‘We Can’t Find An Intruder!’: Alabama Cops Falsely Imprisoned Innocent Woman At Gunpoint In Her Pajamas Then Leaves with No Apology or Ever Presenting a Warrant, Lawsuit Claims
A woman in Sheffield, Alabama, who was in her pajamas getting ready for bed was startled when four police officers broke down her door and held her at gunpoint until they realized they were at the wrong house. She is now suing the city for the trauma she says they inflicted on her.
According to her attorney Bennett Pugh, Katherine Allen is in her 50s and an early riser who was in the habit of jogging in the morning before heading out for her job as a cleaner in nearby Muscle Shoals. So she was already “in her night clothes” at 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 30, 2024, when four Sheffield Police Department offers unexpectedly broke down her glass and metal front storm door without knocking or announcing themselves.
Two of the officers aimed their service weapons at Allen in her upstairs bedroom and made her stand with her hands up while the other two officers searched her house, the complaint says. When asked, none of the officers provided any type of warrant or order showing that forced entry was legal, Pugh told Atlanta Black Star.
Pugh said that Allen overheard chatter on police radios that included one of the officers downstairs saying, “We can’t find an intruder at 106,” and that a dispatcher responded, “It’s 406 – you’re at the wrong house.”
But police were only certain they had invaded the wrong home after Allen showed them her driver’s license, the lawsuit says.
Within about 10 minutes, “they left as fast as they came,” said Pugh, and never reached out to repair her broken door and its lock, which no longer works, or to offer an apology.
“Unfortunately, this case is a good example of how the Sheffield police operate,” said Pugh, a solo practitioner who grew up in Sheffield and lives across the street from Allen. “I would characterize it as police misconduct across the board.”
Since that evening Allen has had trouble sleeping and has had a fear of being in the vicinity of a police vehicle or police officer, the lawsuit says, and the incident caused her post traumatic stress disorder, mental anguish and emotional distress requiring medication to alleviate her symptoms.
She is suing the City of Sheffield in the Colbert County Circuit Court for violating her Fourth Amendment right to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures, for trespass with insult upon her property, and for false imprisonment.
She seeks a jury trial to determine compensatory damages for her property damage, emotional distress, medical expenses, and humiliation, as well as punitive damages.
A Statement of Claim against the city of Sheffield she initially filed in January claimed that the police officers caused her “undue distress, fear, anxiety and terror” and sought damages in the amount of $300,000 as compensation.
Damages against a city for state law claims are capped at $300,000, Pugh said of the lawsuit. “However, we also asserted federal law claims where there is no cap.”
The city of Sheffield has not yet responded to the complaint, and did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Atlanta Black Star. The city has three weeks to respond to the pending lawsuit or they must file a motion for default judgment, according to court records.
The city is currently facing other civil lawsuits arising out of other alleged misconduct of its police force and jail employees.
Marvin Long filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Sheffield, Colbert County and several law enforcement officers in connection with a 2021 encounter with police where he says he was unlawfully arrested and injured by a police dog, WHNT reported.
Long’s complaint alleges that the officers and deputies violated Long’s civil rights, assaulted him, caused him emotional distress and trespassed during an incident on the front porch of Long’s home in June 2021.
Long was also charged with resisting arrest in the incident. The case went to trial in February and the judge dismissed the charges citing a lack of evidence.
Dennoriss Richardson, who was found hanged in Colbert County in 2024, had filed an excessive force lawsuit against the Sheffield Police Department and multiple officers, alleging that Richardson’s rights were violated and he was assaulted while in custody with SPD. His family recently filed an updated lawsuit in Richardson’s name.
And another client of Pugh’s, Valerie Patterson, filed a lawsuit against the city of Sheffield in January related to a severe injury she sustained in August 2024 while in the city jail.
According to her complaint, Patterson’s leg was lacerated when a deficient metal folding cot collapsed when she sat on it, causing extreme pain and profuse bleeding. The jail cell was filthy and its sink was clogged, and she was unable to cleanse the wound. Jailers refused her requests for medical attention, and the wound became infected. Upon release, she had to quit her nursing job as a result of the injury, the lawsuit claims.
Patterson is seeking $3 million in damages. Pugh said the city has missed the court-imposed deadline to respond to the complaint and he will be filing for a default judgment.