Wrong House Raid Highlights Continuing Danger to Public from Police Responders

“Farmington police shoot and kill man after responding to wrong home,” Albuquerque’s NBC affiliate KOB4 Eyewitness News reported Friday on an incident from the previous Wednesday.

Police were responding to a domestic violence call and “mistakenly approached the wrong house.”

Per the New Mexico State Police, which is investigating the shooting, the police knocked on the door and announced themselves. “ When no one answered, officers asked dispatch to call the reporting party back and have them come to the front door.”

Killed was homeowner Robert Dotson, 52, who answered his door with a gun in hand. Since it was the wrong house, he’s not the one who got the call. He was presumptively trying to figure out what was going on and who was out there.

“What followed was a chaotic scene, with officers retreating and opening fire” Farmington Police Chief Steve Hebbe explained in a video posted to the department’s Facebook page. That this is the default reaction on seeing a citizen in his own home holding a gun should be a concern to all, and at this writing, videos are being withheld pending officer statements. Until that happens, the public will not see how Dotson was holding the gun and if he made any attempt to open fire once he saw who was outside his door.

That Dotson’s wife opened fire and received return fire, only stopping and complying after certain she was in fact engaging with police, strongly suggests they had no idea what was going on and the police call was made to the residence where the initial call originated, not to the home of the man they just killed.

That leaves open the question of how police got the address wrong in the first place. What checklist procedures are in place to preclude an armed response and the assumptions that go with one until a positive identification has been established? Were those procedures followed? It also makes it imperative that the investigation be open and complete, especially in light of a prevalence of “wrong house raids,” resulting in headlines like:

  • Man Dies in Police Raid on Wrong House
  • Texas Cops Realized They Raided the Wrong House. They Kept Searching Anyway.
  • Black woman handcuffed naked in raid at wrong home set to get $2.9 million from Chicago
  • Cop Who Wrongly Led No-Knock Raid Against 78-Year-Old Grandfather Can’t Be Sued, Court Rules

If you go to the above link you’ll realize you could play this game all day. Yet despite these outrages, it still happens. And forget the wrong house. Sometimes it can be the “right one,” but the arrest warrant affidavit was falsified, resulting in the highly-publicized shooting death of Breonna Taylor by officers executing a “no knock” warrant.

And other times, it can be the result of a disgruntled neighbor calling in police with allegations of gunfire and death threats that she later withdrew—but not before SWAT responders opened fire on Jason Kloepfer, the subject of a series of exclusive AmmoLand reports.

Such stories are not new. Back in 2011, Jose Guereña, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq war was slain in a no-knock invasion by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department SWAT Team, controversial not only because no evidence of drugs was found at the scene, but also because he did not open fire on deputies as they had previously claimed. And deputies blocked paramedics from approaching the scene for well over an hour, cutting off any chance of their victim surviving.

It gets even more outrageous. In 2018, a victim was killed by police as the result of a wrong house revenge SWATting call – two morons got into a $1.50 “dispute” over “Call of Duty” and when one threatened to kill the other, he gave him a previous address that had since been occupied by the completely uninvolved victim. The threatener then called a third party who charged to make the 911 call (read the complete story here).

They have the team. They have the equipment and gear. Now all they need is the right address. (Farmington NM Police Department/Facebook)

It’s no surprise that police tried to justify their response by claiming the totally innocent man “lowered his hands toward his ‘waist area’.”  Never mind that they were at a two-story house and the dispatcher reported it was a one-story house. The reported words of the “prankster” who called himself “SWAuTistic”:

“Bomb threats are more fun and cooler than swats in my opinion and I should have just stuck to that. But I began making $ doing some swat requests.”

And every bit as evil as that, when you consider the influence they have  and that they take in donations under the fraudulent pretense of being about “gun safety,” is the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence a group that partners with Giffords and that advises:

Talk about a way to set the stage for even more “gun violence”!

But back to New Mexico…

“What I will tell you as the chief is that this is an extremely traumatic event, that I am just heartbroken by the circumstances surrounding this,” Chief Hebbe continued in his Facebook non-apology. “I am extremely sorry that we are in this position.”

Good grief. The chief thinks he’s heartbroken. What about the wife of the man his men just killed?

And what he’s sorry for is being “in this position”?

This is inexcusable, any way you look at it. But it being New Mexico, with an anti-gun Democrat governor and Democrat-dominated legislature busy imposing every citizen disarmament edict they can get away with, don’t pin too many hopes on the politically-dependent State Police.

Who thinks we won’t see new casualties resulting from “red flag laws,” especially when, using the Giffords/Bloomberg model, where “About a third of gun confiscation orders are wrongly issued against innocent people”?


About David Codrea:

David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.

David Codrea

David Codrea
43 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
DIYinSTL

Many of us find the threat of such stupid armed government (re)action more worrisome than street crime. If my doorbell rings or door is knocked on when no visitors are expected, I’m armed coming to the door. I bet you are too.

Courageous Lion - Hear Me Roar - Jus Meum Tuebor

I refuse to answer the door at odd hours of the night. And I started covering my widows because of a stupid incident that occurred at my house while an AR 50 Beowulf rifle was lying in plain view and when I had a pistol in my hand. The sheriff was called because my brother had not been responding to calls from his son. His son didn’t have the right address since he had moved to his apartment so he gave them mine for a wellness check. What do I find at my back door? AN ARMED SHERIFF DEPUTY banging… Read more »

DIYinSTL

Yikes! But what might have happened if you did not answer the door?

I reversed somebodies down vote. I guess some folks always down vote an individual irrespective of the content. Well off to NRAAM in another 2 or 3 hours.

USMC0351Grunt

Solution:

gregs

i understand the need for police officers, but come on man! how can they be at the wrong house? isn’t anyone checking to verify everything is correct? was this a pre-dawn’middle of the night raid? why didn’t they wait until the dispatcher called the rp back and talk with them, why didn’t they do it themselves. police have all the protective gear available to keep themselves safe, so why the rush to shoot someone? the militarization of police is not helping, it is hurting the community. no knock raids should be far and few between, used only for the most… Read more »

Courageous Lion - Hear Me Roar - Jus Meum Tuebor

“so why the rush to shoot someone?” Because they can and because many of they are psychopathic control freaks. Psychopaths have an issue with empathy.  At one time police officers were trained to be PEACE officers. They were even called PEACE officers. That is the difference between then and now. Today they are law ENFORCEMENT officers. Just the title reeks of power and piety. And the type of people who were PEACE officers were a lot different then the type of mentality it takes to be a law ENFORCEMENT officer. That is the major difference. One job actually attracted NORMAL… Read more »

Montana454Casull

The problem with militarized police forces is they shoot first and ask questions later. What happened to innocent until proven guilty ? Cops have become judge and jury and executioner in today society without pushback . No more free military stuff from the feds would help curb some of the thug mentality that has taken over our law enforcement communities .

Courageous Lion - Hear Me Roar - Jus Meum Tuebor

At one time police officers were trained to be PEACE officers. They were even called PEACE officers. That is the difference between then and now. Today they are law ENFORCEMENT officers. Just the title reeks of power and piety. And the type of people who were PEACE officers were a lot different then the type of mentality it takes to be a law ENFORCEMENT officer. That is the major difference. One job actually attracted NORMAL people while the other attracts PSYCHOPATHIC personalities. Just look at how they take care of everything. At one time they carried six shot revolvers and would… Read more »

I had a similar incident, but it was in the daytime. I looked out my window which I leave the blinds up about 6 inches so the dog can bark at the mailman, and I see the Deputy Sherrif, so I get ready to go to the door and I had my Detective Special on my belt, so I remove it. My brother loaned his trailer to a jackass to use but he needed to go to the dump first. Nope jackass goes and dumps the trash someplace and in that trash was an old license plate. My old license… Read more »

You sir…Are an Idiot…nuff said.

Stag

This is what happens when government thugs are trained to see the presence of a gun as a threat. This is what happens when government thugs are trained to believe that “officer safety” comes above all else. These people are not trained on what the oath they swore actually means. They’re taught to obey orders and to use any and all means necessary to make sure they get to go home to their families. They are given immunity for their actions and held to much lower standards when it comes to justifying their use of force than the rest of… Read more »

Bigfootbob

Excellent post. You said, “These people are not trained on what the oath they swore actually means.” That goes for every dimocRAT politician and about 75-80% of Republican pols too, I’m sad to say. One other point that I believe influences a lot of both trigger-happy and Ulvade cowardly behaviors by the “enforcers”, is the lowering of standards to meet recruitment needs because of the anti-police posture of all dimocRAT lead cities and states. If I owned a gun store, every person who walked thru my door would be asked if they’re a registered voter, if not, step over here… Read more »

PMinFl

You’re right about one item you mentioned, lowering the standards only lowers the quality of the whole.

Stag

Thank you, Bob. They intentionally do not hire people with above average intelligence.

https://www.cracked.com/article_29457_some-american-police-departments-prefer-their-cops-not-to-be-too-smart.html

PMinFl

We now have TWO standing armies, foreign and DOMESTIC.

Courageous Lion - Hear Me Roar - Jus Meum Tuebor

At one time police officers were trained to be PEACE officers. They were even called PEACE officers. That is the difference between then and now. Today they are law ENFORCEMENT officers. Just the title reeks of power and piety. And the type of people who were PEACE officers were a lot different then the type of mentality it takes to be a law ENFORCEMENT officer. That is the major difference. One job actually attracted NORMAL people while the other attracts PSYCHOPATHIC personalities. Just look at how they take care of everything. At one time they carried six shot revolvers and would… Read more »

Agreed. I, too, have noticed the change from peace officer to law enforcement. They needed to normalize the enforcement of hundreds of thousands of laws, ordinances, and regulations that have absolutely nothing to do with keeping the peace. The days of the friendly neighborhood beat cop are over thanks in large part to the war on drugs. Cops are incentivized to initiate confrontational contact with people in order to “fish” for charges and reasons to incarcerate. In many cases, they are now just outright stealing from people without even convicting them of any crime.

https://reason.com/2015/11/27/cops-now-take-more-than-robbers/

Boom

E.X.A.C.T.LY.

Arizona

Qualified immunity, no knock raids, carve outs and exceptions in law (especially bs gun control laws) and property seizures need to end immediately.

USMC0351Grunt

Now wait a minute. Arizona had 6 Up Votes and when I added one the total dropped to 4. What’s going on here, did they change math on us?

Ken

I’ve said it on here before and I’ll say it again…. To me, a cop is nothing but a stranger with a gun until proven otherwise. More cops, more danger.They have become much too militant, in general. What happened to “to serve and protect?”

Keep your ammo dry and handy

Darkman

When every time you leave the house to go to work. You constantly have to be aware that every person you meet is a potential violent interaction. Simply because of the job you chose. You become hyper aware that your life is always at risk. It doesn’t matter if it’s a 6 year old child or an 80 year old. It’s not real hard to understand why, when LE see a potential violent offender with a firearm. They tend to take self preservation as their number 1 duty. While I agree this is a horrible situation and numerous mistakes were… Read more »

Boom

Yeah being a combat soldier overseas it is this times, 1000… Except soldiers are actually accountable for what they do.

KK

I could agree with your statement, however it does not just apply to LEO’s. Whereas LEO’s are called to deal with violent situations, we all live in the same violent cesspool. Violent criminals are not hunting LEO’s, they are preying on the general public when they are aware a LEO is not around. Anyone and everyone who is “aware” realizes that their life is always at risk. It is not real hard to understand that when ANYONE, LE or not, sees a potential violent offender with or without a firearm, they tend to take self preservation as their number 1… Read more »

USMC0351Grunt

Again! A total of 6 up votes, I add one and it drops to 4? Webmaster? You got some searching to do i your strings!

Courageous Lion - Hear Me Roar - Jus Meum Tuebor

The only REASON they continually pull this crap is to make the people fear them. UNLESS THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO DOUBT that there is something going on that actually threatens the life of someone, they should wait patiently and grab whoever it is they want when they are out and about their business. These kinds of incidents ruefully remind me of Waco and Ruby Ridge. IT IS NOT NECESSARY. NEVER should a mere phone call be the impetus for this kind of insanity. DUE PROCESS needs to be adhered to in all situations. Too bad the wife didn’t kill a… Read more »

USMC0351Grunt

Okay, enough is enough….. THIS one was a 5 up-votes and I added ONE and it dropped to 3?

Grigori

From all the downvotes going on, looks like Farmingtin PD had a bunch of members join AmmoLand so they could downvote everyone.

USMC0351Grunt

An ‘OOPS’ where a police force killing is involved is just as good as a public assassination with eye-witness’ approval so as to pack the inquiry or a jury with implied ‘duty’ to ward off anything beyond a shadow of doubt. MANY LEO’s create a faux “Us vs Them” mindset where THEM is We, The People. This is fear within the LEO’s mind. Making us the enemy at all costs until proven otherwise. This is sick and demented from our view, but what is it like in the daily minds of LEOS that are under constant threat in a large… Read more »

Last edited 11 months ago by USMC0351Grunt
ruffhouse

No knock? heh heh No quarter

Idaho Bob

All I see in that photo are a bunch of maskholes……

HLB

This behavior is a Cultural behavior.

HLB

Courageous Lion - Hear Me Roar - Jus Meum Tuebor
Grigori

It’s called, “Earning the hate”.

Colt

Its kinda like the SNL skit “landshark”

the shark would knock on the door of a single woman’s apartment, and would claim to deliver something. After several fails, the victim would eventually be convinced enough to open the door, only for the shark head to emerge forward and eat his prey..

USCitizen

Another excellent article by David Codrea, comments from the peanut gallery, not so much! The loss of innocent life is always tragic, and my heart and prayers go out to the family of Mr. Dodson. Many of comments made here are valid, but the general theme is blaming the police. No thought is given to the myriad of contributing factors that caused this tragedy. The Ammoland comments section seems to attract certain types of commenters: the grumpy whiners that bloviate about society and the government who try to cancel anyone that doesn’t agree with their group think; conspiracy theorists who… Read more »

Tom Claycomb

David-great article. Scary stuff. Cops worry me more now than thugs.

MrSlugg

Well after all its very hard to look for the house number on the mailbox or the home. surely wouldn’t want to google the address. While getting an address wrong is bad enough there are cops out there obtaining search warrants based entirely on lies and executing no knock warrants/raids. just ask the Tuttle family in Houston Tx. oh, wait we can’t the Tuttle’s were murdered by rogue, lying, corrupt cops!

Boom

Nooooww yallll are startin to get it… These responses are alot better sounding / more encouraging to hear than they were several months ago… I’m proud of several of you. Just imagine….some punk ass civil cops…. Now imagine, federal forces are about 100,000x that… Just in the same breath that you will not stand a chance to a police presence at your door, you won’t stand a chance to a federal presence in your town… I know it pisses people off when I say this, I don’t care though… It pisses people off because being arrogant is part of a… Read more »

bondmen

Excessive testosterone and adrenalin in combination with faulty data is an ever present danger to public safety and neighborhood harmony even without the aid of red flags or swatting 911 calls from trouble causers and criminals. The journey of a thousand steps can start on the wrong foot endangering innocent lives.

ruffhouse

“Excessive testosterone and adrenalin” You left out steroids

BigRed

I’ve a got a comment directly for the ammoland editors… It is time to eliminate your comments section… You have some wackos on here bullying people and chasing off, not only readers, but donors… Just get rid of it altogether… This is a magnet for sophisticated antigun propaganda, etc…
The experience here would go from negative to positive very quickly as your articles are generally enlightened and informative. There is no reason to have something that allows sociopathic bullies and propagandists to have a voice here.

Boom

I guess the same goes for FB, Twitter, Instagram, etc…