From: [c--ri--w] at [hbbs.mcs.com] (clarinews)
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
Subject: Federal Officials to Pay Damages for Botched Raid
Date: 25 Mar 94 15:24:51 CST

From: [c--i--s] at [clarinet.com] (Reuters)
Newsgroups: clari.local.california,clari.news.law.civil,clari.news.law.drugs,clari.news.gov.usa
Subject: Federal Officials to Pay Damages for Botched Raid
Date: Wed, 2 Mar 94 20:50:11 PST

	 SAN DIEGO (Reuter) - Federal authorities said Wednesday they
would pay damages to settle a $20 million lawsuit filed by a
computer executive who was shot three times by drug agents who
mistook his home for a cocaine safe house.
	 Officials would not say the amount of damages the government
was willing to pay. A federal court hearing on the civil lawsuit
is scheduled for March 14.
	  In a joint statement, the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration, the Customs Service and federal prosecutors said
the botched raid was a ``tragedy'' and that 43-year-old Donald
Carlson was ``an innocent victim.''
	 Acting on a bad tip from an informant, agents stormed into
Carlson's home in the quiet San Diego suburb of Poway in 1992.
	 Carlson was shot in the right thigh, and then, as he tried
to escape to a bedroom, he was shot twice more. He later said
agents looked like ``they were were having fun.''
	 Carlson, who has since moved to Nebraska and still has
medical problems from injuries suffered in the raid, filed suit
against the federal government seeking $20 million in damages.
	 U.S. Attorney Alan Bersin said ``the government accepts
responsibility for wounding Mr Carlson and will pay him monetary
damages as agreed by the parties or as determined by the court
in the absence of a settlement.''
	 The informant, Ronald Edmonds, who had identified Carlson's
home as a cocaine storage site, has been indicted on 25 criminal
counts charging him with making up the story.
	 Authorities have been widely criticized for failing to
investigate the tip before raiding Carlson's house. Carlson had
no criminal record.