Vista Family Whose Home Was Targeted in Raid Files $1-Million Suit

A Vista family that said it was traumatized by an early-morning drug raid by Hemet police officers has filed a $1-million lawsuit against the city and the law enforcement agencies involved.

The suit, which was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in San Diego, alleges that the Hemet Police Department obtained a search warrant negligently and used excessive force in serving it at Mario Balcazar Suarez’s house in the 800 block of North Citrus Avenue.

“The house was broken into, essentially; the 70-year-old grandmother was shoved to the floor; guns were brandished and Mr. Balcazar was handcuffed and hogtied,” said the Balcazars’ attorney, Mario E. Lopez.

The lawsuit accuses the Hemet police, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department and the city of Vista of violating the Balcazars’ civil rights in the Dec. 2 raid.

Both Hemet and Vista officials declined to comment on the suit, saying they had not seen it yet, while county officials could not be reached.

The 5:25 a.m. search was prompted by the earlier arrest of Abel Sotelo, a former tenant of the Balcazars. Sotelo had been charged with possessing 5 pounds of methamphetamine. Sotelo’s driver’s license listed the Balcazars’ Vista address, but Mario Balcazar said Sotelo had been kicked out of the house six months before the raid for failing to pay his rent.

The officers, armed with a warrant to search the residence for drugs, arrived at the duplex and began pounding on the door, breaking it down moments later, according to the lawsuit.

Two of Balcazar’s daughters, Yadira, 17, and Yesenia, 15, were waiting to be picked up to go to their church’s youth ministry before going to school when the pre-dawn raid occurred, the suit says.

Two younger daughters, Rosa, 6, and Norma, 5, were asleep in another bedroom at the time, the suit says.

“The children were all very much affected by this,” Lopez said. “Norma now scares very easily, something that wasn’t the case before.

“The daughters fight more now, and they cry, they have problems sleeping at night, and they are fearful of police cars,” Lopez said.

Sabina Jimenez, the daughters’ grandmother, was thrown to the ground, and Mario Balcazar was handcuffed as the officers ransacked the house during the search, the lawsuit said.

No drugs were found and no one in the family was charged with any crime.

The Balcazars only recently moved back into the house. They lived with friends and relatives for several months after the raid, Lopez said. The daughters have also received counseling since the raid, he said.

The lawsuit alleges that the police lacked probable cause that the Balcazars had committed a crime and that the raid was done with reckless disregard for their privacy.

Vista Mayor Gloria McClellan, whose city is one of the defendants in the suit, described the raid as “barbaric and unprofessional.”

In an interview Thursday, McClellan said that she was not surprised by the lawsuit, and that the raid “was handled badly” by police.