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Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Overkill, Grandparents Say After Police Raid

PADUCAH, Ky. (CN) - A 63-year-old grandpa, a Sunday school teacher and member of the Rotary Club, was enjoying a quiet evening at home with his wife when Paducah Police "blew open the door" of their house "with an explosive charge," and "viciously assaulted and brutalized" them, breaking two of the grandfather's ribs with "a boot in his back," the grandparents say. The police were looking for their adopted son, who was not at home, but who "peacefully and voluntarily surrendered" when police called him on the phone, according to the federal complaint.

Donnie and Marcia McKinney, both 63, say they suffered "serious mental and physical injuries and property damage as a result of the assault, which was unreasonable, unwarranted, unjustified, inexcusable and unconscionable."

Donnie McKinney says he's taught Sunday school and worked with teen-agers for 30 years and is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and a Rotarian. He says police stationed "snipers in the woods" behind his home, blew up the door and burst in with no warning, brandishing firearms, at 11:36 p.m. on Nov. 19, 2009.

"Both were put on the floor" during the "brutal assault," which continued even after the cops determined that their adopted son was not in the house. "Throughout this terrifying series of events, the McKinneys did not know the identities of their assailants, what they had done to warrant such flagrant abuse, or how the entire episode was likely to end."

The officers were searching for their son, Dustin McKinney, who was not there. "The McKinneys subsequently learned that authorities had located Dustin in Graves County by triangulating his cell phone calls, and that Dustin peacefully and voluntarily surrendered himself to the authorities after they called him on his cell phone," according the complaint.

The local NBC news station reported that police sought Dustin McKinney in connection with the murder of a couple who were found dead in their home on Oct. 30, 2009. Dustin McKinney was "arrested and charged," NBC reported.

The McKinneys demand punitive damages for constitutional violations, assault and battery, unreasonable force, conspiracy and other charges. They are represented by Gregory Belzley of Prospect, Ky., and Daniel Canon with Clay & Adams of Louisville.

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