RAID GOES BAD

Cops Storm Wrong Apartment; Woman Dies Of Heart Attack

A 57-year-old Hamilton Heights woman died of a heart attack Friday after
police who thought her apartment was a gun and drug stash broke down her
door, tossed in a "flash grenade," stormed inside with guns drawn and
handcuffed her before realizing they were in error.

"Obviously we're deeply saddened. This is a tragedy. This should not have
happened. No question about that," Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said of the
death of Alberta Spruill, who worked for the Department of Citywide
Administrative Services. At a news conference, Kelly offered "condolences
and sympathy" on behalf of the Police Department and a personal apology to
Spruill's family.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, calling the incident a "terrible episode," said his
heart went out to the dead woman's relatives. "I join all city employees in
grieving the loss of our dedicated and hard-working colleague," the mayor
said.

Spruill went into cardiac arrest about a half-hour after 12 police officers
- - acting on an informant's mistaken tip - raided her sixth-floor apartment
at 310 W. 143rd St. about 6:10 a.m. She died shortly before 8 a.m. at Harlem
Hospital Center.

A man who police said they believed was using Spruill's apartment as a drugs
cache, with a vicious dog or dogs on guard, was already in police custody,
arrested on a drug charge Monday.

Melvin Boswell, 35, lives in the same building as Spruill, but on the ninth
floor.

Kelly promised a "thorough investigation" - a pledge also made by the mayor
- - and said all aspects of the raid are under investigation, from the
reliability of a confidential informant who first led police to Spruill's
apartment, to subsequent efforts by police to confirm the informant's tip,
to the decision by police to use the flash grenade.

Kelly immediately placed on administrative leave the police lieutenant who
decided to use the flash grenade, a small device that emits a loud sound and
flash of light, and banned use of flash grenades departmentwide. The device
was used in this instance, he said, because police believed there may have
been people wielding guns, or there may have been dogs, in the apartment.

At the afternoon news conference, Kelly gave this description of events
leading to the raid:

On May 5, a confidential informant walked into the 25th Precinct and told
police that a man he bought drugs from was storing cocaine, heroin and guns
in apartment 6F at 310 W. 143rd St. The informant named Boswell, who police
said has six prior arrests on drug charges and another arrest on a weapons
charge.

The informant took police to the building, pointed out the door to apartment
6F, and gave police the apartment's layout, Kelly said. The informant said
Boswell kept dogs inside that apartment and was known to carry guns.

On May 6, police obtained a search warrant for apartment 6F but did not
execute it at that time.

On Monday, Boswell was arrested on drug charges, giving his address as 310
W. 143rd Street. "That arrest added credibility to the informant's
information," Kelly said.Friday at 6:10 a.m., six officers from the
Emergency Service Unit broke through Spruill's door, and a flash grenade was
thrown into the apartment. At the time, Kelly said, Spruill was entering the
main room, preparing to head to her job downtown at 1 Centre St.

The explosion shattered the glass top on a table and caused the items on it
to tumble to the floor, but there was no other damage to the apartment,
Kelly said.

The six ESU officers ran into the apartment, placed Spruill in a chair and
handcuffed her, Kelly said. They were followed by six officers from the 25th
Precinct.

The cops quickly searched the apartment. They found no drugs or guns or dog.

A 25th Precinct captain then entered, realized the confidential informant's
tip must have been wrong, and ordered the officers to remove Spruill's
handcuffs, Kelly said. "Police apologized for the entry and asked Ms.
Spruill if she needed medical attention," Kelly said. "She refused, but
mentioned that she had a heart condition. [Emergency Medical Services] was
requested at 6:32 a.m. They arrived at 6:41 a.m. Ms. Spruill's vital signs
were taken. They appeared to be normal, but then she appeared to be having
difficulty breathing. She was taken to the ambulance, where she went into
cardiac arrest. She was pronounced dead at 7:50 this morning at Harlem
Hospital."

Kelly was not able Friday to answer several questions about the events
leading up to the raid or the raid itself.

Kelly said the man who gave police the information was "registered" with
police as a "confidential informant." He was not sure if the man ever gave
police any information that actually was used to make an arrest.

Before the raid, police in the 25th Precinct had identified Spruill as the
apartment's sole occupant. Kelly did not know what, if anything, officers
had done to tie her to the informant's tip that her home was being used as a
hiding place for drugs and guns.

He did not know if officers from the 25th Precinct, before conducting the
raid, had notified officers in the 32nd Precinct, where the raid took place,
as is standard procedure.

"We're looking at the process used to identify the apartment, if any other
follow-up observations were conducted or could have been conducted, the
judgment of the officers involved as to the use of this flash grenade,"
Kelly said. "So we're looking at the totality of the circumstances."

The department has carried out more than 1,900 search warrants this year,
Kelly said, and only four of those have been conducted at wrong locations,
none resulting in injuries.

Boswell's distraught girlfriend, Isabel Llanos, 48, said Friday evening that
Boswell has used crack and has an 11-week-old pit bull mix named "Bighead,"
but that he doesn't have a gun. A tearful Llanos accused police of "making
him out to be a killer" to cover their mistake.