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Owner files suit over home set afire in raid
By Times staff writer ST. PETERSBURG -- The owner of a house that burned down during a raid by a police SWAT team last summer is suing the city for damages. Myria S. Major, a former St. Petersburg resident who lives in Michigan, owned the two-story house at 1341 19th St. S that burned June 12. The house near Campbell Park caught fire when SWAT officers threw a "flash bang" distraction device inside the house. The device's loud noise and bright flash of light was intended to disorient the people inside. The device emitted a brief burst of heat, setting fire to foam rubber used to soundproof walls in a makeshift recording studio in the house. Major, the house's owner, was not living there. Police said the people renting the home were selling marijuana. No one was hurt in the fire. No one was arrested in the drug raid, and no drugs were found in what was left of the home. However, one of the renters, 31-year-old Craig Johnson, was arrested months later when police reported finding 15 marijuana plants in his new home. In a lawsuit filed in Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court, Major alleged that the SWAT officers were negligent. She is asking for monetary damages in excess of $15,000. "They should have known that if you detonate one of those flash bang devices, there's a chance of it going off next to something flammable," said Major's attorney, Brad Wood of St. Petersburg. The city's policy is not to comment on pending lawsuits.
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From the Times South Pinellas desks |
