Atlanta family in mistaken FBI raid gets case before US Supreme Court

Rosie Manins, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Jan 30, 2025

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ATLANTA — An Atlanta family who say they were traumatized by armed FBI agents in an accidental predawn raid on their house have persuaded the U.S. Supreme Court to consider whether their lawsuit against the federal government can proceed.

Trina Martin, her then-partner Toi Cliatt and her son Gabe Watson allege they were startled awake just before 5 a.m. on Oct. 18, 2017, when a six-agent SWAT team busted down their front door, set off a flashbang grenade in their home entryway and pointed guns at them before realizing they had the wrong address.

The target was allegedly a violent gang member reportedly living a block away, case records show. Martin, Cliatt and Watson said they got an apology from the FBI agent who led the raid but were left with lasting trauma.

“It’s been a long journey,” Martin told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday. “It’s been draining. It’s been very doubtful. So I’m just thankful. I’m looking for a really positive outcome. It’s a major milestone for me and anyone else that has experienced anything like this or possibly will in the future.”

In case filings, the federal government said the lead FBI agent had relied on a GPS device to find the target home in the dark, and later told Martin and Cliatt the FBI would cover the damage to their property. The federal government asked the Supreme Court to reject the family’s attempt to revive the case.

The trio’s 2019 lawsuit against the U.S. and the lead agent was thrown out by a federal judge in Atlanta whose ruling was upheld by the Atlanta-based federal appeals court known as the 11th Circuit.

The judges determined the lead agent was immune from liability and the claims brought against the government under the Federal Tort Claims Act were barred by an exception of that law and a clause of the U.S. Constitution.

On Monday, the Supreme Court granted the family’s request to review the case. Patrick Jaicomo, an attorney representing the family, said the court’s final say will have implications for cases nationwide alleging wrongful actions by federal employees and law enforcement officers in particular.

“Most of us can sort of imagine in the abstract but really can’t put ourselves in the place of someone whose home is literally invaded by a paramilitary group with machine guns and laser sights and tactical gear and flashbang grenades,” Jaicomo told the AJC.

Martin said what happened was deeply unjust. She said her son, who was 7 at the time, had always wanted to be a police officer but is still triggered by law enforcement. She said he had to be home-schooled after the raid and just returned to a regular school last year.

“He’s afraid,” Martin said of her son, who is now 14. “He is trying to navigate his way through normal life as well.”

Martin explains in a public YouTube video the trauma they’re still dealing with, and how Watson had been alone in a room, shaking with fear as an agent stood over him with a gun. She said she had to give up coaching track because she was deeply affected every time the runners’ gun would go off at the start of a race.

Martin said Wednesday that she’s just returned to coaching for the Cobb County Police Athletic League. She said large crowds and loud noises still unsettle her.

Jaicomo said Congress amended the Federal Tort Claims Act in the 1970s specifically to allow claims against the federal government and its employees in similar cases. He said the 11th Circuit came up with a “bizarre theory” in the family’s case that in part expands protection for government officials when their professional actions are based on their own decisions.

The appeals court also held that the family’s claims are barred by the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which protects the execution of federal law. The 11th Circuit’s decision is binding in Georgia, Alabama and Florida.

In other states, where federal appeals courts have ruled differently, cases like the Atlanta family’s have succeeded, Jaicomo said.

Seven members of Congress, including Rep. Nikema Williams, D-Ga., wrote to the Supreme Court in October in support of the Atlanta family’s case. The bipartisan group pointed out the discrepancy that the 11th Circuit’s ruling created.

“Today, victims of wrong-home raids by federal officers in Collinsville, Illinois, may sue under the FTCA, but victims of an identical raid in Collinsville, Georgia, could not,” the Congress members wrote.

The U.S. Supreme Court has signaled its intention to hear oral arguments in the case at the end of April, Jaicomo said. He said the damage to the family’s home in the raid was covered by insurance. The lawsuit seeks in part to compensate them for the trauma they experienced.