By Billy Binion, Reason
Hernan Palma is suing after he says he was punched in the face and his family restrained by cops during a botched no-knock drug raid.
Officers with Maryland’s Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD) allegedly executed an illegal no-knock raid against the wrong residence, assaulting a man and terrorizing his family in their home, according to a new lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland.
The intended target was an alleged drug dealer.
Police instead raided the home of Hernan Palma, a Montgomery County firefighter who says he was awoken by “what sounded like an explosion” at 4:30 a.m. on September 13, 2019, as cops beat down his front door. He assumed they were burglars, as he has no recollection of the group announcing themselves as police officers.
“Although it was dark, Hernan could see masked men with guns pouring into his living room and the hallway leading to his daughter’s bedroom,” the suit reads. “As [he] hurriedly turned the corner of the hallway, he felt a long-barreled rifle push into his chest. Afraid of being killed, Hernan grabbed the barrel of the rifle and pushed it away from him. He was then immediately tackled by three or four of the Police Officer Defendants.”
