SWAT Team Red-faced After Raiding Wrong House

David Trifunov
Global Post
June 30, 2012

Police in Evansville, Ind., received an embarrassing lesson in technology – and public relations – when they sent a SWAT team to the wrong house after receiving anonymous threats over the Internet.

Someone with the username US ARMY posted threats at Topix.com saying, “I’m proud of my country but I hate police of any kind. I have explosives made in America. Evansville will feel my pain.”

The cops traced the comments to a wireless connection at 616 East Powell Ave., where 18-year-old Stephanie Milan sat watching TV, The Evansville Courier and Press reported.

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Youtube: The cops brought along TV cameras, inviting a local reporter to film the glorious operation. In the resulting video, you can watch the SWAT team, decked out in black bulletproof vests and helmets and carrying window and door smashers, creep slowly up to the house.

On the news that night, the reporter ends his piece by talking about how this is “an investigation that hits home for many of these brave officers.”

But the family in the home was released without any charges as police realized their mistake. Turns out the home had an open WiFi router, and the threats had been made by someone outside the house. Whoops.

This article was posted: Saturday, June 30, 2012 at 11:50 am

Tags: domestic news, police state

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