Hi there,

This month, Democracy Now! marks 29 years of fearless independent journalism. Presidents have come, gone and come back again, but Democracy Now! remains, playing the same critical role in our democracy: shining a spotlight on corporate and government abuses of power and raising up the voices of scholars, advocates, scientists, activists, artists and ordinary people working for a more peaceful and just world. If our journalism is important to you, please donate today in honor of our 29th anniversary. Every dollar makes a difference. Thank you so much.

Democracy Now!

Amy Goodman

Non-commercial news needs your support.

We rely on contributions from you, our viewers and listeners to do our work. If you visit us daily or weekly or even just once a month, now is a great time to make your monthly contribution.

Please do your part today.

Donate

Harlem Woman Dies After Botched Police Drug Raid

Listen
Media Options
Listen

Related

    Early Friday morning, New York police raid a Harlem apartment, knock down the door, throw in a stun grenade and handcuff the occupant. She dies of a heart attack two hours later. The police now say they raided the wrong apartment. We talk with the Rev. Al Sharpton and a black police lieutenant.

    It was 10 minutes past six on Friday morning. 57-year-old Alberta Spruill was in her sixth floor Harlem apartment on West 143rd Street. And as she did every day for the last 30 years she was preparing to go to work at the Department of Citywide Administrative Services.

    Then her door was kicked in. A stun grenade rocked the apartment. Soon she was handcuffed to her chair. The 12 intruders rifled through her belongings. She complained of chest pains. Within two hours she was dead of a heart attack.

    The intruders were not robbers but officers from the New York City police who targeted her apartment as part of its so-called war on drugs.

    A court had granted the police a no-knock warrant. But it turns out the police raided the wrong apartment. The information was based on a tip from a confidential drug informant.

    A law enforcement source told the Daily News the tipster was about to be dropped from the confidential informant program because he had previously given police flawed leads.

    Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has apologized to Spruill’s family and ordered an investigation into the raid.

    Newsday reported today that Spruill is the fifth person since the fall to be caught in a wrongful “no-knock raid.” All are black.

    • Lt. Eric Adams, founder and president of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care
    • Rev. Al Sharpton, founder of the National Action Network and 2004 Presidential candidate

    Related Story

    StoryFeb 18, 2025“A Victory for Putin”? Jeffrey Sachs & Matt Duss Debate U.S.-Russia Talks to End Ukraine War
    The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

    Non-commercial news needs your support

    We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
    Please do your part today.
    Make a donation
    Top