Four days after more than a dozen heavily armed police officers raided her Elgin home, Betty Granger got the news she was waiting for early Thursday: The city would repair the damage—pronto.
The morning after she and her husband, Frank, told the Elgin City Council of the splintered door frames and shattered windows, workers were dispatched to the couple's white bungalow tools in hand.
"I asked the officers why they did this, and they said they got a tip that there were guns in the house," said Betty Granger, 60. "I told them that if they had just asked us, if they had just knocked on the door and asked, I would have let them search the house."
No weapons were found during the Sunday raid at their home in the 400 block of Ann Street, she said. Authorities said they were looking for a suspect who was believed armed.
"It wasn't the Grangers we were looking for. Our suspect had the weapon," said Deputy Police Chief Jeff Swoboda. "The person lived there and we had reliable information he had a gun."
Police declined to name the suspect or say whether he had an arrest record. The Grangers denied Thursday that the suspect, a relative, had a criminal history.
The city has launched an investigation into the raid as well as into Betty Granger's accusations that Elgin police officers discouraged her from filing a complaint.
The Police Department also is investigating the incident, authorities said. At a news conference Thursday, the department's top officials declined to discuss the specifics of the Grangers' case but said they were concerned about what happened during the execution of the search warrant.
After listening Wednesday night to the Grangers' emotional description of the raid, Councilman Thomas Sandor said he believes they are a "credible couple" and that the council was concerned about their allegations.
Sandor said the city manager has been told to look into the case and report back on April 11.
Shortly after 7 a.m., the Grangers said they were jarred from their sleep by what sounded like an explosion as police tossed smoke bombs through the basement windows. Other explosions followed as officers burst through the doors.
Frank Granger said he sprang from his bed, peered out of the window and saw a masked man dressed in fatigues pointing a gun at him.
"I thought someone was breaking into the house to kill us," said Frank Granger, 62.
He ran down the hallway and into the living room, where he said he encountered 15 to 20 armed men. Still not aware they were police officers, Granger said he ran back into the bedroom and shut the door.
Officers kicked it in and leveled guns at him and his wife, he said. For the next two hours, the Grangers, an adult son and three teenage grandsons sat handcuffed while their home was searched, Frank Granger said. The couple said the police found nothing.
The Grangers said the house they lived in for 35 years was left in shambles. A grandson had to nail the back door closed, and until workers arrived, the front door was propped shut with a chair.
Deputy Police Chief Robert Beeter stopped by the house and told the couple he was sorry for what happened, Betty Granger said.
"I'm always sorry when people are frustrated or upset with the Elgin Police Department," Police Chief Lisa Womack said at the news conference.
Swoboda said it would have been normal procedure in such a raid to use as many as 15 officers.
Despite workers bustling around the Grangers' home Thursday, signs of the raid remained. Shattered glass littered the basement window frames. Patches of missing paint encircled the handle of the bedroom door. The carpet was seared with burn marks.
Betty Granger said that although she was shaken by the ordeal, she was reluctant to speak ill of the city. She said she was pleased so far with the response she had received.
"I am not trying to blast the Police Department," she said. "We are trying to get everything fixed."
Frank Granger, a retired Metra conductor, said he was upset earlier in the week but now believes it may have been a good thing that it happened to him and not to an older man.
"Some other poor guy could have had a heart attack and died because my heart about jumped out of my chest," he said. "I got a chance to see what a real criminal feels like."
Where do they find such men? Men who would do this? I've posted this and await word from the old Top when he returns home, because I cannot begin to understand how Americans could do this to a fellow American.
It's Chicago, and guns are more evil than the devil himself and I guess they just up and find the men to browbeat us by opening something they call a Police Academy.
Thanks to The War On Guns for the original story.
No comments:
Post a Comment