Acting on a search warrant on May 23 last year, a SWAT team converged on a South Salinas home in search of a suspect, only to later discover they had the wrong house.
The couple living in the home at the time, Alberto and Martha Alvarado, along with their 14-year-old granddaughter filed a complaint this morning in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, alleging their civil rights were violated in the botched raid, and accusing members of the Salinas, Gilroy and Morgan Hill police departments of “excessive and unjustified force.”
The man they were looking for, Omar Ramirez, had lived at or visited a home next door to the Alvarado residence at 226 and 228 Park Street, according to the document.
The complaint says the couple was held at gunpoint and forced to lie prone on the driveway, after which they were handcuffed. It also states Alberto Alvarado was on dialysis for kidney failure, and that police ignored pleas from Martha that Alberto not be forced to lie on the ground, as he could suffer an infection to his catheter site. The 14-year-old, according to the complaint, was also handcuffed and kept separated from her grandparents.
The City of Salinas was named in the complaint, along with the cities of Morgan Hill and Gilroy. Several officers from those departments were named as defendants, but the complaint states that Salinas has failed to respond to a California Public Record Act request to release the names of the Salinas Police officers involved.
The Alvarados also allege that their residence, garage and studio apartment were ransacked, “making a mess and damaging” their property, and that police remained at their home for two hours, “long after they knew or should have known that they had raided the wrong residence.”
Salinas City Attorney Chris Callihan says the city has not yet been served with the complaint and he was unable to comment on it.
The Alvarados are seeking an unspecified amount of money in the suit. They're being represented by Oakland-based attorney Michael Haddad.
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