Two Texas Families Sue Over Allegedly Botched Drug Raids

LAW ENFORCEMENT February 1993

Two Texas families are suing their Grand Prairie hometown, the city manager, several police officers, and the state Department of Public Safety in connection with two allegedly mistaken drug raids in which masked police officers armed with automatic weapons broke down doors and held family members at gunpoint before being radioed that they had broken into the wrong homes (Tracy Everbach, "Two Grand Prairie Families File Lawsuit Over Drug Raids: Officers Allegedly Searched Plaintiffs' Homes By Mistake," The Dallas Morning News, 1/14/93, 29A).

The Sifuentes and Najar families said they were terrorized by police, subjected to false arrest and imprisonment during two drug raids on December 12, 1990. Each family is asking for more than $1.25 million in damages.

Both families said they were awakened by their doors being knocked down at about 4 a.m., then rushed by black clad, masked police with automatic weapons who threw various family members to the floor while holding others at gunpoint, including Najar family father Roberto Najar, who said he was handcuffed.

Grand Prairie police officials later apologized to both families and said the raids were conducted under the direction of the state Department of Public Safety.