Minneapolis cops terrorize mother and child after SWAT got the wrong address: report

According to KARE 11, a no-knock SWAT raid in Minneapolis went horribly wrong when the tactical team got the wrong address and terrorized a mother and child.

Bianca Mathias, who said of the incident, "I thought we were being robbed at first," had a gun pointed at her head and her doors attacked with a battering ram during the raid that caused extensive property damage — all of which could have been avoided had police looked up public address records.

"In a matter of seconds, the Anoka County Sheriff's Office SWAT Team - which does not wear body cameras - had achieved their goal of securing the home," reported A. J. Lagoe and Steve Eckert. "The problem? Records show authorities raided the wrong address. What's more, a KARE 11 investigation has uncovered evidence that the correct address was easily available in public records. But Minneapolis authorities who requested the raid apparently failed to check them."

According to the report, the real armed suspect they were looking for would have been easy to find. "KARE 11 quickly discovered a current address in St. Paul listed right on the state court's public website," said the report. "What's more, the man is on probation for a prior conviction and is required to keep his address updated with Anoka Community Corrections."

The report also noted the police didn't even keep a record of this incident after it happened.

"MPD would not have any reports related to this incident as it did not occur in Minneapolis," a city official told reporters. And "Except for the copy left with Bianca, there is no public record of the search warrant's existence."

This comes after a number of other high-profile policing problems in Minneapolis, including the murder of George Floyd and the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright after a veteran officer who heads the local police union allegedly mixed up her gun with her taser. It also comes as the entire practice of no-knock warrants, which are used disproportionately in communities of color, come under heavy scrutiny — they have led to multiple tragedies, including the killing of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky.