Anderson woman sues police detective, says police went into wrong home during search warrant
ANDERSON, Ind. (WISH) — A woman from Anderson is suing a police detective after she said police kicked down her doors in the middle of the night, looking for someone who did not live there.In the middle of the night of Feb. 1, Francie Steen said she was awakened by a loud bang, screams and police with guns streaming through her apartment. It all stemmed from a shooting back in November. Police were looking for a woman who could have had information. Her name is Felicia Gosha, and police were also interested in getting their hands on her cell phone. Just before 4:30 a.m., Anderson police got a search warrant for a home they believed Gosha was in.Police said Sprint verified her cell phone pinged in that unit in Courtyard Apartments. They had a no-knock warrant, meaning they could go in without permission.“I heard a pop. And I heard [my grandson] cry,” said Steen, recalling the night nearly two months ago.“I was scared. I got stents in my heart. Five stents,” she said. “It was a terrible thing.” Steen said she found herself face-to-face with a dozen armed police that night. “You would think I got a murder or a kidnap or kill somebody with the way they came up in here,” she said. Francie Steen lives in an apartment in Courtyard Apartments with her three grandchildren. She said Felicia Gosha was not there. And never was. She says police took a couple of her grandchildren’s phones and a tablet. She said she’s never gotten them back.They waited for hours for police to leave. “I had asked them can I get my grandchildren some shoes and socks and no one said anything,” she said. The doors remain shattered and broken nearly two months later. It is estimated by her attorney at $5,000 in damage.“I can’t lock up and leave,” she said when asked if she’s afraid. “I can’t stay all night or go check in on my sister in Muncie who is sick.” She said a fear rings through her and her grandchildren. “I’m the one who has to lay in here and suffer that somebody is going to come in here.” She said she doesn’t understand why her home was hit. And while she said the city offered to help fix things up, nothing has happened.“They was wrong,” she said. “And they should admit to it.”So, she filed a lawsuit in federal court to try to salvage some of the emotional and financial damage she said was done. Anderson Mayor Tom Broderick said the city had been speaking with the apartment complex owners to try to figure out what happened on that Feb. 1 morning and to see what could be done. He said the city never promised to fix anything.Mayor Broderick said you have to have special circumstance for that no-knock warrant and that damage is always a possibility. He said those entries are done for officer safety.