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Family Freaked by Heavy Drug Raid on Wrong Apartment
By
John Del Signore
Published Sep 11, 2009
Modified Sep 11, 2009
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By
John Del Signore
Published Sep 11, 2009
Modified Sep 11, 2009
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48-year-old Calixta Guerrero was in her underwear in her Washington Heights apartment around 6 a.m. yesterday when police started pounding on the door. She told them she needed a moment to cover up, but cops shouted, "Open the f-----g door, right now!" So Guerrero complied, and was promptly forced to the floor and handcuffed. Good morning!
DEA agents, backed by a federal search warrant to raid the apartment, believed that it was the home of Carlos Ruiz, a boss in the Trinitarios gang. While cops and agents were tossing Guerro's apartment, Ruiz was actually being arrested at the same time, just a quarter mile away, by agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Guerrero's 19-year-old daughter Suriel was home at the time; she tells the Daily News, "They had big guns in front of our faces, and I'm screaming, 'It's just me and my mom. We don't know this guy.'" The snafu is probably explained by the fact that Ruiz used to live just a few doors down from Guerrero in the same building, according to his lawyer.
While tossing the apartment (which got pretty trashed, as seen in the News photo), cops reportedly took the time to laugh and leer at photos of Guerrero and her daughter in bikinis, found stored on their computer. But hey, at least "when they left, they said they were sorry," Suriel says.
Tagged
bust
drugs
house
mistaken identity
raid
trinitario
washington heigts
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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