Greater Manchester Police has agreed to pay compensation after an innocent teenager recovering from cancer was marched out of his home in just his underpants. The incident in Salford, happened as gun cops hunted a man believed to armed and dangerous and the force insists its actions were "lawful and appropriate".
Solicitors for the teenager and his family argued in a legal case there was no reasonable basis to remove them at gunpoint. Without admitting liability GMP has agreed to pay several thousand pounds in an out of court settlement.
Officers went to a house where they thought the target might be. He was not there, so without a search warrant, they stormed the house next door where the 19-year-old who was in remission from bone cancer lived with his family.
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The teenager had undergone chemotherapy treatment and had also recently had major surgery to his left leg, leaving him with restricted mobility. The family pleaded his innocence and told officers he needed to put on a special protective boot and get dressed. But they ignored them and marched him outside.
The incident happened on September 29th 2019, when the family, a mother, her 18-year-old daughter who has learning difficulties, the son and two of his friends suddenly became aware of a police incident on their street.
The mother, aged 49, said: "My son hadn’t been out of bed long because he’d recently had an operation on his leg. His friends had come to see him. I suddenly heard all this commotion outside and when I looked out of the window I saw loads of police cars and armed police going into the house which adjoins ours.
"Of course, like anyone would, I was having a nosey and seeing what was going on. The next thing I knew they were in my garden, had broken down my fence and were pointing their guns though my window, shouting that they were armed police and that we needed to come out immediately.
“I’d only recently bought a puppy so I asked if I could just put him in his cage as not to scare him but they didn’t listen. As soon as I opened the door they marched me and my daughter outside. The next thing I knew they’d frog-marched my son out into the street as well and he was still just in his underwear.
"I said to them that he needed to put some clothes on as he was in remission from cancer and his boot because of his operation, but they just ignored me. It was petrifying for us all and I think it is disgusting that the police can do that. Nobody showed us a warrant, and they said they’d been acting on fast-time information, but that doesn’t give them the right to do this to people.
“We were later told that they were apparently looking for a dangerous person, but again, how can they raid a home just because it is next door. We didn’t hardly know our neighbours at all as they had only recently moved in.”
As part of a legal case for the family led by civil liberties specialists, Hudgell Solicitors, it was alleged the property had been searched ‘without good reason and without a warrant’ Alexandra Eldon, a specialist in handling cases relating to actions against the police, claimed the force had committed offences of trespass to land and damage to property, with claims made for physical injury, emotional distress, embarrassment and breaches of human rights.
She said: “This was a case where the police failed to follow procedures and ultimately acted beyond their powers in terms of searching premises and detaining people. Police have the power to search the premises of a person who is under arrest, yet at no time were our clients arrested. If the police were in pursuit of a suspect and needed to search our client’s home, then they could have just asked to enter and take a look around.
“There was no reasonable basis to remove them from the property by gunpoint and detain them in the street in the view neighbours while a search of the property was conducted. For the young man it caused a lot of embarrassment particularly. He does not normally show people his scars and wears a hat due to undergoing chemotherapy. All his neighbours could see what was happening to him and his family.”
Damages settlements have been agreed out of court for the mother and son. Greater Manchester Police has also offered compensation to the woman’s daughter, and her claim is ongoing. The mother of the family said: “This has had a huge impact on us all and I think it’s disgusting that police think they can do this without any thoughts for the consequences. We’ve never had an apology and they’ve just made us these financial offers so they can close it off and move on.
"It’s not the embarrassment of being hauled out into the street, it’s the impact it had on my children. My daughter found it petrifying and my son has been left suffering with anxiety ever since. It was awful for him given all he has been through.”
A GMP spokesman said: "While we believe our actions during the search for a potentially armed suspect were lawful and appropriate, we have agreed a settlement with the claimants given that the sensitive nature of some of the information involved in this operation would not be suitable for disclosure in open court."
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