Black Woman Left Terrorized After Police Raid Wrong Home in Search for Fugitive, Files Lawsuit

In October 2023, a team of 15 police officers raided a home in Atlanta, Georgia, searching for a wanted fugitive named Joshua Smiley. As they entered the home, all they could find was a scared Black woman, Cathy George. George pleaded with the officers that she had no connection to Smiley.

However, the team, including members of the U.S. Marshals Service and the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office, continued to plunder her home for about 20 minutes. The operation ended when the officers realized they had made a terrible mistake, as Smiley had already been arrested months before the raid.

George has now filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Marshals Service, the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office and the 15 officers, citing that emotional distress continues to haunt her more than two years after the incident. The Institute for Justice, a public interest law firm that litigates against government officials who violate constitutional rights, filed the suit on George’s behalf on April 14.

In an interview with the Institute for Justice, the victim revealed that around 5 a.m. on October 24, 2023, the cops barged into her Sandy Springs home wearing riot gear. According to her, the officers did not show her any ID and began asking her about Smiley's whereabouts.

George recalled the ordeal in her interview and said, “[The cops said], ‘Where is he? Where are you hiding him? Where is he? You know if you’re lying to us, you’re going to be going to jail.’ I have no idea what they’re talking about, and I finally just say, ‘Who?’ and they say, ‘Joshua Smiley.’”

George repeatedly told the police that she had never heard of the man in her life. She claims that, instead of listening to her, the officers held her at gunpoint and threatened to arrest her if she did not cooperate. The woman showed the cops pictures of her two sons to prove that neither of them resembled Smiley.

Finally, the officers realized that they had made a mistake after 20 minutes of searching. George recounted, “At that point, the officer in charge tells me, ‘I think there’s been a mistake.’ And I say, ‘A mistake? What do you mean?’”

The police then left the home, but neither offered an apology to George nor rearranged her belongings. George says a simple Google search would have made the cops aware of Smiley’s arrest.

The man was named on the 15 Most Wanted Fugitives list in June 2023. The Alabama Police Department wanted him for capital murder, and the U.S. Marshals Service was searching for him for a federal bond violation related to a drug charge. Smiley was tracked down and taken into custody in Indiana a week later.

In her lawsuit, George argues that the officers violated her rights under the Fourth, Fifth, and 14th Amendments. She says she had to leave her home following the raid, and now struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder.

“As a result of the raid, Ms. George has experienced severe emotional distress; she has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, for which she takes multiple medications, and she has incurred medical bills,” reads the lawsuit.