An armed SWAT team burst in the wrong door — but this North Texas family can't sue
James Jimerson and his kids were fast asleep on what was supposed to be a normal evening in March 2019. His wife, Karen, says she was showering when she suddenly heard a loud bang followed by the sound of her windows breaking.
Karen rushed from the bathroom half naked when she and her daughter allege they were met with men dressed in all-black vests labeled "SWAT,” pointing guns at them as Karen begged them not to shoot. Officers shouted at them to get on the ground.
The SWAT team had smashed in the front door of the Lancaster, Texas family’s home, deployed a flashbang grenade and held Karen and James and their three children at gunpoint — before one officer reportedly yelled, “wrong house!”
The incident, detailed in federal court documents, left the Jimersons' home damaged and their family traumatized.
But the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear the family's case, leaving in place a ruling that granted the officer who led the raid qualified immunity — a controversial legal doctrine that gives government officials immunity from being sued in certain situations.
In a statement, Karen Jimerson said she was disappointed the justices declined her case.
In the case of the Jimersons, the Waxahachie Police Department’s SWAT team was planning to execute a no-knock warrant — which allows law enforcement to enter a home without announcing their presence or knocking — on a separate home in Lancaster suspected of holding drugs, according to court records.
But officers arriving at the scene gathered in front of the wrong home. Lewis, who was leading the SWAT team, realized they were at the wrong home, and without checking the address, ordered his team to raid the home of Karen and James Jimerson instead, according to court records.
“Although he later claimed that he ‘believed’ the Jimersons’ address matched the warrant, Lewis conceded he ‘did not even check the number’ before ordering the SWAT team to execute,” court documents alleged.