Texas Heroes Perform No-Knock SWAT-Style “Wellness Check”

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“These cops are out of control. They are ruining good people’s lives.”

Chad Chadwick sits in handcuffs after being assaulted by a SWAT team while bathing in his apartment. (Image: FOX 26 Houston)

FORT BEND COUNTY, TX — An innocent man was ripped from his bathtub in a surprise no-knock raid, then suffered an onslaught of beatings, electric shocks, concussion grenades, and rubber bullets.  The man spent 3 years and his entire life savings attempting to vindicate himself from the false charges and malicious prosecution which followed.

Chad Chadwick. (Image: FOX 26 Houston)

Chad Chadwick is the man who fell victim to the horrific series of events, which began on the night of September 27, 2011.  Mr. Chadwick was home alone that evening and feeling distraught.  A concerned friend eventually phoned the police to check on Mr. Chadwick’s emotional well-being.  Mr. Chadwick had consumed some alcohol and had fallen asleep in the bathtub in his apartment.

Mr. Chadwick had not threatened himself or anyone else, and had a spotless criminal record.  Nonetheless, police responded to the concerned friend by sending a paramilitary, multi-jurisdictional SWAT team to conduct a no-knock raid on the man’s apartment.  According to Mr. Chadwick, police lied in order to obtain the warrant.

“They told a judge I had hostages. They lied to a judge and told him I had hostages in my apartment and they needed to enter,” Mr. Chadwick explained to MyFoxHouston.

NO-KNOCK WELLNESS CHECK

The SWAT team arrived in short order and broke down the apartment door without identifying themselves, then quickly made their way to the bathroom where the resident was bathing.  Their first maneuver was to lob a concussion grenade into the bathroom, causing extensive damage to the furnishings and disorienting Mr. Chadwick.

“While I had my hands up naked in the shower they shot me with a 40 [caliber] non-lethal round,” he recalled.

A second concussion grenade detonated, and SWAT officers swarmed in and attacked Mr. Chadwick.

“I turned away, the explosion went off, I opened my eyes the lights are out and here comes a shield with four or five guys behind it. They pinned me against the wall and proceeded to beat the crap out of me,” he said.

FOX 26 News | MyFoxHouston Mr. Chadwick went on to explain the extent of his injuries.The police “claimed [Chadwick] drew down with a shampoo bottle” and proceeded to respond with heightened levels of force.  Mr. Chadwick was accosted and shot in the back of the head with a taser.

“They grabbed me by my one hand that was out of the shower and grabbed me by my testicles slammed me on my face on the floor and proceeded to beat me more,” Mr. Chadwick told FOX 26.

By the end of the ordeal Mr. Chadwick had suffered a broken nose, bruised ribs, multiple lacerations and bruises, a taser barb in the back of his skull, and permanent hearing loss.  He was hauled off to the Fort Bend County Jail, where he was left in an isolation cell for 2 days.

TEXAS WITCH HUNT

Rather than admitting a mistake had taken place, police began to file charges against the man in an apparent effort to cover up the incompetence and justify the brutality.  First, Mr. Chadwick was charged with two felony counts of assaulting police officers.  But a grand-jury found no basis for the charges and declined to indict him.

When that didn’t work, the prosecution filed new charges; this time for misdemeanor resisting arrest.  Those charges were dropped as well.

Then a third round of charges were issued.  In total, the prosecution — led by Ft. Bend County District Attorney John Healy — filed six criminal charges against Mr. Chadwick and eventually put him on trial for “interfering with police.”  After more than three years fighting the corrupt system, Mr. Chadwick was cleared by a jury. He was found not guilty of interfering with police on the night he was attacked in his bathroom.

FOX 26 News | MyFoxHouston“They came in did what they did, figured out that they messed up and now they are doing everything they can to cover it up. They treated a normal American citizen like an animal. It’s not right,”  Mr. Chadwick said in an interview with FOX 26. 

“They tried to make me a convict. It broke me financially, bankrupted me. I used my life savings, not to mention, I lost my kids,” said Mr. Chadwick.

According to FOX 26, Ft. Bend County District Attorney John Healy declined to comment on camera, but did say he stands by his decision to prosecute Chadwick, despite the multiple no-bills and not guilty verdict. Asked how much the case cost taxpayers, Healy said “I wasn’t keeping a tally.”

The SWAT team raided Mr. Chadwick’s apartment was comprised of officers from Missouri City, Sugar Land, Stafford, and the Ft. Bend County Sheriff’s Department. To date, no officer has faced any disciplinary action or criminal charges.

“These cops are out of control. They are ruining good people’s lives. I am a good man. I have done everything I can to show that, as a father, as a citizen, as a worker,” said Mr. Chadwick to FOX 26.

Mr. Chadwick is now pursuing a civil suit against the police agencies involved.

 

8 COMMENTS

  1. Eric,

    I am disgusted by this story.

    Some “friend” this guy has. May I never be cursed with these types of “friends”.

    This “friend” could have called the Fire dept., EMS or medical personnel or even actually went to the guys house to check up on him.

    Instead this “friend” called on a group of people whose primary response is (often appears) to beat/injure those that do not immediately “dance to their tune with a smile”.

    The “F-troop” lie to the judge, a Class A misdemeanor in Texas (at least my interpretation), to get “permission” to break into the home of someone that was just sleeping in the tub (not harming another person) and beat him.

    Why? Perhaps to fill some sick twisted need to seek and destroy.

    I wish I could tell you Ft. Bend County District Attorney John Healy (when presented with what occurred) decided to prosecute those involved in these shameful actions. I wish I could tell you that… But the court system is no fairy tale world.

    Instead we see this DA double down on the crimes committed by “F-Troop”. He attempted to prosecute a man for sleeping in his own tub, in his own house not harming another person.

    I hope that Mr. Chadwick wins his civil suit. The only bad thing will be that it will be the local taxpayers paying the bill instead of those responsible from “F-Troop”.

    • It’s sickening.

      Armed men bust into a man’s home and assault him. The man committed no crime; there was no evidence to suggest he might have committed a crime. All it took was a phone call – and it’s open season. Hate your neighbor? One call does it all…

      It’s beyond belief.

      Or would be, if we still lived in a free country.

      And: If the man – surprised and rightly scared by the sudden appearance of armed strangers barging into his home in the middle of the night – had fired on them and managed to kill one of them, he’d have been charged with murder. But the anointed thugs could have killed him with impunity… squealing “officer safety” and “he resisted.”

      • eric, you just have to experience it to believe it. And even when their charges are proved false, they always have the feds, who were not even there, to bring up their charges on pure fiction. Then when several charges don’t work, they come back and give it another round.

        I was speaking with a guy who has a tire business Friday when I went in with 3 flats, two ruined tires, due to another driver and while he was trying to fix my tires he related his similar experience. Since they had screwed up so bad and didn’t even find a gun(Brady bill),in his home to charge him, they elected to walk away with his house in shambles, front and rear doors destroyed. He told them to put all the stuff back where they’d found it and get somebody there to fix the doors. Of course they just threatened him again. He finally said MF”s, somebody’s going to fix all this shit” or I’m gonna make em wish they had. he’s a fired up kinda guy but it was easy to see why after they’d abused his wife and children and torn his house apart. He knocked one of them out and then they all started beating shit out of him. They then made up all sorts of charges, even on his children. He got a good lawyer and the entire thing eventually went away although they never paid any restoration for his damages and of course, it cost him a huge amount of money in lawyer’s fees even though the lawyer got him released on PR bond of $100,000, something no longer possible these days. We both spoke of our trials and tribulations and the new hire I had with me then chimed in with his own story. I’m beginning to wonder if there is anyone who hasn’t endured this.

        Taking a break on a job site and you’ll hear countless stories like this. Every Man is deemed to be a criminal these days. If almost anyone including a woman in their life tries to come to their aid, they’ll find themselves targeted also unless they’re the lying cause of it, a common cause.

        When a man stands up for himself, he’ll be lucky to survive.

        • Saturday night at a public Hanukkah menorah lighting in Boston, someone saw a blowtorch and confused it for a gun. The swat team showed up. Luckily it wasn’t guns a blazing…

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