And this is why the very idea of No-Knock warrants should have been painted as idiocy from the get go, much less make it into actual practice. When you give law enforcement Gestapo-like powers, you will inevitably find yourself in completely fucked up situations such as this one.
You break down someone's door in the middle of the night. They have no idea who it is and legally have a right to defend themselves and their home. The cops are acting legally and they also have a right to protect themselves. Now we're having shootouts in the dark where innocent sleeping people are being killed, bullets are flying into adjacent homes with pregnant women in them, cops are being shot, which all culminates in the taxpayers having to foot an enormous civil lawsuit bill and the city eventually burning to the ground from riots. And no one can really be held accountable because everyone is technically doing the legal thing.
Or, ya know, we could just have police do actual fucking police work. Stake the place out, wait until the suspect leaves the house, and then corner them at their vehicle, etc. in broad daylight where you almost entirely control the situation instead of barging into someone's home where you don't know what is waiting for you. Then, after the suspect is in custody you can waltz in the front fucking door anytime you please.
All these years later and I still remember this video of a poor schmuck getting murked in his own home holding a golf club for defense because the police busted down his door in the middle of the night. He wasn't a violent criminal who had hostages in the basement or some shit. He was a suspected drug dealer. They could have gotten this guy at anytime with zero issues, but nah, lets just bust down the door in the dead of night and shoot first. Who in the flying fuck thought those kind of tactics were acceptable in what is supposed to be the land of the fucking free?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WV6Bq8xeQrU