Two members of an LGBT household have filed complaints against Philadelphia police after several officers attempted to gain entry into their residence without a search warrant.
On March 18, Zena McDonnell and Angel Young filed complaints at the 16th Police District, which covers West Philadelphia.
The incident occurred at 7 p.m. March 15 at their residence on the 4000 block of Haverford Avenue in Powelton.
Multiple police officers attempted to gain entry, and shined spotlights into several windows on the first and second floors of the residence, according to McDonnell.
McDonnell, 34, said she repeatedly refused the officers’ demands to gain entry, explaining to them that they didn’t have a search warrant signed by a judge. After about 30 minutes, the officers left. The incident left residents “shaken and upset,” McDonnell said.
The officers said they needed to investigate whether anyone inside stole $30 from someone, which didn’t sound reasonable, according to McDonnell.
“If anyone ran into our house with a handful of money, the first thing we would have done is to call the police,” McDonnell explained.
No one in the house fit the description of the alleged thief, she added.
McDonnell is a trans woman. She said none of the officers used anti-LGBT language. But she can’t rule out the possibility that the house was targeted because it has several LGBT residents.
“At this point, we don’t know why this happened, and what they were looking for,” she said.
She said one officer was particularly hostile. “The officer made idle threats and insulted us when we invoked our Fourth Amendment rights,” McDonnell said.
According to McDonnell, the officer told residents: “Don’t call the police if someone points a gun in your face.”
“No one — LGBT or otherwise — should be told something like that,” McDonnell said. “I certainly don’t want anyone else to be told: ‘Don’t call the police in the future because you invoked your constitutional rights.’ That’s horrifying and shouldn’t happen to anybody.”
One of the officers said, “I can smell why you won’t let us in,” without elaborating, according to McDonnell.
She said residents are concerned about the potential for future police abuse or harassment.
“We’re concerned that we won’t receive police services when we need them. On the other hand, we’re concerned that we’ll be harassed by police when we’re just trying to live our lives as ordinary citizens.”
McDonnell said a housemate expressed fear of retaliation if a complaint were to be filed. But McDonnell assured the housemate that complaints were necessary.
“I’m convinced that no one should be afraid to walk into their police district and file a complaint when appropriate,” she continued.
She said personnel at the 16th Police District were respectful when she and Young filed their complaints.
“They were respectful at all times,” McDonnell added. “But the form I was asked to fill out was limited to the traditional gender-binary option of male and female. I hope the police will consider revising the form to be more gender non-conforming-friendly.”
She also expressed hope that the incident will be thoroughly investigated, and that similar incidents don’t take place.
“I’m keeping an open mind that police are taking this seriously, that we’ll get a decent outcome, and that some good will come out of this,” said McDonnell.
Lt. John Stanford, a police spokesperson, said in an email: “[T]he issue will be investigated and addressed, and the appropriate action will be taken to resolve this matter.”
Internal Affairs is investigating the incident, and the investigative file will be available to the public once the investigation concludes, police spokesperson Officer Tanya Little added.
As of presstime, Little didn’t have a response regarding whether the citizen’s complaint form will be revised to include more gender options for complainants.