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“All I see is guns pointed at me, officers coming through the door. I hear, ‘boom, boom, boom,’ two to three times,” reports wftv.com. That’s how King Baker described being awoken Thursday by members of the Kissimmee, Florida SWAT team, “bursting through his door and the sight of a gun to his head. It turns out the officers were in the wrong apartment…. When I told them my name and they was like, ‘Oh (expletive), we have the wrong house.'” Fortunately for all concerned, no one was hurt. But give the KPD some credit. You don’t usually hear admissions like this after a wrong-address un-announced visit . . .

“Unfortunately a huge mistake was made and our SWAT team went into the adjacent apartment,” said Stacie Miller, with the Kissimmee Police Department.

And perhaps because the victim is royalty, they didn’t just leave him with a busted-up apartment and a half-hearted apology.

Police broke some windows and a door jamb during the raid. They quickly made repairs to Baker’s residence…. The Kissimmee Police Department paid for a hotel room for Baker and his family overnight.

That’s a lot more consideration than most wrong-house no-knock victims seem to get. Still, given the potential danger no-knock raids present to both occupants and officers, how hard can it be to double-check an address before they go kicking in doors and waiving carbines around?

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90 COMMENTS

  1. And once again, we learn that the policy of hiring low-IQ people into police departments (with attending illiteracy and innumeracy issues) results in Bad Things Happening[tm].

        • Hmmm. Deservedly cynical and derisive lampooning of some current gun-grabbing talking heads.

          Yes, yes, but who? Who, damn it…

          It’ll come to me. Give me a minute. 🙂

  2. I just wonder what the guy in the right apartment did. Grow a few pot plants, or was it just unpaid parking tickets?

  3. What I always want to ask is, except for high risk felony fugitives, why do they do these no-knock raids in the first place? If they’re devoting this many police force resources to the case, why not spend some on surveillance and just nab the guy when he stops for gas or goes to the grocery store?

    • Surprise raids mean no time to flush or dispose of evidence.

      Probably would be better if the cops came in yelling “SURPRISE!” and blowing cazoos. Fewer dogs would end up in a plot in a pet cemetary.

      • “Surprise raids mean no time to flush or dispose of evidence.”

        That’s the lame justification the police give, but any quantity of illicit drugs that can be so quickly flushed doesn’t warrant a no knock raid IMO. For drugs, there sure to be residue, scales, and other evidence for intent to distribute or one of the other gajillion laws on the books. Besides, if they flush the shi7, then its off the streets and the dealer is on the hook to his supplier.

        No knocks raids are for the lazy that don’t want to have to do any real police work like, developing an investigative plan, conducting surveillance, organizing and analyzing case data, employing strategic targeting…..

      • Traps can be placed on the sewers to catch the drugs. Other than, say, hostage situations, there is almost zero need for no-knocks.

        • Shitty example, whatever. The meat of the comment was that no-knocks for drugs are pointless. Let’s get back to that, eh?

        • I don’t know what Hannibal was thinking, but certainly no-knocks are done in hostage situations. Rarely performed by police, they are often undertaken by specialized hostage rescue teams.

          I’m not an internet commando, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn last night.

    • It’s an excuse for them to don the ‘Tacti-Crap’ uniforms and practice room-clearing exercises…

      For finding over-due library books…

      Hey, at least his dog survived.

      • Often the raids do seem to be the 30-year-old wannabee-a-soldier equivalent of the make-believe tea parties of which little girls are fond. What I mean: If there was REALLY a violent group of perps inside just waiting to open up with the big guns, the SWAT team absolutely would not enter. Instead they require two conditions. One is that they think they’ll get a good collar. Two is that they feel very sure they’ve got the pot dealer/numbers operator outgunned. If the team is truly afraid of what’s in the house, they employ the Symbianese Liberation Army Shutdown approach.

        • You mean every SWAT team isn’t Seal Team Six, and every alleged “perp” isn’t Osama bin Laden?

    • Because during that time that they are surveilling the suspect, more things could go wrong that would hinder his arrest. For example, a leak, or he could get suspicious.

  4. Well I have respect for them making the mistake right. All too often these events end with a pissed off homeowner and people saying that it’s ok if they make mistakes as long as they catch that one drug user.

    You’d think the half dozen people standing outside his door would have looked at the house number though.

    • It’s funny, CEOs and CFOs of publicly traded companies must certify, under penalty of fines and prison, that the financial records they report to the public are legitimate.

      Yet, police can get away with not even proofreading a warrant to ensure the address is correct before they rain death and destruction down upon some innocent person’s home. Curious, that.

  5. Very surpised they apologized.
    At least they admitted it.

    It would be interesting to know what the intended raid location had present (allegedly) to warrant a no-knock-raid.
    Like some of the above comments said probably not enough to make it worthy of a flash banging-door busting-dog killin’ raid.

    It’s just scary to think I could be raided next week with from USDA storm troopers with their new HK UMPs probably just for a paperwork mistake.

  6. Oh man you guys took my lines. Guilty of something…seriously does the king have a basis for a lawsuit Ralph? Shoulda’ had a tomahawk 🙂

  7. I would like to see Judges who sign no-knocks be required to be on-site with the responsibility to rescind the warrant if anything is discovered which does not match the sworn statements used in the warrant application. Add to that a requirement that the Judge be one of the first three people through the door…

    /end fantasy mode

  8. This story would have turned a bit different if the dude had couple of really big, really nasty, pit bulls, and they attacked and severely chewed on the cops before they offed the dogs!

  9. And for probably the millionth time: no-knock raids are absolutely unconstitutional, and a violation of natural rights and Castle Doctrine – rights not trumped by “officer safety” concerns.

    • Yawn.

      Another Day, Another 124 Violent SWAT Raids
      https://www.aclu.org/blog/criminal-law-reform/another-day-another-124-violent-swat-raids

      Public support for the failed War on Drugs is at its lowest ever, and yet police are still using hyper-aggressive tactics and heavy artillery to fight it. This paramilitary approach to everyday policing brutalizes bystanders and ravages homes. We reviewed one case in which a young mother was shot and killed with her infant son in her arms. During another raid, a grandfather of 12 was killed while watching baseball in his pajamas. And we talked with a mother whose toddler was covered in burns, shot through with a hole that exposed his ribs, and placed into a medically induced coma after a flashbang grenade exploded in his crib. None of these people was the suspect. In many cases like these, officers did not find the suspect or any contraband in the home.

  10. Police broke some windows and a door jamb during the raid. They quickly made repairs to Baker’s residence….
    (PROBABLY ELMER’S GLUE AND TOOTHPICKS. I’M SURE THE GUY WILL REALLY FEEL SAFE AND SECURE NOW!) ( time to move!)

    The Kissimmee Police Department paid for a hotel room for Baker and his family overnight.
    (SO THEY {P.D.} COULD HAVE COMPLETE and FREE REIGN OF “HIS” APARTMENT and possessions JUST ‘CUZ)

  11. Just curious, what Royalty is He (King Baker)?

    “And perhaps because the victim is royalty, they didn’t just leave him with a busted-up apartment and a half-hearted apology.”

  12. This happened to my former next-door neighbors in Philadelphia (after my family moved to Upstate NY). A SWAT team busted in, scared the daylights out of everyone, kids were screaming and all that, they arrested and took them down to the station in their underwear, turns out it was the wrong house. It was a drug bust, but the correct house was down a ways.

    I do wonder why more police departments don’t issue authentic apologies to people when this happens. If anything, it would make for good public relations at least. But also, I mean it isn’t like it is something that would be difficult or anything.

    • An apology would be admitting they made a mistake.

      And, as we all know, the police don’t make mistakes.

      The police just happen to be nearby when these “unfortunate incidents” occur.

      Correlation doesn’t equal causation.

  13. ALL involved in ANY wrong address raid need to be and SHOULD be fired….and then criminally charged by the State ATTY office for ‘domestic terrorism’…..if we had a free country and a country that lived by the ‘ law’ for ALL equally as in politicians and LEO….but we do not sooooo……the police state thrives and continues with no penalties to its leaders or enforcers….only its slaves ie. the citizens………imho

  14. Cant unring the bell..Driving is going to be a nightmare.. Cops know what he drives, where he lives, he is on their radar, doesnt matter that he didnt do anything

    • Eh? You really believe the police have time to follow around a guy who happened to live at the wrong address they raided?

      • They seem to have plenty of time to hang out in parking lots talking to each other. They find the time to stand around in the Quikie Mart trying to seduce underage girls. So, yeah, I suspect they have time to harass an honest citizen.

  15. So, if police are in a car chase, and the chase becomes to dangerous for innocents, they back off. The premise is that it is not worth someone’s life to continue the pursuit. No knock raids are extremely dangerous, and innocents are often the recipients of excessive or deadly force. Are no knock raids really worth the life of an innocent?

  16. Given the number of home invasions in Central Florida, I’m surprised the apartment dweller wasn’t ready with firearm protection…. luckily for him.

  17. Maybe it’s time to add a iron gate which opens out ward and bars on the windows so if they get the wrong house they are outside pounding away instead of inside waving MP5s around and killing pets. They can hand the search warrant through the bars and have a rational discussion instead of just doing it all their way.

  18. I would hate to be cleaning my guns on the coffee table if a SWAT team accidently comes to my house in a no knock raid. I know I would get filled full of lead because I looked at the front door and jumped when they battered it down. At least they would all get to go home that night after zipping me into a body bag.

  19. Make it hard for anyone to quickly bust down your front door. It is the option used something like 85% by thugs with badges or otherwise trying to invade your home.

    Time gives you options. A homeowner can and should make the necessary modifications to at least the front door. For people in apartments there are non-permanent options that are quite effective, at least at slowing them down which still give you time. It is also possible to make permanent changes the apartment management will never see like 4″+ screws to replace the 1″ or smaller screws currently in the hinges and door jam. Make it difficult rather than leaving it as they expect it to be.

    There are videos of well made homes with solid door installations thwarting government sponsored home invasions. All they are able to do is scream for the residents (of the wrong house) to open the door. Of course if they are defeated like this enough their no-knock policy will probably change to including a vehicle to run through your house. Knowing the way they work it could become their first option. That is still a “could”, please secure your home.

  20. He should certainly dropkick their a$$es with a Federal civil rights violation lawsuit, if he was not black this would not have happened. Funny how these no knock raids happen at a disproportionately higher rate than to white folk.

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