An elderly Colorado grandmother is suing a Denver police detective for ordering a raid of her home triggered by a mistaken ping from a Find My iPhone app.
A SWAT team stormed 77-year-old Ruby Johnson’s Montebello home after a serious misunderstanding about methods to use the handy Apple app, in accordance with the lawsuit filed Wednesday by the ACLU of Colorado.
Not less than eight officers in full body armor toting automatic weapons raided Johnson’s home searching for several stolen items, including six firearms and an iPhone, on Jan. 4.
Johnson’s suit named Gary Staab, the lead detective within the botched raid.
The criticism claims Staab used a “rapidly prepared, bare-bones, misleading affidavit” to acquire a warrant and perform an “illegal search” of Johnson’s home.
She’s in search of a jury trial and unspecified damages, in accordance with the filing — and is suing Staab “in his individual capability.”
Police were looking for a stolen truck that allegedly contained 4 semi-automatic handguns, a tactical military-style rifle, a revolver, two drones, an old iPhone 11 and $4,000 in money.
Stills from bodycam footage taken that day show a confused Johnson being ordered outside her home while wearing a bathrobe.
Staab had ordered the raid of Johnson’s home after talking to the owner of the stolen vehicle, who said he had used the Find My iPhone app and saw his phone had pinged at Johnson’s address the day it was stolen.
A screenshot from the app, nonetheless, later revealed the phone “pinged” somewhere within the vicinity of Johnson’s home and didn’t give a precise location. Even without the precise location, Staab allegedly insisted the stolen items were inside Johnson’s home.
The criticism asserts that Staab’s affidavit violated Johnson’s right to be “freed from unreasonable searches and seizures” and that the affidavit “lacked probable cause that evidence of crime may very well be found” at Johnson’s home, for the reason that ping on the Find My iPhone app was not a precise location.
“Crucially, if a tool’s location can’t be determined precisely, the user will see a blue circle across the device’s marker on the map. The dimensions of the blue circle shows how precisely the device’s location could be determined. For instance, the larger the circle; the greater the inaccuracy,” the criticism states.
“This blue circle covered an area spanning no less than six different properties and parts of 4 different blocks within the vicinity of [redacted] Street.”
The criticism also claims Staab did no additional police work to independently confirm whether the phone and other stolen items were inside Johnson’s home.
“On the authority of the illegally issued warrant, Denver police arrived at 77-year-old Ms. Johnson’s home, where she lives alone, with an amazing and intimidating show of unnecessary force,” the ACLU said in an announcement.
Johnson opened the door to a blaring bullhorn and an armored vehicle parked on her front lawn before officers began swarming inside her home wearing military gear.
“Each Ms. Johnson and her home of 40 years carry wounds from that day which have not healed. Johnson not feels secure in her own residence. She developed health issues because of the acute stress and anxiety the illegal search caused her.”
An elderly Colorado grandmother is suing a Denver police detective for ordering a raid of her home triggered by a mistaken ping from a Find My iPhone app.
A SWAT team stormed 77-year-old Ruby Johnson’s Montebello home after a serious misunderstanding about methods to use the handy Apple app, in accordance with the lawsuit filed Wednesday by the ACLU of Colorado.
Not less than eight officers in full body armor toting automatic weapons raided Johnson’s home searching for several stolen items, including six firearms and an iPhone, on Jan. 4.
Johnson’s suit named Gary Staab, the lead detective within the botched raid.
The criticism claims Staab used a “rapidly prepared, bare-bones, misleading affidavit” to acquire a warrant and perform an “illegal search” of Johnson’s home.
She’s in search of a jury trial and unspecified damages, in accordance with the filing — and is suing Staab “in his individual capability.”
Police were looking for a stolen truck that allegedly contained 4 semi-automatic handguns, a tactical military-style rifle, a revolver, two drones, an old iPhone 11 and $4,000 in money.
Stills from bodycam footage taken that day show a confused Johnson being ordered outside her home while wearing a bathrobe.
Staab had ordered the raid of Johnson’s home after talking to the owner of the stolen vehicle, who said he had used the Find My iPhone app and saw his phone had pinged at Johnson’s address the day it was stolen.
A screenshot from the app, nonetheless, later revealed the phone “pinged” somewhere within the vicinity of Johnson’s home and didn’t give a precise location. Even without the precise location, Staab allegedly insisted the stolen items were inside Johnson’s home.
The criticism asserts that Staab’s affidavit violated Johnson’s right to be “freed from unreasonable searches and seizures” and that the affidavit “lacked probable cause that evidence of crime may very well be found” at Johnson’s home, for the reason that ping on the Find My iPhone app was not a precise location.
“Crucially, if a tool’s location can’t be determined precisely, the user will see a blue circle across the device’s marker on the map. The dimensions of the blue circle shows how precisely the device’s location could be determined. For instance, the larger the circle; the greater the inaccuracy,” the criticism states.
“This blue circle covered an area spanning no less than six different properties and parts of 4 different blocks within the vicinity of [redacted] Street.”
The criticism also claims Staab did no additional police work to independently confirm whether the phone and other stolen items were inside Johnson’s home.
“On the authority of the illegally issued warrant, Denver police arrived at 77-year-old Ms. Johnson’s home, where she lives alone, with an amazing and intimidating show of unnecessary force,” the ACLU said in an announcement.
Johnson opened the door to a blaring bullhorn and an armored vehicle parked on her front lawn before officers began swarming inside her home wearing military gear.
“Each Ms. Johnson and her home of 40 years carry wounds from that day which have not healed. Johnson not feels secure in her own residence. She developed health issues because of the acute stress and anxiety the illegal search caused her.”
