BY ZLATI MEYER • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • January 30, 2009 A Detroit woman and her seven children ages 9-18 are suing the Detroit Police Department for $15 million, because they allege officers attacked them without provocation in their home earlier this month.
Tasha Flowers said Thursday that approximately 14 police officers barged into her home in the 19000 block of Shrewsbury about 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 3 without a search warrant, demanding to know where drugs and guns were. After she explained she didn't have any, she said they twisted her arm and tried to handcuff her, while her children and two of their friends were there.
The following day, a police officer came back with $25 gift certificates to Wal-Mart and Target, $100 in cash and the promise to bring a cashmere coat because he felt bad about the alleged attack, Flowers said.
"It was awful; it was a nightmare," she said. "Every time I think about it, I see him punching my kids."
The officers terrorized the 10 people in the house for close to two hours, court documents indicate.
Sandra Flowers, 13, who suffered bruises to her neck and chest, said officers used the N-word during the attack.
"I saw them beating on them, stomping on them, kicking," she said.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Wayne County Circuit Court, doesn't identify any of the officers, except a Lt. Rashawn, because the police department hasn't released the runs sheets, attorney Karri Mitchell explained.
"It's under investigation by Internal Affairs," Detroit Police Sgt. Eren Stephens Bell said Thursday.