On December 13 at 07:00 in the morning, the door of Penelope and her husband Jon's apartment in Arroyomolinos (Madrid) was broken open.
There were six plainclothes agents of the National Police in an operation against UDYCO drug trafficking.
They knocked down the entrance to the house with a battering ram and three other doors and dragged the 40-year-old couple and their 12-year-old son out of bed while they slept
.
They pointed guns at the three shouting "high police, operation against organized crime."
They found neither the drug they were looking for nor the suspects after searching the modest apartment.
Three minutes later they realized the blunder.
They had gone to the wrong house.
Since that day Penelope assures that she does not stop shaking and that her son cannot stay in the room in which he woke up with a start while a policeman in panties pointed a gun at him at point blank range.
"What we want is for it not to happen anymore and for them to assume the damage caused. We are totally traumatized, we have not been able to sleep since that day," Penelope explains.
"There were three minutes of great anguish, of panic. We were asleep and we heard a noise. My husband got up running thinking that we were being robbed and found the policemen in the corridor who pointed two pistols at him and laid him face down on the floor. downstairs yelling 'get on the ground, get on the ground, stay still, Police, raid against crime'. Then they went to my 12-year-old son's room and entered mine, where they also pointed the gun at me," says the woman .
"I told them that it was a mistake, that they were making a mistake and to leave the child and they told me to shut up. At the moment,
They began to ask us for peace of mind and that was when they saw that something did not fit.
They told us that now they were going to explain it to us and immediately
They let me go to see my son and I found him with his hands raised and he did not dare to lower his hands
.
He told me what we had done and why the police were at home, "continues Penelope.
"Everything was very surreal. They insisted that they had a court order. I asked them for the court order thinking that my address was in that document by mistake. I work in a law firm and I told them that I wanted to see the court order and when they showed it to me and they saw that it wasn't my house, they told us that the numbers were wrong.
My husband got dressed and went down to the street with a policeman to show him that the block numbers were correct and that's when they realized the mistake.
Shortly after they stated that they had to leave. An agent stayed a little longer and explained to us that they would come to fix the door so they could close it and that the insurance would pay the rest," adds the woman.
The police themselves who stayed with us were totally devastated.
"The agent was very worried, she herself almost began to cry and apologize to us. If this happens a little later they had found us in the bathroom. Luckily we remained silent and without moving, but what would have happened if we stayed still ", emphasizes the woman.
"There were six policemen inside my house and nobody checked the number that they were going to enter at night, I don't understand it and
it's dangerous because we could have reacted much worse, for whatever reason.
They should worry more about us. No command here has called to apologize," he says.
Penelope's son, 12, boy is 12 and is taking sleeping medication.
"She is going to the psychologist and my husband is on sick leave and going to the psychiatrist for the trauma. Now the house
seems unsafe to us. We cannot continue living here. We have to turn the key, any noise affects us and if we hear anything we get up with a start The day before yesterday they called my husband after
10
days to see if the door had been fixed, but they should have been concerned about how a 12-year-old boy is doing who now does not have a normal life, since they have pointed a gun at him in his own room", denounces the mother.
The living room of the house with the broken windows after the police intervention.EM
Penelope says that the agents broke the front door and three other doors, including the one in the living room that had glass that shattered and was scattered throughout the room.
"This happened at seven in the morning and at five in the afternoon we still couldn't close the door of the house, since it was broken and out of place. Then, a locksmith came to fix it, but the rest are still broken.
When this happens they should to be aware of correcting everything and to take an interest during the following days in case we need something
", says the woman.
The National Police confirmed the error last night, "very unusual in this type of intervention",
and indicated that the matter is under judicial review.
They added that everything was corrected and that all damages will be paid.
In addition, they are waiting to respond to the claims that the family wants to present.
Beatriz Uriarte, partner in the criminal department, Ospina Abogados, said yesterday that they are currently studying the legal actions to be taken.
"It is a very initial moment.
We have to analyze whether there has been fraud in the action to initiate criminal proceedings or not.
If it does not exist, we will file the corresponding claim for patrimonial responsibility against the State in order to obtain compensation for the family not only for the material damages, but above all for the moral damages", indicated the lawyer.
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