New York Woman Dies After Home Raided
N E W Y O R K, May 16 -- A 57-year-old woman with a heart condition died today after police mistakenly raided her apartment with a stun grenade, authorities said.
Police were searching for a Harlem drug dealer's cache of drugs and weapons, but kicked down the door to the apartment of city employee Alberta Spruill instead, police said.
Within an hour, the woman entered cardiac arrest and died, police said.
The cops were led to the apartment by a registered, but apparently untested, informant, who had promised to show them the cache of an alleged drug dealer who lived in an apartment in the same building, police said.
Spruill had just dressed to go to her job at the city Department of Personnel, where she certified eligibility for persons placed on a list as candidates for civil service jobs, when the raiding party executed its "No Knock" warrant, tossed in the grenade and handcuffed the stunned woman to a chair.
Asked if she needed medical help by a captain who arrived and asked for her to be uncuffed, she said no, according to police.
An ambulance was called nonetheless when she told police of her condition. It arrived at 6:41 a.m. and a record of her vital signs was made. It indicated she appeared fine, police said.
She then suffered her heart attack while on the way to Harlem Hospital and was pronounced dead on arrival.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said that stun, or "flash bang," grenades have been used 85 times in New York City in 2003, largely in raids and to dislodge barricaded suspects. He said that police have executed more than 1,900 warrants this year and four of those were at the wrong address.
Kelly also said that the use of the grenades normally requires advance approval, which was not sought in this case. However, a supervisor can also authorize the use at the scene of a police incident if it appears the situation warrants it.
The lieutenant who made that judgment call in the case of Spruill has been placed on administrative leave.
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