RALEIGH, N.C. — Settlement negotiations on a federal lawsuit involving fired Raleigh police Detective Omar Abdullah have stalled after city officials balked at making changes on search warrant raids, according to court documents.
"Plaintiffs are concerned that the RPD is routinely violating citizens' constitutional rights when executing warrants and through this litigation, seek to ensure that no other citizens of Raleigh experience the terror of having their homes illegally raided by SWAT officers," states a filing in the litigation brought by 10 Black women and children who say their homes were raided without warning.
Plaintiffs Yolanda Irving, a mother of five who drives a Wake County bus for children with special needs; her three children, who were home the day police searched the house; another family; and a teen filed the lawsuit in February. They contend Abdullah and other officers plotted to fabricate heroin trafficking offenses that led to an illegal raid, excessive force and false imprisonment of the women and children.
