'I Had A Nightmare Last Night That The Police Came In Here': Lawsuit Being Prepared Over No-Knock Warrant Raid Of Debra Cottingham's Queens Home
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - A former correction officer says undercover police barged into her home in Queens during a raid, looking for someone who hasn't lived there in years. But did police follow protocol?
As CBS2's Natalie Duddridge reports, Ring camera video shows police using flashlights to search a house in Laurelton on March 19 at 6 a.m.
"I heard the boom, and I jumped out the bed, and open up the door and they said freeze. All the officers were in the hallway. They had flashlights, guns drawn," said Debra Cottingham.
The sound of two bangs can be heard in the video. Cottingham, 58, says that's the sound of police breaking down her door and tearing through her home. She didn't know what they were looking for.
"They had the guns drawn on me. I was hysterical, I was screaming. Officer said 'You're under arrest.' I said under arrest for what? They said 'We can't tell you,'" she said.
The NYPD tells CBS2 it was executing a "no-knock warrant," saying in a statement investigators had "probable cause to believe there was ongoing criminal activity at the location (was) based on investigative evidence gathered due to numerous complaints from the community about drug sales at the location."
Cottingham says if police had done their research they would have known the person they were looking for - her boyfriend's son - hadn't lived in the house in three years.
"I don't know where he stays at. He does not come here. When he got kicked out, the locks was changed," Cottingham said.
As a former correction officer, Cottingham keeps two licensed handguns locked in he home. She shudders to think what would have happened if she had grabbed her gun - cops or herself could have bene shot.
"This is like Breonna Taylor. I'm in my bed, sleeping. Can you come barging into my house? What if I have pulled my gun out?" she said.
There have been growing calls to ban no-knock warrants" after several recent questionable raids. Mayor Bill de Blasio says he is reviewing the policy with the NYPD.
"This is something we've got to reevaluate," de Blasio said. "That could have gone in a very bad direction."
But Cottingham's attorney says guidelines have been in place since 2003, when a Harlem woman, Alberta Spruill, died of a heart attack during a raid. Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Police Commissioner Ray Kelly implemented Patrol Guide 212-75, that says police must go through a checklist. They're just not being enforced.
"They ignored one of the most important regulations," said attorney Joel Berger. "Make sure that the residents of the house they're breaking into are not licensed to possess firearms."
Cottingham says officers turned her home upside down, brought in drug sniffing dogs, but found nothing. She says they did take money from her daughter's bedroom safe that she says belongs to her beauty salon business. It's in the process of being returned, but the anxiety hasn't gone away.
"I had a nightmare last night that the police came in here," she said.
Cottingham says there was several thousand dollars in damage to her home. Her attorney is now taking steps to sue the NYPD.
A bill was introduced in New York state last year to limit no-knock raids except in the most serious cases involving suspected killers or terrorists.