ATLANTA — A metro Atlanta family said the FBI raided their house by mistake. Now, years later they are still fighting for the federal government to make things right.
Channel 2 investigative reporter Ashli Lincoln found out there is a federal law designed to help people in situations just like this.
The Tort Claims Act is meant to provide relief to victims of wrong raids, but the family Lincoln spoke to said so far, they have not seen a dime. They are hoping the U.S. Supreme Court will hear their case.
Gabriel Watson loves to run on the track and the football field.
“I had this like 60-yard run. I hit the outside. I had … I hurdled somebody,” Watson said.
His hurdle went viral on his Instagram.
Now, he’s hoping his race for justice will go viral as well.
When Gabriel was 8 years old, his life was turned upside down.
In 2017, Gabriel, his mom Curtrina Martin and Cliatt were startled awake by a flash bang grenade.
“I woke up and I thought we were being robbed,” Martin said.
“People screaming, banging on the door,” Gabriel Watson said.
“It sounded like a cannon,” said Toi Cliatt, the former boyfriend of Gabriel’s mother.
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Martin and Cliatt hid in a closet. They were reaching for their guns when the closet door opened.
“And I see about four weapons pointed directly at my head, and I’m just like, what is all this?” Cliatt said.
This wasn’t a robbery. FBI agents were raiding the family’s Southwest Atlanta home.
“They ran in my room pointing guns at my face,” Gabriel said.
It turned out to be a big mistake, only realized when an agent double-checked the mailbox numbers.
“He looked at the mailbox, came back and verified the address and told him basically, we’re at the wrong house. He stood me up and uncuffed me,” Cliatt said.
He said he believes his house was wrongly targeted because his home sits on the corner. The actual house that was supposed to be raided is just down the street, sitting on the corner, and is the same shade as his home.
“I heard the officers run out, hop in their vehicles, run to the next house, the correct house, and you just hear it all over again,” Martin said.
She said one agent came back, apologized, and left a card.
The FBI never returned their phone calls or compensated them for damage to the home and their mental health, even though there is a law designed to do just that.
“In 1974, Congress amended the Federal Tort Claims Act explicitly to make sure that victims of federal raids, innocent victims of federal raids, would have a right to relief,” said attorney Dylan Moore, with the Institute for Justice, who represents the family.
He told Channel 2 Action News that the family used the law to sue the feds, but the case was tossed out by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
“When government officials make mistakes like the mistake that happened here, the last people to bear the burden should be the innocent victims of those mistakes,” Moore said.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the lawsuit was barred by the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
“This doesn’t make a whole lot of sense because the Supremacy Clause is part of the Constitution that really just says when federal law and state law butt heads, the federal law wins,” Moore said.
“I was terrified. I thought we were going to die,” Gabriel said.
“This part chokes me up. It chokes me up all the time… that I couldn’t protect my child,” Martin said.
Now along with a bipartisan group of U.S. Congress members, they are hoping the U.S. Supreme Court will take up the case.
Channel 2 Action News asked the FBI about this case and if it tracks wrong house raids.
The FBI declined to comment on this case and said it does not track wrong-house raids.
“We don’t know exactly how common they are numbers-wise, but wrong house raids are troublingly common,” Moore said. “It could happen to anyone, really at any time.”
Now 15 years old, Gabriel said the same focus that won him a wall of track medals helped him overcome his fear of police officers.
“My favorite medal is this one. I got this one from State,” Gabriel said.
He is hoping his family crosses the finish line in their race for justice.
“I just hope the courts do accept this case because somebody has to take accountability for this,” Gabriel said.
He and his family hope to learn in January if the U.S. Supreme Court will hear their case.
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