Armed Florida police officers illegally raided the home of a black war veteran while searching for a criminal who was actually in prison.
Naomi Simmons, a 27-year-old who served in Afghanistan, He told NBC Miami She was sitting at home on June 14 when she heard a knock on her seven-year-old daughter’s bedroom window.
When he went outside to see what the commotion was, “there were two guns pointed at me,” he said.
“I asked why they were pointing guns at us,” she asked, noting that the Miami-Dade police officers did not identify themselves before she opened the door.
They then told him they were looking for a man named Marquise Wiley, who was wanted on felony firearms charges. His ID listed his address as Simmons, he said.
Naomi Simmons, 27, said Miami-Dade police unfairly raided her home while searching for a criminal on June 14.
She described how she heard a banging noise on her daughter’s bedroom window and went outside to find officers pointing their guns at her.
But Simmons and her daughter had been living in the Miami Gardens home for more than a year, and had never met Wiley and knew nothing about him.
When police finally emerged from her home, satisfied that Wiley was not hiding there, Simmons said she sat on her couch and was able to track the suspect’s whereabouts using only her phone.
She later discovered that Wiley was already in custody, dealing with two criminal cases in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
“I was able to find him without resources and with a cell phone on my couch,” Simmons told NBC Miami, adding: “He was in prison before they even got to my door.”
Police said they were looking for Marquise Wiley, who was wanted on felony weapons charges. His ID listed his address as Simmons.
The 35-year-old man with a lengthy criminal history had been in Broward County Jail since January to stand trial for his role in a 2020 mask-wearing robbery at a jewelry store.
On May 3, Wiley was convicted and sentenced to 10 years and three months in state prison.
A judge then issued an order to bring Wiley back to Miami-Dade County for his ongoing gun case, to which he pleaded not guilty.
The Broward Sheriff’s Office has since confirmed that he was in jail the entire time, until he was transferred to a state prison on June 13, just one day before Miami-Dade police raided Simmons’ home.
Miami-Dade police now say they checked local, state and federal databases to determine whether Wiley was in custody before raiding Simmons’ home, but they neglected to check the Broward County jail database.
They also apparently didn’t realize that court records last linked Wiley to the address they raided in 2018, indicating he had lived there for only a year. according to Atlanta Black Star.
But the police department has apparently attempted to blame the Broward County Sheriff’s Office for the mix-up, saying officers should have checked Wiley’s status before transferring him to state custody because of his pending gun case.
However, a department spokesman has said they will investigate the incident.
Simmons, who served in Afghanistan, said the ordeal left her with nightmares.
Meanwhile, Simmons said the ordeal left her traumatized.
“I don’t sleep, I still have nightmares,” she told NBC Miami nearly a month later.
“I already suffer from PTSD from my time in Afghanistan.”
She went on to describe the situation as “frustrating and scary because you see all this stuff on the news about people that look like me, men and women that are being killed because the police showed up at the wrong house, and the police showed up at the wrong house.”
