SWAT Team Collapses House With Explosives During Standoff

"For some reason they decide[d] to blow a hole into the floor to get tear gas into the basement."
Police State USA
Nov. 20, 2014

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO — A police standoff reached a dramatic conclusion when over thirty homes were evacuated and a SWAT team used explosives to blow through the structure of the home they were surrounding, inadvertently causing the floor to collapse.

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A lawsuit has been filed over the botched raid, which took place in May 2012.  An arrest warrant was issued for Mr. Ronald Brown, 54, after he had allegedly fired a gun into the ground during a disagreement on May 27.

Around 4:30 p.m. on May 29 — two days after the alleged incident — police made their move on Mr. Brown’s home on Rusty Nail Point.   A SWAT team was deployed because police had intel that Brown was a 20-year Army veteran and “was hostile towards law enforcement” after being charged with “harassing” a TSA agent in 2010.

The sight of armored vehicles and paramilitary officers was not enough to get Mr. Brown to exit his home, and a standoff ensued for several hours.  Around 6:00 p.m. police cordoned off the neighborhood and forced approximately 33 neighboring homes to clear out for the duration of their operation.

The SWAT team knocked down the fence that surrounded Mr. Brown’s home and launched teargas canisters through the windows, but Brown holed up in his basement and refused to surrender.

The siege continued until the early morning hours. Finally, the SWAT team decided to try something it had never attempted, even in training.  The team set up explosives on Mr. Brown’s house.

“For some reason they decide to blow a hole into the floor to get tear gas into the basement,” noted Josh Tolini, one of Mr. Brown’s attorneys, according to the Colorado Springs Gazette.   Tolini added that the explosives were used while a military robot was en route from Fort Carson.

The bomb blast was so great that it caused the floor to collapse along with part of the building.  Mr. Brown was crushed with debris.

Thirty minutes later Mr. Brown was apprehended, after his bleeding and unconscious body endured more trauma from several concussion grenades thrown by police.  Brown was found with a broken leg and a gas mask.

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FOLLOW-UP:

 In September 2014, Ron Brown sued CSPD Chief Pete Carey, "¨Deputy Chief Vince Niski, and eight other police officers, alleging the use of excessive force.

The Civil Action Investigation Committee came to the defense of the police, claiming that “All officers were acting in the course and scope of their employment and in good faith during the incident.”  The committee further stated that, “As usual, it is recommended that the city reserve the right not to pay any award of punitive damages.”

The litigation is currently pending.













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