The family of a man fatally shot in New Mexico by police officers responding to the wrong house sued the department for wrongful death and other claims in federal court, according to a complaint filed on Friday in the U.S. District Court of New Mexico.
Robert Dotson, 52, was shot and killed in the doorway of his house in Farmington after local police officers opened fire after they said they saw he had a gun.
Police knocked on Dotson’s door at 11:30 p.m. on April 5, according to the complaint filed in court. Dotson grabbed his gun from the top of the refrigerator and went to open the front door. The complaint says “police vehicles were parked down the street and did not have their lights on.”
Three officers standing outside the door immediately opened fire, according to the complaint. Dotson was hit by 12 bullets. His wife, Kimberly, wearing just her robe, came down the stairs to find out what happened, the complaint says, and the officers fired an additional 19 bullets at her but missed.
New Mexico State Police issued a statement saying that Farmington police were responding to a domestic violence call but went to the wrong address.
Not to dismiss what happened here. But who is still opening their door when random strangers bang on it?
Yes, because I’m sure the cops just went away when he didn’t answer the first ten times they pounded on it like they were trying to break it down. Cops have a terrifying way of “knocking.”
It’s supposed to be, it’s psychological. But you are not legally obligated to open it. If they have a good enough reason to be there, they will let themselves in. Otherwise keep your mouth shut, the lights off, and out of sight so you don’t give them that reason; and they can fuck off.