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-Land of the Free
SWAT Team Raids Wrong Worcester Home, Residents Say
2015-08-25
[BOSTON.CBSLOCAL] Marianne Diaz and her fiancé, Bryant Alequin, felt their lives were in danger when a SWAT team raided their third-floor apartment on Hillside Street with guns drawn.

Diaz says she grabbed her seven-year-old and 18-month-old girls and prayed while Worcester coppers and State Police troopers executed a search warrant.

"It was terrorizing, and the worst thing I've ever been through in my life. They were loud, vulgar, and disgusting in behavior," she said.

It happened on Wednesday around 5:30 in the morning.

Alequin says he was in the bathroom getting ready for work.

"I was scared, honestly. They put me in handcuffs, they were very tight, and it was ugly," he said.

Turns out they were not the people police were looking for.

"I just want there to be a full-on investigation, and give us an explanation as to why they did this to my family and why they terrorized us the way they did," Diaz says.

The family's attorney, Hector Pineiro, says his clients rights were violated.

"You can imagine 10 officers looking and pointing guns at a naked 23-year-old mother protecting her two kids. The horrific language and pointing of weapons at children cannot be justified under any circumstances," he said.

Police have raided the apartment before, but Diaz moved in back in May with her fiancé and two children.

The person that used to live there does have a criminal record, but Diaz and her family have never been in trouble with law.

"They came into my house like that when they did not have their facts right," Alequin said.

The DA's office released a statement saying "The search warrant was executed based on the best intelligence at the time. He (the target) had been in the dwelling in the days before the execution of the search warrant."

Pineiro strongly disagrees.

"It's clear to me that the (district attorney's) office is not going to look into what happened because he's already giving the blessing they acted on the best intelligence, which is a complete joke," he said.

The family has not yet decided if they will file a lawsuit.
Posted by:Fred

#17  Wow. A new chew toy.

Been a while.
Posted by: badanov   2015-08-25 21:40  

#16  If a Republican gets into office, you all will be singing a different tune.

Maybe. Maybe not.

We do know what the Democrats' track record is, though. Seems I recall the police were being given war-surplus during this administration.
Posted by: Pappy   2015-08-25 21:28  

#15  I'll be saying it twice as loudly, asshat.

I expect the Republicans to actually DO something about it.

So please go masturbate to Das Kapital.
Posted by: DarthVader   2015-08-25 21:10  

#14  Check again. I was saying this a long time ago. Unlike you leftists, we liberty-minded recognize wrong as wrong no matter who is doing it. You, on the other hand, are only concerned with who is holding the whip, instead of getting rid of the whip.
Posted by: OldSpook   2015-08-25 19:58  

#13  "Well accidents happen"

And they say no one can tell you're a dog on the internet!
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220   2015-08-25 19:55  

#12  If a Republican gets into office, you all will be singing a different tune.

"Well accidents happen". "No one is perfect". "Stop associating with criminals and this wont happen".

Its so predictable.
Posted by: Jart Flutle2277   2015-08-25 18:50  

#11  This needs to go beyond allowing to be fined or sued. Charge them with home invasion, kidnapping, etc. Prison time for EVERYONE involved in the entire process. Then maybe you'll some actual professionalism return.
Posted by: Silentbrick   2015-08-25 15:40  

#10  For Spanish press 1.

For English, press 1.

FIFY.
Posted by: gorb   2015-08-25 14:56  

#9  If past experience is any indicator, there is no "wrong" home in Worcester.
Posted by: Pappy   2015-08-25 14:49  

#8  Personal liability in cases like this for the judge, da, and officer in charge. Their jobs and personal property should be on the line. For the individual officers, professional standards must be enforced - body cams to capture language and actions. Suspension without pay, reduction in rank, and after several violations, termination for cause.
Posted by: OldSpook   2015-08-25 11:09  

#7  In other news, Worcester has its own SWAT team...
Posted by: Raj   2015-08-25 10:18  

#6  Best way to get this to stop is to make the people that were involved in the raid and the planning and the authorization personally liable and they can be fined thousands of dollars that go to the aggrieved party.

You kick in the wrong door, you lose a month's paycheck.

Raids like this will end overnight and the police will make damn sure the door they kick in is the right one.
Posted by: DarthVader   2015-08-25 10:06  

#5  Nothing says "police state" like SWAT team at 3 a.m. I'm trying to recall how police handled such things before they got the black soldier suits and started learning infantry tactics.

On the other hand, I've also got a son who's done his own share of door kicking. Since Black Lives Matter so very much and entire cities are being turned over to career criminals (besides their political oppressors) I guess this sort of horror had to become more common. It was pretty much under the radar until the Elian Gonzalez picture.

Posted by: Fred   2015-08-25 09:57  

#4  Please do not call these people 'professionals'. You can dress them up, you can give them 'neat' names, but when they do this, they're just a bunch of wannabees, unfortunately armed with very destructive weaponry.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2015-08-25 09:15  

#3  The police state of Massachusetts welcomes you. Please continue to vote Democrat.

For Spanish press 1.

Posted by: Besoeker   2015-08-25 07:33  

#2  One more in a depressingly long line of incidents like this.

This is why the police are held in such low regard among those who are in the target demographic. Insty has some good thoughts on this type of thing starting with getting rid of qualified immunity.

The DAs and those in charge of this should be personally responsible.
Posted by: AlanC   2015-08-25 07:28  

#1  Since that's the best intel they had at the time, they need to fix their intel thingy. But, if you want to do cowboy shit and scare women and kids, going to a place where criminals aren't is your best bet.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey   2015-08-25 07:06  

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