Grandmother wins $3.76M suit after bungled SWAT raid destroyed home to find iPhone
A Colorado grandmother has been awarded $3.76 million in damages after a SWAT team tore apart the Denver home where she raised her three children in search of a missing iPhone.
State jurors ruled last week that Denver Police Det. Gary Staab and his supervisor Sgt. Gregory Buschy violated Ruby Johnson’s civil rights when they used a “hastily-prepared” and “misleading” warrant to raid the 78-year-old’s home, the ACLU of Colorado announced.
The officers believed an iPhone 11 linked to a vehicle and arms theft was inside the home based solely on Apple tracking data — and tore down ceiling tiles, broke open Johnson’s garage door and beheaded a custom doll in the search for the phone on Jan. 4, 2022, prosecutors argued in a week-long trial.
“Not only was her privacy violated and invaluable possessions destroyed, but her sense of safety in her own home was ripped away, forcing her to move from the place where she had set her roots and built community in for 40 years,” Deborah Richardson, the executive director of the ACLU of Colorado said in a statement.
The owner of the a stolen white truck had told Det. Staab the day before the raid that he used the Find My app in an effort to locate his vehicle, and found that his iPhone was pinging at Johnson’s address, according to 9News.
Staab then used the claim as the basis for the raid on Johnson’s home, and was able to obtain a warrant approved by the District Attorney’s Office and signed off by a judge.
But in an ensuing lawsuit, Johnson argued that law enforcement should not rely solely on Apple tracking software, according to NBC News.
Attorneys working with the ACLU noted in the suit that the Find My app is only used to determine the approximate location of a device and “is not intended” to be used as a law enforcement tool, NBC News reports.
In fact, the Find My app highlighted an entire area stretching about six properties and four blocks when officers zeroed in on Johnson’s address for the warrant, according to an image included in the police affidavit, which was obtained by KUSA.
Shocking body camera footage showed at least eight officers dressed in tactical gear and carrying automatic rifles jumping out of an armored vehicle and approaching Johnson, who was just wearing a black bathrobe and a bonnet, the following day.
They then proceeded to use a battering ram to get into Johnson’s garage even though she explained to them how to open the door, and broke ceiling tiles to get into her attic — standing on top of one of her brand-new dining room chairs, according to a lawsuit Johnson filed in December 2022.
Officers also broke the head off a custom-made doll designed to look like her, complete with glasses, ACLU of Colorado legal director Tim MacDonald said.
But they found no evidence of the stolen goods, and Johnson was found to not have been involved in the theft, according to the Denver Post.
Johnson suffered ulcers and had trouble sleeping in the aftermath, and eventually had to move out of the home she toiled to afford as a single mother, attorneys argued.
“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,” said Richardson, the ACLU executive director.
The verdict marks the first victory for victims of police brutality under a new Colorado state law that allows police to be held liable for violating an individual’s civil rights under the state constitution.
But Staab and Buschy are still employed by the Denver police department, after an internal affairs investigation found no wrongdoing, according to NBC.
Instead, the police department created new training for officers and members of the DAs office to improve the process of seeking warrants based on phone apps, 9News reports.
The Post has reached out to the Denver Police Department for comment.
With Post wires
