An elderly Virginia man is suing officers from his local police department for $500,000 after they authorized and conducted an “aggressive and militarized raid” on his home that they thought was the site of illicit drug activity.
William Jennings, a 79-year-old resident of Virginia Beach, filed a federal lawsuit against the city’s police chief and dozens of police officers involved in a raid on his home on Sept. 13, 2024.
According to the complaint obtained by Atlanta Black Star, Virginia Beach police obtained a warrant to search Jennings’ home on suspicion of alleged drug activity. The suit states that the probable cause for the warrant was based on a number of “jailhouse conversations between third parties” that authorities failed to corroborate or thoroughly investigate.
Jennings has no connection to any operations or activities connected to drug possession or distribution, according to the suit, yet law enforcement appeared to erroneously believed that he purchased his house with “drug money,” even though the 79-year-old stated he legally bought the home in 1979…