One night in March 2019, Respondent Lieutenant Mike Lewis gathered a SWAT team to raid a suspected methamphetamine stash house. The team assembled on the porch of the next-door house by mistake. They should have realized there was a problem. The target house was under surveillance, and Lt. Lewis was receiving real-time intelligence. Besides, the address on the house did not match the one on their search warrant and it had a massive wheelchair ramp out front, instead of the target house’s front porch and chain-link fence.
 

But instead of double checking, the team proceeded to “break and rake” the wrong home in a military-style no-knock raid. Officers smashed in windows, exploded a flashbang grenade, and kicked down the door. Petitioners Karen Jimerson, James Parks, and their three minor children were inside getting ready for bed. Karen had just stepped out of the shower and was in a state of undress. Several of the children had broken glass enter their eyes. Police held the family at gunpoint until an officer realized they were at the wrong house.

The Jimersons sued Lt. Lewis for violating the family’s Fourth Amendment rights. The district court denied him qualified immunity, holding that a jury should decide whether he “was plainly incompetent.” Even though Lt. Lewis conceded that he violated the Jimersons’ rights, the Fifth Circuit reversed and granted him qualified immunity, holding that no preexisting precedent showed that he violated clearly established law. The Jimersons asked the Supreme Court to reverse that decision and reinstate their civil-rights claims.

Cato filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to grant the Jimersons’ cert petition and reverse the Fifth Circuit. Ms. Jimerson’s petition reflects the Fourth Amendment’s function in protecting human life. When officers do not carefully check addresses before forcefully entering a home, they needlessly endanger residents and law enforcement officers. The Court should discourage the Fifth Circuit’s excessive application of qualified immunity and ensure that Lt. Lewis may be held accountable for deciding to “break and rake” the Jimersons’ house without carefully confirming the address.