Police apologize for raid

Clarksville Police Chief Mark Smith said he will offer two Old Trenton Road residents a written apology for officers mistakenly raiding their home Friday night. According to Smith, the police tactical team received information that a drug dealer lived at 343B Old Trenton Road, but they ended up going to the house next door that only had the letter "B" on the outside -- which turned out to be 341B. The residents of 341B, Teresa Guiler and James Elliott, who are both in their 50s, were sitting in their home watching television when the masked men stormed into the house. Guiler, whose arm was in a sling from a previous injury, told police that they had the wrong man as they pointed a gun at her and Elliott, who is deaf and had recently received a liver transplant, she said. Guiler went to seek medical help after the raid and Elliott will be going to Vanderbilt University Hospital in Nashville today to be seen by his doctors. Smith said that although he feels terrible about the raid, he insists the officers never used excessive force. But because Elliott resisted, officers had to control him by "bringing him down," he said. Guiler and Elliott's attorney, Tommy Meeks, said what the police did is unacceptable. "What justification can you give to kick a 54-year-old man who's down on the ground," Meeks said about Elliott, who is a Vietnam veteran. "All he saw was men in masks with rifles. He was terrified. Then to get knocked down and stomped. They picked him up like a suitcase. [more ]