When police become home invaders

Gary Jacobsen
Published: August 11, 2008

Few will deny that a person’s home has a special place in our society. Federal, state and local laws have been written to ensure that individuals and members of their families can feel safe in the houses or apartments they occupy. Even the U. S. Constitution (Amendments III and IV) says that homes are entitled to special protection.

Our safety and the safety of our spouses and children are secure only so long as our homes are not invaded, deliberately or recklessly, by others. In an attempt to make our homes secure, many citizens buy firearms and keep them loaded, usually in a bedstand. Their worst fear, encouraged by the National Rifle Association, is that thugs may enter the home and harm the occupants. But they are not the only persons who invade homes. Police are also home invaders.

At 12:46 a.m. on Dec. 16, 2007, Minneapolis police, armed with a “no knock” search warrant, burst into the home of 35-year-old Van Khang, a Hmong refugee who speaks almost no English. Khang, fearing his home was being invaded by criminals, gathered his wife and six children into a bedroom and fired a shotgun twice through the door. The police responded with a fusillade of 22 bullets into the bedroom. Incredibly, no one was injured.

Khang was arrested, but charges were later dropped when it was determined that the police had gone to the wrong house. Khang and his family were innocent. Incredibly, the eight SWAT-trained officers who invaded Khang’s house were later rewarded with medals for “valor.”

On May 1, DEA agents and local police in Opa-Locka, Fla., kicked in the front door of the home of Noel Llorente just as he was leaving for work. They held him and his wife Isabel at gunpoint and handcuffed them. When Llorente asked why they were in his house, an agent replied that they had “information” that the couple had a hydroponics lab in the house for growing marijuana.

The couple doubted that the agents were authentic, so they asked if they could call 911. The agents refused.

After an exhaustive search of the house turned up nothing incriminating, the agents and police left. When asked who would pay for the broken door and doorframe, the agents simply shrugged.

On June 19, Troy Molde of Lakeville, Minn., was awakened in his bedroom at 3 a.m. by two uniformed police officers who were shining lights in his face. Groggy and bewildered, he wanted to know why
they were in his house. The officers said he had left his garage door open, and that looked suspicious to them. They also said the entry door was closed, but unlocked, and that furthered their suspicions.
Nothing was amiss in Mr. Molde’s house, so the police left. They did not apologize for entering the man’s home without justification.

On July 29, Prince George’s County police, assisted by a sheriff’s SWAT team, broke down the front door of a home owned by Trinity Tomsic and Cheye Calvo, who serves as mayor of Berwyn Heights.
The police entered the home and immediately shot to death his two Labrador retrievers, one of which was attempting to flee into another room. They then handcuffed Calvo and his mother-in-law and
questioned the homeowner about a marijuana shipment for over two hours in the presence of the bloody, dead dogs. They did not have a “no-knock” search warrant as required by law for such an entry,
and they did not provide Calvo with a copy of a standard search warrant until three days after the incident. Ultimately it was determined that Calvo and his wife were innocent.

Mistakes happen. Sometimes the police have wrong addresses, or they are dealing with a case of mistaken identity, or they are pushed into illegal home invasions by overzealous superiors. But their
actions are still wrong, and we must look to the courts to rein in this reckless behavior. Those who illegally invade homes should go to jail — no exceptions.

Gary Jacobsen lives in Woodbridge. Contact him at .