Three police officers in Metro Nashville have restricted their police force after forcing them to open the door of a family home to a suspect who no longer lives there.
Interim Police Chief John Drake said on Wednesday the officers conducted a raid at the home at 6 a.m. Tuesday in pursuit of a teenager who wanted to be in an investigation into property crime, CNN reported.
Officers announced themselves before using a ram frame to force the door open, Drake said.
“In any case, this should not have happened,” Drake said. “This mother and her children would not be subject to this kind of behavior by a police department.”
The police later the teenager learned not to live at the address for several months.
The three officers acted in response to “leaked information,” Drake said, adding that video footage of the incident “disturbed” him.
According to the footage, a young woman can be heard inside asking, “What’s going on?” before she cries, “I have no clothes on!”
The woman also said there were children in the house. Drake said the family had lived there for at least four months.
“Even when the mother approaches the door and you can hear her remarks, with communication with the officers, we can not come to the conclusion why they can not have a little more time at 06:05. evening, “he said.
Drake said officers could have used traditional surveillance practices to make sure the person they were looking for was still at the property, adding that he had drilled de-escalation tactics in the department.
The incident has led to a change in departmental procedure in which searches must be approved by a deputy head at the executive level, Drake said.
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