Ooops, Sorry, Wrong Door

Fitchburg woman and daughter 'terrified' as saw rips down door after getting wrong address in drug sweep

Judy Sanchez woke Thursday to the sound of heavy footsteps in her stairwell, followed by a loud motor. She got to her kitchen in time to see the blade of a chain saw rip through her front door. Sanchez said the ordeal traumatized her and her 3-year-old daughter, Ji'anni, and she is unsatisfied with the agency's response to the error.

About 10 FBI agents came into her apartment at 391 Elm St., that morning, guns drawn and pointed at her. There was no knock, and they didn't shout that they were from the FBI until after the saw was buzzing through her six-panel front door, she said.

She believes it took about three minutes for them to saw a big rectangle through the door, then kick in the center. She shouted repeatedly that they had the wrong place.

Once the first agent was inside, she was ordered facedown on the floor at gunpoint. Her 3-month-old pit-bull Lexi wet the floor, and she was instructed to grab the dog and hold her. To do so, she said, she had to reach through the dog's urine. Sanchez doesn't know how long she was held on the floor, but estimates it was between 30 and 45 minutes while her daughter cried in the other room. It was a cold morning, and she was not allowed to put warm clothes on.

"I was still at gunpoint the whole time. I was freezing," Sanchez said.

The FBI agents kept asking her where Luis Vasquez was, and she said she didn't know.

A female FBI agent wrote down a number for Sanchez's landlord to call for reimbursement for the door and the number for Damon Katz, chief counsel for the Boston division of the FBI. Sanchez said she received a quick oral apology that was devoid of remorse.

"Just a little pat on the back and saying 'I'm sorry' is not OK," she said.

The war on drugs is one of the more destructive forces in America at this time.  It wastes enormous amounts of resources, puts lives in greater danger than they already were, and turns a large fraction of people away from the government.  The agents that made the mistake should face serious, personal consequences.  Jail is not too much.

Found at Insty's.