In a bizarre turn of events, a St. Louis County SWAT team reportedly raided a family’s home in Ferguson, Missouri, over a pair of stolen AirPods. The incident has led to a lawsuit against the police department.
What Happened: The SWAT team, on May 26, 2023, broke into the home of Brittany Shamily, a Ferguson resident, in search of firearms and other items related to a carjacking that had occurred earlier that day.
The police had tracked the stolen AirPods to Shamily’s house using Apple Inc.’s AAPL “Find My” application, reported Riverfront Times.
“Find My is not that accurate,” said Bevis Schock, the family’s lawyer. “I actually went to my house with my co-counsel and played around with it for an hour. It’s just not that good.”
The AirPods were eventually found outside the family’s home, not inside as the police had assumed.
The family, represented by their lawyers, Schock and Erich Vieth, has filed a lawsuit against the police department. The lawsuit alleges that the police had no probable cause for the search warrant and that the family’s rights were violated.
“There was no probable cause for the search warrant and had the affidavit contained complete information, the state court judge would not have approved the warrant,” the suit alleges.
Schock also raised concerns about the excessive use of SWAT teams by the county police, stating that the lawsuit aims to shed light on the decision-making process behind deploying a SWAT team.
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Why It Matters: This incident is not the first time the “Find My” feature has led to wrongful police raids. Just earlier this month, in a similar case, the city of Denver was ordered to pay $3.76 million to a 78-year-old woman after the police mistakenly raided her home using the same technology.
Last year in April, it was reported that strangers kept coming to a Texas man’s doorstep after Apple’s “Find My” app indicated that their lost iPhones were at his residence. The man said that while he wasn’t threatened at the time of reporting, he still lived in fear that “someone who is irrational” could show up with a “weapon.”
These incidents raise questions about the reliability of the “Find My” feature and the potential for misuse by law enforcement. It is important to note that the feature had previously been instrumental in aiding law enforcement. On separate occasions, the “Find My” application has helped police find stolen goods.
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