SAPD TO PROBE STORMING OF WRONG HOUSE

San Antonio police, who continued to apologize Thursday for storming
the wrong Southwest Side duplex, said they'll meet next week to review
the foul-up that sent an innocent man to a hospital with minor injuries.

Officials said SWAT team members apparently were confused in the
darkness Wednesday night by the cluster of look-alike dwellings in the
5900 block of Fairshire Road, even though officers spent two days
watching a duplex there in an effort to serve a warrant on a man they
suspected of dealing drugs.

"Everything was done by procedure," Deputy Police Chief Rudy Gonzales
said of the SWAT unit that won state honors the past two years. "It
was just an honest mistake made by SWAT officers at the location."

He said that if any recommendations resulted from his review, they
would be forwarded to Chief Albert Ortiz.

The officers who mistakenly crashed through a rear sliding glass door
will remain on duty while the incident is reviewed, he said.

Ortiz couldn't be reached for comment.

Mayor Ed Garza said Thursday that he hadn't spoken with Ortiz about
the mix-up, but that he had asked for a full report.

"I am not ready to make any comments until I've seen the official
report," he said.

It began about 8 p.m. Wednesday when a team of SWAT officers stormed
through a glass door at a home on Fairshire Road without warning, said
the three cousins who live there.

The cousins said officers shot out the door with soft bullets and
threw in a concussion grenade that left a hole and a black scar on the
wall.

The men, who work at a Mexican restaurant, said they were watching
television when the officers stomped in, flinging punches, kicks and
profanities. The cousins said they thought they were being robbed.

Marcos Huerta, 19, was taken to a hospital where doctors stitched a
wound above a puffy eye. Salvador Huerta, 20, was left with a chipped
front tooth and a bruised face. Both said they fell to the floor
without resistance and covered their heads as officers hit them at
least 20 times.

The third cousin, Vicente Huerta, 17, fled out the front door and was
not harmed. An uncle, Jose Luis Alvarez, 40, said his nephews planned
to contact an attorney.

"I think they should have investigated before they came in," he said
in Spanish. "With pleasure, people are welcome to the house. Just
knock on the door."

Not until after the Huerta cousins were handcuffed and sat down on the
sofa did police realize that they had goofed.

Gonzales said the confusion occurred because in the dark alley, the
duplexes all looked the same. He said SWAT officers were told to enter
from the alley and to look for a red car in the rear driveway.

"The SWAT officer saw the red car and thought that was the residence
where the warrant was to be served," Gonzales said.

Later, after the scuffle, Officer Darron Lyn Phillips and other
officers went to the correct address two doors down, knocked on the
door and arrested the suspect without incident.

When asked why officers hadn't knocked in the first place, Gonzales
said police thought the suspect inside the house might have a gun
tucked inside his waistband.

He said the element of surprise dissipated after people heard the
commotion and began filling the street.

Police arrested Richard Anguiano, 21, of the 200 block of Refugio. He
was charged with possession of cocaine with intent to deliver and
possession of marijuana. He was being held in Bexar County Jail in
lieu of posting $52,000 bond.

Inside the second duplex on Fairshire Road, police said they found 86
grams of marijuana, 40 grams of cocaine, drug paraphernalia, and
several rounds of ammunition.

No weapons were found.

Will Harrell, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union
of Texas, said mistakes like this one are not uncommon. He said they
are generally the result of an increased militarization by police.

"For the past decade or more, we've seen a shift from the notion of
community-oriented police models to a militarized model, where the
police operate with a siege mentality," he said.