6 MONTHS AFTER BOTCHED DRUG RAID, POLICE STILL ARE PAYING FOR MISTAKE

Maria Flores had just gone to bed when the smoke bomb shattered a window of
her Southeast Austin home.

By the time she reached the front door, Flores said, the Austin SWAT team
had kicked it in -- guns drawn and aimed at her head. Officers shoved her
to the ground, bound her hands and ransacked her house, searching for kilos
of cocaine and the violent criminals who trafficked the narcotic.

But the SWAT team had the wrong house. Next door, the intended targets of
the raid were watching and, police say, ditching their drugs.

Now, almost six months since the May 16 raid, the Police Department has
publicly called the incident "a horrible mistake."

"Unfortunately we can't take it back," Assistant Police Chief Jim Fealy
said. "We violated that woman's privacy and needlessly by mistake."

In the two weeks after the raid, Fealy said, the Police Department
apologized and paid to replace the windows and doors broken during the
raid, as well as some miniblinds singed by the smoke bomb. He said police
have offered to pay Flores' medical bills -- she was taken to the hospital
with an internal bruise she received when the officers swarmed into her
living room.

"For about 20 minutes, I was on the floor crying, wondering, 'What's going
on?' " Flores said. "I'm just glad my grandkids weren't there."

Flores, who said she can't work because of the injury to her side, has
hired a lawyer to sue the Police Department.

Fealy said the mistake occurred because of "sloppy police work."

Flores' house at 1501 Tall Shadows Drive is nearly identical to the
intended target of the raid, the house at 1503 Tall Shadows Drive.

"Unfortunately, we hit the wrong one," Fealy said.

Police did make some arrests next door that night, but the details of that
investigation -- which Fealy said was still open -- were unavailable Friday
night, as was the search warrant that would have explained the reason for
the raid.

"We were talking about a fairly substantial amount of dope and some
certified bad folks," he said. "We got the people, but we missed the dope.

"We have tried beyond all reason to do the right thing," he said of the
situation with Flores. "We know it's an unforgivable mistake."