Police end up at wrong address for domestic disturbance call

RED OAK – The Red Oak Police Department opened an investigation last week when a woman at the Ovilla at Legacy Square Apartments on North Overlook Drive filed a complaint with the department after officers on a domestic dispute call went to the wrong address to investigate.

The woman said she saw officers on her Ring Camera outside her front door and thought they were trying to kick in her door.

The incident happened on Sept. 4 at around 11:20 p.m. when Red Oak 911 Dispatch received a call regarding a domestic disturbance. The caller was a friend of the victim who told dispatch her friend was being “physically assaulted at the location.” 

Unfortunately, the friend provided the wrong apartment number to dispatch, according to a statement from the Red Oak Police Department. 

The investigation revealed the officers did not announce themselves while trying to contact the victim at the incorrect apartment number given by the victim’s friend.

Police knocked and did not receive a response. It was then stated, “Officers heard screams coming from the immediate area and attempted to gain entry into the apartment by kicking the door but were unsuccessful. Officers then heard arguing and determined the disturbance was across the breezeway at an adjacent apartment. Officers made contact with the victim of the assault, and a subsequent arrest was made.” 

During the address confusion, the woman in the apartment said she thought someone was breaking into her apartment, and she took her gun out. The woman, who preferred to remain anonymous when calling local news stations to report the incident, revealed she did have a license to carry permit. She put the gun away when she saw on her camera it was Red Oak Police at her door.

She contacted the Red Oak Police Department and advised she was concerned about the protocol being followed when knocking on her door and officers not announcing themselves. 

The Red Oak Police Department stated, “An investigation is ongoing to identify policy violations and implement efforts to prevent such an incident from occurring in the future, but police who are walking up to an unknown address where violence and screaming is reported and can be heard, are also putting their lives in danger and the person being assaulted if they announce their arrival and allow the suspect to take the first violent act against the arriving officer and the victim.”