Did These Cops Mistake a Babydoll for a Real Baby?

Minneapolis police are under fire in the latest lawsuit filed against the department. No, it’s not your typical case of police brutality. Instead, the allegations are much more bizarre. Like the-cops-mistook-a-babydoll-for-a-real-baby kind of bizarre.

Yolanda Mays and her uncle, Tommy Holmes, claim on the evening of March 21, 2023, Minneapolis Police Officers Andrew Schroeder and Mark Suchta as well as Brooklyn Center Police Officer Alan Salvosa burst into their home without permission nor a search warrant. The reason for their presence on the scene in the first place was to investigate the fatal shooting of a woman.

A search warrant affidavit listed the home of interest as a residence on the same block but not that belonging to Ms. Mays and Mr. Holmes, the suit says.

Alas, police came knocking on the door. Holmes was home at the time but in the basement.

The suit alleges the police trio began shuffling through the mailbox while awaiting a response from someone inside the home. Eventually, the suit claims they began peering through the window where they discovered a baby doll lying on the couch.

The group then drew up the conclusion that the doll – with apparent “stitched on joints and plastic sheen” – was not indeed a doll but instead a real infant in distress that needed saving, the suit claims.

Once their minds were made, they kicked in the front door.

Read more from The Star Tribune:

In fact, the officers were apparently at the wrong house. A search warrant affidavit that one of the officers filed the next day related to the homicide investigation listed an address of interest on the same street. The digits were the same as Mays’ address, but they’re not in the same order.

“Officers used the observation of a baby as a pretext to gain entry … to conduct an illegal and unauthorized search,” the lawsuit reads. “The officers’ manner of entry scared Holmes [Mays was not home] at the time. He thought that attackers or intruders were making entry.”

The suit alleges Officer Salvosa caused damage to the home and garage during the midst of his search. In a photo shared with CBS News, the door frame appears to have a large crack down the middle, lifting the lock off of its hinges.

This is just the latest legal mess the MPD has been dragged into since the controversial trial of Kim Potter, the former Minneapolis officer convicted in the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright after mistaking her gun for a Taser.

Apparently, this is also the latest mess these cops in particular have been dragged in. The lawsuit got receipts, you hear me?

The suit cited up to 20 disciplinary matters Officer Schroeder has faced alone since 2015 for conducting none other than unlawful searches. In 2020, he was accused of fabricating where he received a tip from in a drug investigation, the report says. The suit also came for Officer Salvosa’s record, explaining he was sued following a 2015 incident where he deployed a Taser at someone who died later.

The suit seeks an unspecified amount of monetary damages, arguing that the officers acted with “evil intent” and “reckless indifference” of the civil rights of both Mr. Holmes and Ms. Mays. It’s unclear if the officers faced any disciplinary action following the incident or the lawsuit filing.