Police use battering ram to break into innocent grandmother’s apartment as she slept

75-year-old Rita Hunter 

(Source: WTVR)

HENRICO, VA — A 75-year-old grandmother was terrified when she awoke to armed intruders beating down her door with a battering ram. The men then claimed to be police and started interrogating her about drugs, telling her that she was under arrest. Despite going to the wrong address, the grandmother says she was never given an apology, nor has the department offered to replace her busted door.

“I thought someone was breaking in to rob or kill me,” said Rita Hunter to WTVR, who endured the wrong-door raid.

The septuagenarian was jolted awake in the early hours of April 10th when she heard repeated ramming against her front door with a blunt object.

It was not until after her door had been breached that she realized that she was being visited by police officers — Virginia State Police. They rushed into her bedroom and accosted her while she was still lying in bed.

Police used a battering ram to beat down an innocent grandmother's door.  

(Source: WTVR) 

The raiders “took my hands with a tie-thing and said ‘You’re under arrest’ and started asking questions,” she recalled.

Mrs. Hunter was questioned about possessing drugs. She grew insulted when they accused her granddaughter of being a criminal. She said that in her 75 years she has never broken the law.

“The more I told them I didn’t know these people [the suspects], the more he continued,” Hunter said.

Police searched through her belongings but ultimately recovered no evidence of any crime. It was finally determined that the police had gone to the wrong apartment; confusing Apartment “E” with Apartment “G.”

The cops moved two apartments down and performed another aggressive raid over drugs.

“I’m very irritated and angry,” said Mrs. Hunter. “[Police] never said I’m sorry, never apologized for having the wrong house…he said you got to get someone to fix that door.”

Mrs. Hunter said that the incident shook her so badly that she’s packing up and moving somewhere else. It is unclear to where she might flee in order to avoid belligerent SWAT teams who are willing to break down doors over non-violent crimes; often invading the wrong homes because they can’t seem to read the targeted addresses properly.

Click to read more stories of Wrong-Address Raids.