns were
reportedly stored. One senior narcotics investigator, who spoke on
condition of anonymity, said the supervisors saw the door before the raid,
but hurried his efforts because he did not want to tip off the suspects.
"You can only stand there so long without someone figuring out that there's
something going on," said the investigator.

"It's easy to criticize after the fact. But when you're scouting out a drug
location, or what you believe to be a drug location, you stand in front of
a door too long and someone with a gun is going to open it." The mistake,
which was first reported in Newsday on Monday, comes at an embarrassing
time for police officials, who were criticized last month when they issued
new guidelines for fixing doors broken by narcotics investigators who
raided the wrong locations.

According to the Civilian Complaint Review Board, the number of complaints
of illegal searches increased more than 100 percent between 1993 and 1996,
from 299 to 655, although many of those complaints involved searches of a
car or an individual.

Marilyn Mode, a police spokeswoman, said that 45,000 raids were conducted
last year, and only 10 resulted in the wrong address being raided because
of an error by officers. Ms. Mode said an uniformed patrol officer was
posted at the scene of Elliott's home until the door was replaced. "We will
also reimburse them for any damage," she said. "It is all being taken care
of."

Mayor Giuliani said it was a regrettable mistake, but the Mayor praised the
Police Department's anti-drug effort.

"When the police make a mistake like that, which happens very, very
infrequently, then it's their obligation to fix the place," Giuliani said.
"I think that will still be the case in this situation."