Woman sues LAPD over SWAT raid allegedly triggered by confusion over similar name

A Fox Hills woman who says she was woken up, held at gunpoint and handcuffed by a SWAT team is suing Los Angeles and the city’s Police Department, claiming officers targeted her house by mistake.The case is the latest in a series of lawsuits against the LAPD alleging civil rights violations during home raids.

The department has paid out at least 10 settlements dating to 2018 totaling more than $2 million, according to public records analyzed by The Times.Court filings say the recent incident happened last year on Nov.13 at around 4 a.m., when Danine Dean, 48, was home alone, while her teenage son stayed at his father’s house.According to her lawsuit, filed this month in federal court in Los Angeles, Dean heard a pounding on her door and she opened up to see assault rifles pointed at her.

She claims she was escorted outside, in her pajamas and barefoot, and detained for more than an hour while the SWAT team searched her home.California A lawsuit by former SWAT officer Timothy Colomey accused leaders of the LAPD tactical unit of working to conceal unlawful killings and retaliating against him when he spoke to internal investigators.In an interview with The Times, Dean said three detectives arrived and told her there had been robberies in the area.

They walked her back inside and sat her down, she recalled, before proceeding to search her apartment, emptying every drawer and compartment.She said the detectives showed her a picture of a young black male and asked whether she had ever seen him.

She didn’t recognize him — but they did have something in common.“They told me the person’s name was Devante Dean and we had the same last name, so it happened to be a coincidence,” Dean said.

“My last name isn’t even all that uncommon.”At first the investigators asked whether they were related, Dean claims — then they tried a different line of questioning.“The [detectives] started to ask if my son could’ve known him or if he was one of his friends,�...