© AP Photo/Orlin WagnerBob Harte demonstrates how he was forced to the floor as masked SWAT agents raided his home.
Leawood - An innocent family was terrorized by a paramilitary SWAT raid on their home that lasted 2.5 hours; yielding nothing. It took the family 2 years and $25,000 to discover the real reason their house was targeted: discarded tea leaves in their garbage and the purchase of indoor gardening equipment.
'You're in the wrong house!'
Robert and Adlynn Harte discovered how easily an innocent family can become the targets of state-sanctioned violence when a SWAT team showed up at their home looking for contraband. The terrifying experience took place at 7:30 a.m. on April 20, 2012.
"It was just like on the cops TV shows,"
Mr. Harte told the AP. "It was like
Zero Dark Thirty ready to storm the compound."
The Harte home was surrounded by paramilitary police. There was a sudden pounding at the door, which Robert quickly answered. If he had delayed opening the door, a man carrying a battering ram was prepared to breach the front door.
Robert was pushed to the floor and made to clasp his hands behind his head as strange men poured into his home. Rifle-toting, armored troopers stood over him with rifles screaming, "Where are the children in the home?"
The Hartes' 7-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son had both been sleeping in their bedrooms, and were "shocked and frightened" as they were shuffled into the living room and made to watch as the invaders snooped through their belongings.
"We just kept saying 'You're in the wrong house!'"
Mrs. Harte told KSHB.
Johnson County Sheriff's deputies and police canines tore through the family's living space for 2.5 hours. They took interest with the Hartes' indoor garden, which was a
family project to grow vegetables such as tomatoes, squashes, and melons in the basement.The Hartes said that the deputies "made rude comments" and implied their son was using marijuana. Yet the deputies left empty handed. A receipt was left, saying "no items taken."
