Brantford family 'traumatized' after apartment mistakenly raided by cops, lawyer says

Brantford Police Service headquarters on Elgin Street in Brantford, Ont., are seen on Nov. 23, 2012. (CTV Kitchener)

A Brantford family is ‘shaken and traumatized’ after tactical officers mistakenly burst into their apartment with guns drawn during a botched drug raid last week, their lawyer says.

The family of four, including a six-year-old and a 13-year-old, were at home on Sept. 8 when members of the Brantford Police Service Tactical Intelligence Generated Enforcement and Response Unit breached their front door.

The family’s lawyer Mike Smitiuch says that police executed what is known as a “no-knock warrant” in search of drugs but simply had the wrong address.

They burst through the door and handcuffed the parents before eventually realizing they were in the wrong apartment, he said.

“Needless to say, it was shocking and traumatizing for the family,” he told CP24.com on Wednesday. “They (the parents) said they did nothing wrong and, you know, that they had the wrong people. It did sort itself out eventually, and ever since then, the police have been trying to make amends. But this is not something that will easily be forgotten by the family.”

A police news release issued on Sept. 8 revealed that officers executed three search warrants at addresses on Darling Street earlier that day as part of a drug trafficking investigation known as “Project Viking,” ultimately seizing a quantity of fentanyl and methamphetamine with a street value in excess of $630,000.

The release, however, did not make any mention of the mistaken raid of the apartment belonging to Smitiuch’s clients.

The mix-up was only made public the following day when Brantford Police Chief Rob Davis issued a statement acknowledging that the incident “would have been unsettling for those impacted” and promising a full investigation.

"Transparency and accountability are core values of the Brantford Police Service and, as Chief, I am conducting a Chief’s Investigation to determine how this type of error could have occurred and want to assure residents of Brantford that measures will be put in place to make sure this does not occur again,” Davis said at the time.

At this point it is not clear what led police to the incorrect address.

Smitiuch said there is an underground garage connecting his client’s building with another high-rise and he speculated that it is possible the officers didn’t realize they were entering the wrong building.

“They had the right apartment number but it was the wrong building,” he said. “I am trying to get some answers as to how this could happen and trying to get them if needed some assistance. The main goal, though, is that the family just wants to see a thorough investigation into this so that it will not happen again in the future. They just do not want another family to go through what they went through.”

Police previously said that ‘Project Viking” was initiated in May in response to reports that a male from the Greater Toronto Area was attending Brantford and surrounding jurisdictions “in order to supply the area with fentanyl and methamphetamine.”

A 34-year-old Brampton man was taken into custody following the raids on Sept. 8. Police said that a large quantity of drugs was seized, including 1204 grams of suspected fentanyl and 772 grams of suspected methamphetamine.