On Friday, February 16, at 1:00pm, there was a frightening incident at our home, involving police. My husband Bradford, one of our freelancers, Wade, and I were working in our living room when the doorbell rang. Thinking it was the mailman, I answered the door to find two strange men, whom I didn't know. They did not immediately identify themselves. They were fighting on my front step over money, and one of them stated that the other one was looking to buy drugs from me. I was shocked, and called Bradford to the door for assistance.

Once he got to the landing, he spoke the guys for a second, and then called for Wade, and told me to call 911. Bradford and Wade went outside to restrain the two strangers. I went inside to call 911, and as I closed the door to our house, I heard Bradford telling the two strangers that the cops were on the way, and this would be settled when they arrived.

A very short time passed after I made the 911 call from our home phone, and I heard a bunch of abrasive yelling outside, so I opened the door to see what was happening. When I opened the door I was met by a guy with a gun in my face, saying, "GET THE F*** ON THE GROUND!!" Needless to say, I was terrified, and immediately complied. I did NOT know if he was a “good guy” or a “bad guy”. I thought we were being robbed. AFTER I was on the ground he said, "STAY ON THE GROUND! I'LL SHOOT YOU IN THE F***ING HEAD!!!" I stayed on the ground, hearing commotion, yelling and footsteps. Then I heard another voice saying, “GET UP! GET UP!! GET OUT OF THE WAY!!!” Afraid to move, I didn’t even realize they were talking to me, until I felt a hand on my arm (which left bruises), pulling me to my feet. I was led to the lower level of our home, where I was again ordered to the ground at gunpoint, and put in handcuffs. I was then led upstairs, and when we reached the landing, I asked the female officer escorting me, "Can someone please tell me what's going on here?" She, very rudely said, "Yeah, we got a call from this house." I answered, "I know, I'm the one who called you." She appeared surprised to hear that.

As I was escorted to the upper level of our home, I realized that Bradford and Wade were also in handcuffs. They had been ordered to the ground, and handcuffed outside. As they were lead into our house behind me, a man yelled, “NOBODY TALK TO EACH OTHER! WE’RE BRINGING YOU ALL UPSTAIRS. DO NOT TALK TO EACH OTHER!”

(Later, Bradford and Wade told me of their experience outside, prior to coming in the house. While they were holding the two strangers on the front step, the officers ran up the house, with guns drawn saying, “ALL YOU F***ERS ARE UNDER ARREST!! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!! YOU’RE ALL UNDER ARREST!” Wade, not knowing who these guys were or that they were talking to him, did not immediately comply. He was grabbed by the hair, and forcefully pulled to the ground.)

I was brought into our kitchen and requested to use the bathroom, to which the female officer rudely replied, "Well THAT'S not gonna happen!" We were all detained in our kitchen while 10 officers searched our home. Then, the female officer searched me, without asking for my consent. Here's the embarrassing part. Despite my need to use the bathroom, the female officer forced me to spread my legs to be searched, which caused me to wet my pants. This was and is very embarrassing and humiliating.

We were all detained in handcuffs for about 45 minutes while about 10 officers searched our house, without a search warrant. They found nothing. The officers finally checked our identifications, and sorted out that we are NOT drug dealers, and we did not even know the two strangers that suddenly appeared on our doorstep.

Then the three of us were all interviewed separately. Afterwards, the officers left our home as quickly as they invaded it, smiling and saying, “It’s Miller time!”, on their way out.

I can only thank God that our four children were not at home with this happened.

Nicole Thompson
coleylou@comcast.net