Clarksville Police Chief Mark Smith said he will offer two Old Trenton
Road residents a written apology for officers mistakenly raiding their
home Friday night. According to Smith, the police tactical team
received information that a drug dealer lived at 343B Old Trenton Road,
but they ended up going to the house next door that only had the letter
"B" on the outside -- which turned out to be 341B. The residents of
341B, Teresa Guiler and James Elliott, who are both in their 50s, were
sitting in their home watching television when the masked men stormed
into the house. Guiler, whose arm was in a sling from a previous
injury, told police that they had the wrong man as they pointed a gun
at her and Elliott, who is deaf and had recently received a liver
transplant, she said. Guiler went to seek medical help after the raid
and Elliott will be going to Vanderbilt University Hospital in
Nashville today to be seen by his doctors. Smith said that although he
feels terrible about the raid, he insists the officers never used
excessive force. But because Elliott resisted, officers had to control
him by "bringing him down," he said. Guiler and Elliott's attorney,
Tommy Meeks, said what the police did is unacceptable. "What
justification can you give to kick a 54-year-old man who's down on the
ground," Meeks said about Elliott, who is a Vietnam veteran. "All he
saw was men in masks with rifles. He was terrified. Then to get knocked
down and stomped. They picked him up like a suitcase. [more ]
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