ATF Agents Burst Into Wrong House
Mother, Toddler Inside Home When Officers Enter

POSTED: 9:15 am EDT April 10, 2008
UPDATED: 10:19 pm EDT April 10, 2008

MIAMI --
Officers from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives barged into a South Florida home Wednesday only to discover they had the wrong address.

The ATF agents were supposed to conduct a raid at a home in the 2600 block of Northwest 49th Terrace in northwest Miami-Dade County, but they were off by one block. They entered a house on Northwest 49th Street instead.

Philomaine Silvain and her 3-year-old son were among the innocent people inside the home when the agents came in.

Silvain pointed out damage to her front door.

"The door's right here," Silvain said. "There's a hole right here. It's broken."

Her back window was also broken from where federal agents fired canisters into the apartment at about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The agents left the tear gas cans in the house, and Silvain kicked them out and into the street before dumping them into the garbage.

No one from the ATF would speak to NBC 6 on camera, but a representative said over the phone that it was an innocent mistake, agents apologized on the scene and ATF would repair any damages.

Silvain's door has already been fixed. However, she said she plans on speaking with a lawyer.

The officers did arrest the man they actually were looking for one street away.

Ok, if an officer on the street were to just randomly spray someone with OC, wouldn't that be criminal assault regardless of the badge?

Couldn't a good lawyer argue the same for the use of tear gas in this case?

-Mark

Ok, if an officer on the street were to just randomly spray someone with OC, wouldn't that be criminal assault regardless of the badge?

Well, yeah, but if he was trying to spray a criminal and got some on you, it would be an accident. To carry the metaphor further, this is more akin to him grabbing someone he thinks is a criminal and spraying him. A case of mistaken identity.

But really, to get to the heart of the matter, these raids are in theory planned in advance. A cop on the street is very reactionary. The BATman raids are proactive.

I tend to think the BATmen like playing Jack Bauer too much. They like to get intel updated second by second over the cell phone from some guy in a dark room back at CTC.

Time for legislators to create the LEO version of malpractice suits.

I'm actually very pro-law enforcement. I'm also very concerned that too many of our CIVILIAN law enforcement agencies are becoming all too military in nature.

-Mark

Time for legislators to create the LEO version of malpractice suits.

Sure, and how do you suppose they will fund the either the malpractice insurance premiums and/or the malpractice pool?

Simple, just limit lawsuits to actual damages.

Sure, and how do you suppose they will fund the either the malpractice insurance premiums and/or the malpractice pool?

In all honesty, they screwed up. They've owned partially up to it. I think they need to do more, and there is no reason why they couldn't put out a statement saying "Whoops, we're not perfect, we messed up, we will pay for damages and clean the house etc..."

1. Full actual damages,
2. Civil penalty in all cases of $100,000 payable to the plaintiff, AND
3. Complete reimbursement for all costs of the litigation including attorneys' fees.