Ready, Fire, Aim!

The Njoroge family legally immigrated to the U.S. from Kenya. Fourteen months later a large squad of riot-geared Montgomery County police officers broke into their apartment at 4:30 a.m., put the mother on the floor in handcuffs, broke into the bedroom and put the 13- and 16- year-old girls on the floor in handcuffs, ransacked the apartment—finding nothing —and then realized that their search warrant said apartment 201, not 202. Oops!

After pre-litigation negotiations failed to obtain a reasonable offer of compensation we sued Montgomery County and the officers involved for breaking into the wrong home. After the court denied the County’s motion to dismiss the case the County agreed to settle.