Police wrongly raided my home. It's not an isolated mistake

[Jilly_in_VA]

Anjanette L. Young

When Chicago police came to my door on Feb. 21, 2019, officers said they were looking for a criminal. Instead, they found me, a social worker, alone in my home, naked as I was changing clothes, believing I was safe.

Even though the warrant listed a man’s name, they forced their way in, handcuffed me while naked and left me standing there – humiliated, exposed and terrified – as they searched every room of my home. I kept asking who they were looking for and why they were there, but my questions were met with silence and indifference.

In that moment, I was not treated as a human being. I was treated as if my dignity did not matter. More than a year later, a police accountability board found that officers committed nearly 100 acts of misconduct during the search of my home.

My story is not just about what happened to me. It is about what can happen to anyone when there is no accountability. Since that terrible night, I’ve dedicated myself to trying to prevent what happened to me from happening to anyone else.

I don’t believe we need to do anything radical to prevent mistakes like this from happening. The U.S. Constitution contains an important safeguard that has been ignored for far too long. If the U.S. Supreme Court considers a case recently appealed to it – Mendenhall v. Denver – warrants would be granted with more care.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2026/05/06/supreme-court-fourth-amendment-warrant-hearsay/89522673007/?tbref=hp

This happens far too often. It's not a certainty that this iteration of the Supremes will stop it, either.

[UpInArms]

1. I hate like hell to rely upon the integrity of our USSC

Roberts is the most corrupt and worthless Chief Justice in our country's history

[Wounded Bear]

5. Sad, but true...nt

[irisblue]

2. I wonder how many of the cops who invaded her home are now ICE?

[popsdenver]

8. Or even worse.....the Border Patrol goon squad

which is even more disturbing, and not brought to the Public's attention by our Republican owned/operated media......

Both the ICE and BP are acting like the Hitler Regime's Gestapo and SS........

WASF

In direct violation of the Posse Comatatus Act, the Republicans and Trump are already illegally utitlizing the U.S. Military in their crusade against U.S. Citizens.........especially along the entire Texas/Mexican Border, and on the streets of many U.S. Blue Cities across the nation......L.A. Chicago, Portland, etc

Here in Denver, he doesn't need to deploy them, he has the MAGA Denver Police Officers to do the dirty work......(The Denver City Council has paid out a fortune for the DPD's misconduct......tens of millions in lawsuits for the DPD's cruel actions in a peaceful Black Lives Matter demonstration several years ago.........) There are many good DPD officers, but also many who aren't.....

[sop]

3. Sue them, of course.

It's the only thing citizens have left to obtain some measure of justice in our police state. And if the Supremes have their way, even that right will be taken away.

[mopinko]

4. she's been appointed to the police accountability board.

she did sue, iirc.

[FakeNoose]

6. Sometimes police make a grievous error, and an innocent person ends up dead

I'm happy that Anjanette Young lived to tell her story, but it doesn't always happen that way. Armed police are way too cavalier with their weapons and they keep getting off scot-free whenever they make mistakes. Why is that?

[Jilly_in_VA]

7. I do have one funny story about this sort of thing

although it occurred around 1970. A friend of a friend, who was walking with a cane due to an auto accident, had his home invaded by cops looking for drugs. After they tore the place apart, it turned out to be the wrong address on the warrant. He pointed his cane at them and said, "Okay, NOW PUT IT ALL BACK!" And believe it or not, maybe because he was a fairly large guy and had an imposing voice, they did!!

[hunter]

9. It's happened to me, more than forty years ago.

Sometimes the police are there to "protect and to serve." Sometimes they are not. I learned that as a kid.

I'd say most of the interactions I've had with the police have been lawful and professional, but the negative range from the inexcusable to full PTSD inducing horror.

I'm always surprised by people who reflexively side with the police or believe that everything is Mayberry R.F.D

[slightlv]

10. With apologies to those police men and women who try to uphold laws

and try to treat civilians humanely... tho few and far between, I feel, these days.... I think we stopped having "police forces" when t forced his way into a "second" dishonest term. We now have SS Stormtroopers, regardless of what kind of badge of authority they're suppose to be wearing. A complete and total dismissal of all of them is going to have to be done once the r's are out of office and thrown out of the departments they've dug themselves into. GOOD cops will easily be rehired, once they're records and interviews are conducted. But the bad ones will stand out like sore thumbs and should be ditched. Give policing a chance for others who believe in law and civil, humane conduct... not to mention believing in upholding the Constitution as inviolate. As a note: I have a (small) dog in this fight. I was military police once upon a time. I didn't transition to civilian police because I saw all the ways my beliefs were violated at that time. Haven't changed my mind much since then. Too many free thinkers, POC, women, and children murdered for me to change my mind. And too many cops not having to face any accountability for their actions... which, if ruled in the plaintiff's favor, demand that the taxpayers of the community fork over hard earned money to try to mitigate the damage.