A Colorado grandmother has won a $3.76 million jury verdict after her home was mistakenly searched in a bungled 2022 SWAT raid for a stolen truck, guns and an iPhone based on information from Apple’s “Find My” app.
A jury sided with Ruby Johnson, 78, and determined Friday that Denver police Det. Gary Staab and Sgt. Gregory Buschy violated the state’s constitution by “hastily seeking, obtaining and executing a search warrant" on her home without probable cause or proper investigation, according to a Monday statement from the ACLU of Colorado, which filed a lawsuit on behalf of Johnson.
A “SWAT team ransacked Ms. Johnson’s home of 43 years based on an alleged location ping from an iPhone’s 'Find My' app that the officers did not understand and for which they had no training. Ms. Johnson lived alone in her Montbello home and was in her robe, bonnet, and slippers when she was subjected to the terrifying police raid,” according to the ACLU. “Donning body armor and automatic weapons, police officers searched Ms. Johnson’s home for stolen items from an incident that she had absolutely nothing to do with.”
The verdict included $1.26 million in compensatory damages and $2.5 million in punitive damages.
A representative with ACLU of Colorado told NBC News on Tuesday the city of Denver will be responsible for paying the $3.76 million. However, Staab and Buschy, may have to pay up to $25,000, if the city proves in a separate lawsuit, the officers acted in bad faith, the ACLU said.
Attorneys listed in court documents for Staab and Buschy were not immediately reached for comment Tuesday afternoon.
Denver police, who were not named as defendants in the lawsuit, declined to comment on the jury’s verdict.
However, a spokesperson for the department said in an email on Tuesday, an internal affairs review of the incident resulted in no formal discipline for the officers. Staab and Buschy remain employed with the department, the spokesperson said.
The lawsuit was brought under a provision of a sweeping police reform bill passed in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd. State lawmakers created a right to sue individual police officers for state constitutional violations in state court.
Before the new law, people alleging police misconduct could only file lawsuits in federal court. But federal cases have become difficult to pursue, in part because of the legal doctrine known as qualified immunity, which shields officials, including police, from lawsuits seeking monetary damages as a result of actions taken during the course of their jobs.
The warrant was issued for Johnson’s home was based on a “bare-bones, misleading affidavit,” according to Johnson’s suit filed in late 2022.
It was issued the day after a white truck was reported stolen from the parking garage of a Denver hotel. The owner told police that the truck contained six firearms — including a tactical military-style rifle — two drones, $4,000 cash and an iPhone 11, according to the lawsuit.
Staab interviewed the truck's owner who said he had used the “Find My” app to search for his stolen belongings and that it had twice pinged Johnson’s address the day before, the lawsuit said. Staab then used that claim as the basis for the raid, according to a copy of the affidavit obtained by NBC affiliate KUSA of Denver.
The suit alleges there were problems relying on Apple technology. Staab allegedly failed to try to independently corroborate the alleged location of the stolen items, it stated. Also, the “Find My” app is used to determine approximate locations and “is not intended as a law enforcement tool," the lawsuit said.
The area that was highlighted on the app as the possible location of the phone, stretched at least six properties and four blocks, according to an image on the complaint that was also featured on the affidavit obtained by KUSA.
A statement from Denver police had said the SWAT team was involved “due to allegations that six guns had been stolen and may have been located in Ms. Johnson’s home.”