COPS' FATAL DRUG RAID MAY HAVE HIT WRONG HOUSE

Nov. 30 - Did Denver police target the wrong house in a "no-knock" drug
raid in which they shot a man to death?

And if so, did they raid that house because of falsified information on a
police affidavit?

Those are among the questions being asked in the police and district
attorney's investigation into the Sept. 29 raid at 3738 High St. in
northeast Denver.

Ismael Mena, 45, was shot eight times by police officers when he reportedly
refused to drop a pistol he was pointing at SWAT officers who had just
broken in the front door of his home. Mena died at the scene.

Now, some officers, according to a Monday television report, are
questioning whether some information in an affidavit supporting the search
warrant was fabricated, questioning whether they entered the wrong house
and killed Mena.

The allegations were raised Monday on KCNC-Channel 4 by reporter Brian
Maass, suggesting that police may have intended to hit a neighboring house,
where neighbors say drug sales were taking place. He said officers question
whether some of the information came out of "thin air."

Police smashed their way into the High Street home about 1:50 p.m. looking
for crack cocaine. In an upstairs bedroom, Mena confronted officers and
exchanged gunfire with them, police said. None of the officers was injured
in the shootout.

The officer requesting the warrant, Joseph Bini, said he saw a confidential
informant he was working with go to 3738 High St. - accurately describing
the house in the affidavit - where the informant said he or she bought a
"rock" of crack.

Maass' report raised the question of whether Bini actually saw the
informant enter that address. Bini told Maass he did not know much about
the investigation into the raid.

Bini could not be reached Monday night.

No drugs were found in the house, and an autopsy showed that Mena had no
drugs in his system.

"There is an internal-affairs case into the shooting and the whole
incident," Denver plice spokeswoman Mary Thomas said Monday. "We never
comment on internal affairs and internal inves tigations. ... It's been
handed over to the district attorney's office."

A spokeswoman for the district attorney had little to add.

"In regards to the issues surrounding the warrant, the district attorney is
aware of that issue and it is part of the investigation that is still
ongoing. We can't say anything until the review is competed," said
spokeswoman Lynn Kimbrough.

Capt. Vince DiManna, commander of the SWAT team, said his officers rely on
the information in such warrants and "trust the informa tion that is in the
affidavit has been scrutinized by the district attorneys, supervisors and
the judge."

The SWAT team executes more than 200 immediate-entry warrants a year, he said.

"I don't want any of them to end in a shooting. I don't want my guys shot
at, nor do I want them to have to shoot at anyone. But we are commanded by
the judge to serve that warrant, and if there is erroneous information, we
would never know about that."