A Denver judge awarded a 78-year-old grandmother $4 million after a botched SWAT raid on her home relied on Apple’s Find My iPhone technology to locate a stolen phone.
Police obtained a warrant based on pings from the app showing the phone near the woman’s home, but the app has limitations and spans multiple properties.
“I didn’t want them coming in there shooting,” Johnson said. “I came out, and then they asked me, ‘Do you have a gun on you?’ I said, ‘No, why would I have a gun on me?’”
Officers did not properly investigate and their affidavit omitted this context.
“This is a small step toward justice for Ms. Johnson, but it is a critical case under our state’s Constitution, for the first time affirming that police can be held accountable for invading someone’s home without probable cause,” said Tim Macdonald, ACLU of Colorado legal director. (Trending: New Bombshell FBI Docs Blow Trump Case Wide Open)
A jury found two officers acted with willful disregard for the woman’s constitutional rights.
During the raid, police detained the woman for hours and caused unnecessary damage inside, breaking furniture and using a broom handle to smash the ceiling.
“The officers were acting based on a search warrant that was approved and signed by the District Attorney’s Office and a judge,” a Denver Police Department spokesperson wrote.
“Though the outcome of this trial will not fully undo the harm of that fateful day, it puts us one step closer to justice for her and others who have found their lives turned upside down because of police misconduct,” ACLU of Colorado Executive Director Deborah Richardson stated.
No stolen items were found. This was the first case litigated under a 2020 Colorado law allowing citizens to sue individual officers for constitutional violations.
The ruling affirms police can be held accountable for invading a home without probable cause.
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