Spokane drug raid targets wrong residence
No one was injured in the Tuesday morning incident, but detectives were offering apologies for the "major mistake."
"We blew it, pure and simple," Sheriff Mark Sterk said in a written statement. The error was "clearly a training and supervision issue," the sheriff said.
Detectives went to the Pinecroft Trailer Court in east Spokane to arrest a man suspected of manufacturing methamphetamine.
They found Elvin W. Hern, 69, standing near his trailer, and arrested him without incident, sheriff's spokesman Cpl. Dave Reagan said.
The detectives then proceeded with the search warrant, entering what they thought was Hern's mobile home through an unlocked door.
Inside was a 72-year-old man, whom detectives handcuffed and led outside before realizing their mistake.
"They went to the wrong place," Reagan said. "It's embarrassing and we certainly don't want it to happen again."
The drug unit commander, Lt. Chan Bailey, said the lead investigator in the raid had made several undercover purchases from Hern through a confidential informant.
The investigator would drive the informant to the trailer court and watch as the informant walked a distance to Hern's trailer. But he never actually saw which trailer the informant entered, and videotaped the wrong mobile home, Reagan said.
On Tuesday, investigators had the right address on a warrant, but did not look at the house number when they entered.
Reagan said the sheriff will be reviewing training and procedures involving searches, including the role supervisors play in raids.
Hern was booked into Spokane County Jail for investigation of three counts of delivery of methamphetamine and one count of possession of methamphetamine.
The botched raid was at least the second this month by law enforcement agencies in Washington.
On Sept. 17, Okanogan County deputies broke into the wrong house and gave a man a strong electric jolt with a Taser in front of his wife and child.