COLORADO SPRINGS — A grandmother who suffered a heart attack when drug agents stormed her home has filed a lawsuit claiming the officers’ tactics were “extreme, unreasonable and outrageous.”
Rose Ann Santistevan, 71, is suing for medical expenses and noneconomic losses such as pain and suffering.
An emphysema sufferer, Santistevan was alone in bed receiving oxygen Oct. 6, 2009, when a multijurisdictional SWAT task force with a search warrant surrounded her home. Officers threw in a flash-bang grenade before rushing in with guns drawn, authorities have confirmed.
Santistevan was admitted in critical condition at Memorial Hospital Central, where she remained for several days. A search of her home yielded no arrests and turned up no drugs, Santistevan’s family said.
The personal-injury suit — filed in June in U.S. District Court in Denver — marks the latest allegation to plague a major drug operation dubbed Operation Jeez Luis. The crackdown was hyped at a 2009 news conference but has been plagued since by lawsuits and tossed evidence.
Representatives of the agencies involved couldn’t be reached for comment.
Lance Benzel, The Gazette
