An eastern Pennsylvania appeals court ruled a family of four can sue several state police officers for kicking in their door and knocking teeth out of a 76-year-old woman’s face over a wrong drug tip in 2018.

The Pennsylvania State Police Special Emergency Response Team believed Mark Anglemeyer sold methamphetamine out of a workshop near the family home in Bangor, Pa.

So a team of 43 officers kicked in the door of the home, detained Anglemeyer’s unarmed relatives and severely injured them, according to a lawsuit filed by the family.

Mark Anglemeyer was not home during the raid, according to the lawsuit, and officers found no drugs during the raid. As it turned out, the tip was related to a workshop on the property, not the family home. Prosecutors with the Northampton County District Attorney’s office later withdrew the case, according to the original lawsuit.

The officers previously claimed they had qualified immunity for their actions during the incident. Qualified immunity shields police officers from being sued unless they violate someone’s constitutional rights and that it was clearly established in law that what they were doing was a violation of their rights.

The judge’s ruling means the Anglemeyers, including 76-year-old Ada, 77-year-old Richard, 55-year-old Jeffrey and 45-year-old Joseph Kluska, are able to sue 20 of those officers.

It is very difficult to overcome that high burden to be able to sue individual officers because the law, as written, requires a case with nearly identical facts on the record for an officer to have their qualified immunity reversed.

Unless there’s a case with nearly identical facts on the record, officials — including law enforcement — are able to recuse themselves from

Justice Sonya Sotomayor has dissented in numerous qualified immunity cases, according to a Congressional Research Service report, stating the current approach to qualified immunity essentially “renders the fourth amendment hollow”.

According to the lawsuit filed by the Anglemeyer family:

The Anglemeyer family, none of whom were ever charged with any crimes, suffered a variety of injuries during the Feb. 23, 2018, raid. One officer smashed his tactical shield into 76-year-old Ada’s face, which sent her flying backward, the lawsuit said. The blow broke multiple teeth and one vertebra.

One officer shined a flashlight in 77-year-old Richard Anglemeyer’s face, before striking him in the head, grabbing his neck and forcing him to the ground, the lawsuit said. Richard lost consciousness and tore cartilage in his knee, which required surgery.

55-year-old Jeffrey abruptly woke up when the raid began and walked into the kitchen, before an officer “clotheslined” him with an outstretched arm and forced him to the ground, the lawsuit alleges. An officer placed his boot on the back of Jeffrey’s neck, zip tied him, pulled him up and sat him in a chair.

When Jeffrey asked someone to call for an ambulance for Ada and Richard, he said an officer slapped him across the jaw and repeatedly punched him.

Joseph Kluska, a 45-year-old man, cooperated with state police commands; but police nonetheless lifted him up and slammed him on the floor, causing his rotator cuffs to tear, according to the lawsuit.

“After subduing the occupants, the SERT team searched the property. They did not discover methamphetamine, and Mark Anglemeyer was never convicted of any crime resulting from the search,” the lawsuit said.

A federal judge in eastern Pennsylvania previously ruled in favor of the officers; that they were entitled to qualified immunity.

But the appellate court reversed that decision, saying any reasonable officer would have known that the officers’ force was unlawful in light of the facts of the case.

“The (Anglemeyers) were not only plainly unarmed, substantially outnumbered, cooperative, and in their own home, but they were not suspected of any wrongdoing or facing arrest,” the court explained in its opinion.

State police spokespeople did not respond to PennLive’s requests for comment by publication time.

The Anglemeyers originally filed the lawsuit, also naming Northampton County as a defendant, in August of 2019. They later amended the complaint to exclude Northampton County and instead sue the state troopers involved in the raid.

The lawsuit names Craig Ammons, Brian Atkinson, Nathan Aukamp, Mark Benson, David Brodeur, John Chulock, Peter Del Gaizo, Brian King, Michael Lang, Vincente Lopez, Robert McGarvey, Terrane Merante, Clinton Painter, Jason Pelotte, Matthew Peirotti, Lance Schimp, Kevin Ward, Daniel Wilk, Matthew Wysocky and a single “John Doe” as defendants.

The lawsuit also said the building the troopers stormed was never part of any allegation involving the distribution of methamphetamine, and that the troopers entered the wrong building.

Finally, the lawsuit clarified no accusation involving methamphetamine mentioned any of the occupants of the home.

In all, the lawsuit accuses the troopers of violating the plaintiffs Fourth Amendment rights by using excessive force and asks for $225,000 in compensatory damages.