Family Wins Settlement For Botched Drug Raid Informant Sent Drug Task Force Storming Into Wrong House

A Renton family whose home was mistakenly raided by law-enforcement officers has settled their lawsuit against the South King County Narcotics Task Force for $100,000,

“The money was not the most important reason for us bringing the lawsuit,” said plaintiff Tamie Sherman. “The way the police behaved was just plain wrong, and we wanted to send a message that innocent people can’t be treated this way.”

Her husband, Edward, said he hopes their case will ensure others don’t go through what they did.

The Shermans were watching television the night of Oct. 28, 1992, when there was a knock at the door. The couple’s son Matthew, then 15, answered.

Eight armed men burst in, screaming at Matthew and his older brother to lie down, according to the family’s attorney, Mark Leemon of Seattle.

The eight intruders - some with long hair and torn clothing - were task force members acting on a tip from an informant, who told them that Edward Sherman, an autobody repairman, was dealing hashish, Leemon said.

Edward Sherman heard the commotion and ran to the door, naked and clutching a television remote control that one officer briefly mistook for a gun.

He was handcuffed and denied clothing while officers questioned him and other family members for about an hour. The Shermans denied any involvement with drugs. Tamie Sherman was called a liar and told that her husband was going to prison, according to Leemon.

The day after the raid, the informant said he had lied and that Sherman had no involvement in drug trafficking.

The informant met Sherman when he asked Sherman to work on his car.

The raid was approved after police listened in on a telephone discussion between the two men about car repair, which the informant said was a coded conversation about drug dealing. Police records show the informant was given $400 to buy drugs in the case, but pocketed that money plus $100 provided for living expenses.