Local mom sues South Bend, county police

SOUTH BEND, Ind.-- A local mom is suing the City of South Bend, St. Joseph County and both police departments over a wrongful raid of her home.

In June 2022, police raided Amy Hadley’s house looking for a possible murder suspect, but it turned out to be the wrong house.  

Now, a civil suit, taken on by the nonprofit Institute for Justice (IJ), seeks to get money for all the damage that the raid did to their home.  

"We focus on property rights and accountability, as well as some other areas of the law,” said Marie Miller, an attorney with IJ representing Hadley. “And Amy's case involves both accountability and property rights. Her property was taken, so she's entitled to just compensation."

IJ estimates the house damage to cost about $16,000.  

But for Hadley, it's also about what her 15-year-old son went through. Nathan Hadley wasn't the man they were looking for, but he was still put in handcuffs while police proceeded inside the house. Hadley learned her son was at the police station several hours later, saying the police didn’t let her teenage son contact his mother.  

"I would say that was traumatic as a mom to see, I mean, these men did have guns pointed at my son," Amy Hadley said. "I feel like they treated him as if he was a criminal.

The South Bend Police cannot comment on pending litigation, and ABC57 has not yet gotten a response from Sheriff Bill Redman or the St. Joseph County police.