SWAT Team Honored For Raid On Wrong House - XDTalk Forums

Fredo · 07-30-2008, 08:45 AM

wcco.com - I-TEAM: SWAT Team Honored For Raid On Wrong House

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ― On Monday, Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan handed out honors to a team of officers involved in a botched raid at an innocent family's home more than seven months ago. The family is upset and their attorney criticizes the awards and questions the timing.

Just days before Christmas, the sound of intruders breaking into their home in North Minneapolis prompted Vang Khang to grab his shotgun to protect his six children. His terrified wife called 911.

Khang fired several shots at the "intruders" who turned out to be members of the Minneapolis Police Department's SWAT team. The officers returned fire. Their protective gear prevented them from being harmed by the bullets.

No one was hurt in the shootout last Dec. 16 and the Minneapolis Police Chief ordered an internal investigation. The house was left riddled with bullet holes and broken glass. Two days later, Dolan apologized to the family and launched an internal investigation to find out how the SWAT team wound up in an innocent family's house in the middle of the night.

The investigation determined that the team had gone there looking for a gang member's guns after an informant gave investigators in the department's Violent Offenders Task Force bad information. The investigation is ongoing.

On Monday, Dolan recognized members of the SWAT team for their bravery and how they handled the raid. With Mayor R.T. Rybak and other city officials looking on, the chief handed out medals and commendations.

"The easy decision would have been to retreat under covering fire. The team did not take the easy way out," Dolan told the crowd. "This is a perfect example of a situation that could have gone horribly wrong, but did not because of the professionalism with which it was handled."

The Khang family was upset when they learned of the awards given to the SWAT team.

"They were outraged and they were hurt. They were hurt. To this day this family continues to suffer," said their attorney, former U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger.

Heffelfinger said the family has notified the city that they plan to file a lawsuit over the botched raid. He questions the timing and motives for the award.

"Why now are we seeing the police department honoring these men? In this context, I'm convinced this is an effort on the part of the police leadership to sanitize the conduct of their officers on December 16," he said.

"The officers put themselves in harm's way. They were shot at and shot and deserved to be recognized," said Dolan in a statement defending the awards to the SWAT team.

Dolan said an internal investigation conducted by his staff cleared the conduct of the SWAT officers who raided the Khang home.

More than seven months later, the internal review has not finished looking into how the officers and supervisors in the Violent Offenders' Task Force handled the investigative piece of the case which preceded the raid at the Khang home. So far, no one has been disciplined in connection with the mistaken raid.

**Cannibul** · 07-30-2008, 08:56 AM

Wait a minute here.

Officers make huge mistake and get shot at and then get an award? The ONLY award they should get IMHO is a Unemployment Badge.

That's as bad as giving an "Safe Driver Award" to the cop who's drunk on duty and manages to keep from killing anyone while driving.

**newKid** · 07-30-2008, 09:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cannibul

Wait a minute here.

Officers make huge mistake and get shot at and then get an award? The ONLY award they should get IMHO is a Unemployment Badge.

That's as bad as giving an "Safe Driver Award" to the cop who's drunk on duty and manages to keep from killing anyone while driving.

in theory, one could argue, that the SWAT team was uninvolved in the actual investigation, and were called in to that address with little or no knowledge of the case and bad info behind it.

that said, after the smoke cleared, honoring those same officers for this event is inappropriate. If i were ever involved in some terrible mix up like that, i would not accept whatever they were trying to honor me with.

**AZXD** · 07-30-2008, 09:01 AM

Irony has been defined

m9fan · 07-30-2008, 09:33 AM

Thod24 · 07-30-2008, 09:34 AM

Interesting. That's like giving a basketball team a trophy for scoring the most points in a game...only they scored in the wrong basket.

fastestkidaround · 07-30-2008, 09:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cannibul

Wait a minute here.

Officers make huge mistake and get shot at and then get an award? The ONLY award they should get IMHO is a Unemployment Badge.

I disagree with the award as well. But IMO i dont think they should get fired. Bad information like someone said. But why are they getting awarded for it? Sounds like something obama would do lol.

101radioman · 07-30-2008, 09:47 AM

All I can say is WTF!!!

**jnclement** · 07-30-2008, 10:00 AM

Well, you gotta admit, at least they didn't kill any one.

Katy9532 · 07-30-2008, 10:04 AM

Wow this is complete BS.

My best friends brother in law was killed because the police raided his house. He was shot about 15 times in the back as he was hiding in a crawl space in his house. Turns out that there was a big drug dealer in his town with the same exact name and the police never verified it was not the right guy!!!!!! He had two great girls that my friend is now raising!!!!!

07-30-2008, 08:45 AM	#1
Fredo XDTalk 100 Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: FOB Lion, Panjshir, Afghanistan Posts: 459	SWAT Team Honored For Raid On Wrong House wcco.com - I-TEAM: SWAT Team Honored For Raid On Wrong House MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ― On Monday, Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan handed out honors to a team of officers involved in a botched raid at an innocent family's home more than seven months ago. The family is upset and their attorney criticizes the awards and questions the timing. Just days before Christmas, the sound of intruders breaking into their home in North Minneapolis prompted Vang Khang to grab his shotgun to protect his six children. His terrified wife called 911. Khang fired several shots at the "intruders" who turned out to be members of the Minneapolis Police Department's SWAT team. The officers returned fire. Their protective gear prevented them from being harmed by the bullets. No one was hurt in the shootout last Dec. 16 and the Minneapolis Police Chief ordered an internal investigation. The house was left riddled with bullet holes and broken glass. Two days later, Dolan apologized to the family and launched an internal investigation to find out how the SWAT team wound up in an innocent family's house in the middle of the night. The investigation determined that the team had gone there looking for a gang member's guns after an informant gave investigators in the department's Violent Offenders Task Force bad information. The investigation is ongoing. On Monday, Dolan recognized members of the SWAT team for their bravery and how they handled the raid. With Mayor R.T. Rybak and other city officials looking on, the chief handed out medals and commendations. "The easy decision would have been to retreat under covering fire. The team did not take the easy way out," Dolan told the crowd. "This is a perfect example of a situation that could have gone horribly wrong, but did not because of the professionalism with which it was handled." The Khang family was upset when they learned of the awards given to the SWAT team. "They were outraged and they were hurt. They were hurt. To this day this family continues to suffer," said their attorney, former U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger. Heffelfinger said the family has notified the city that they plan to file a lawsuit over the botched raid. He questions the timing and motives for the award. "Why now are we seeing the police department honoring these men? In this context, I'm convinced this is an effort on the part of the police leadership to sanitize the conduct of their officers on December 16," he said. "The officers put themselves in harm's way. They were shot at and shot and deserved to be recognized," said Dolan in a statement defending the awards to the SWAT team. Dolan said an internal investigation conducted by his staff cleared the conduct of the SWAT officers who raided the Khang home. More than seven months later, the internal review has not finished looking into how the officers and supervisors in the Violent Offenders' Task Force handled the investigative piece of the case which preceded the raid at the Khang home. So far, no one has been disciplined in connection with the mistaken raid. __________________ The problem with Christianity is not that it has be tried and found wanting, but that it has been found difficult, and so left untried. -G.K.Chesterton
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07-30-2008, 08:56 AM	#2
Cannibul XDTalk 3K Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Moscow on the Willamette Posts: 3,867	Wait a minute here. Officers make huge mistake and get shot at and then get an award? The ONLY award they should get IMHO is a Unemployment Badge. That's as bad as giving an "Safe Driver Award" to the cop who's drunk on duty and manages to keep from killing anyone while driving. __________________ Semper Fi You have the right to be stupid. But some of you are abusing the right. Some people are too stupid to know what ammo their firearm uses. Those people are the bleach in the gene pool. 55% of the ADULT population of the US are functionally illiterate. http://tinyurl.com/96qlnr and most of them post on Internet Forums. Everyone should do these lessons. http://www.better-english.com/easier.htm
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07-30-2008, 09:01 AM	#4
AZXD XDTalk 25K Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 28,541	Irony has been defined __________________ --->Dirty Deeds done with sheep<--- The Bloody History of Communism INN PERIL \| Serving the Spirits of Freedom and Liberty
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07-30-2008, 09:33 AM	#5
m9fan XDTalk 500 Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Pearland, TX Posts: 919	__________________ "Upon the conduct of each depends the fate of all." - Alexander the Great Texas CHL US Army Veteran '86 - '94 Bushmaster M4A2 Clone Rossi 351 Snubbie SA XD 45ACP Service Winchester Defender 1300
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07-30-2008, 09:34 AM	#6
Thod24 XDTalk 500 Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Jacksonville, FL Posts: 559	Interesting. That's like giving a basketball team a trophy for scoring the most points in a game...only they scored in the wrong basket. __________________ XD 45 Tactical Taurus PT145 Stainless Mossberg 500 Winchester M70 XTR Sporter 270 My father's old JC Higgins 22 Red Rider BB (don't laugh...it'll put your eye out ) There is no problem that cannot be solved by the use of high explosives. - Bumper Sticker
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07-30-2008, 09:47 AM	#8
101radioman XDTalk 100 Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Moorhead, MN Posts: 292	All I can say is WTF!!!
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07-30-2008, 10:00 AM	#9
jnclement XDTalk 2K Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: West Texas Posts: 2,702	Well, you gotta admit, at least they didn't kill any one. __________________ Contrary to what sells magazines, not all of us are, or want to be SpecOps, SEAL, Recon, Delta, CQB, Ninja, firearm-knife-tactical-death-touch instructors.
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07-30-2008, 10:04 AM	#10
Katy9532 XDTalk 100 Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: TX Posts: 213	Wow this is complete BS. My best friends brother in law was killed because the police raided his house. He was shot about 15 times in the back as he was hiding in a crawl space in his house. Turns out that there was a big drug dealer in his town with the same exact name and the police never verified it was not the right guy!!!!!! He had two great girls that my friend is now raising!!!!!
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