Family wants police apology for raid

Winifred Rueben, 68, has lived in shame since the night last summer when police appeared at her home, terrorized her family, and then left without making an arrest.

"We were raided by the Shiprock police," Reuben said. "They had shotguns to our backs."

The raid happened June 2, but the memory of her, her son and her husband being handcuffed and held on the ground at gunpoint has plagued her memory since.

The police were carrying out a search warrant against Reuben and her family. They suspected her of dealing in methamphetamines, she said. She has no idea why the police believed that.

She said her and her son, Keevin Cambridge, 40, were watching TV when he heard dogs barking outside.

About 10 officers were running toward the house, commanding people to "get down!" Her son was handcuffed and forced to the ground, she said.

"(A female officer) attacked and grabbed me and forcefully threw me to my knees on the hard dirt ground, which hurt my knees," Rueben stated in a notarized summary of the night's events that she has written.

Then the officer "yanked both my arms behind my back and forcefully threw me down on my chest which catapulted my head forcefully into the hard ground."

Her husband Daniel, a Vietnam veteran, was in the shed behind the house when the police arrived.

"I saw a Navajo female officer talking to my wife, and she threw my wife down and handcuffed her," he said in his written statement.

Reuben said she, her son and husband lay on the ground handcuffed for nearly an hour while the police went through their trailer, house, shed and "even the chickens."

"Don't let one of them shoot us," she said in her thoughts.

Tears streamed down her cheeks as she recalled the night during a recent interview.

"We didn't do anything," Reuben remembers thinking. "Why are they doing this to us?"

Daniel, meanwhile, noticed that the officer who was holding a gun to their son was shaking.

"I was scared that they were trigger-happy," he said.

Eventually, the raid ground to a halt.

"They looked all over the place but they didn't find nothing," Winifred said.

When the police found nothing illegal, they left without arresting anyone or confiscating any items. They had the wrong house - the consequence of a vaguely worded search warrant.

The Navajo Times made repeated requests over several weeks for comment from Shiprock Department of Law Enforcement officials but received no response regarding this story.

One officer, Navajo Nation criminal investigator Dale West, apologized to the family as he left their house, Winifred said.

While she appreciates the gesture, Reuben wants a public apology from the police in order to clear her name in the community.

Some neighbors act suspicious of the family since the night of the raid, she said. Neighbors and others, including family, look at them as if they were guilty.

"All our neighbors think we do meth," Winifred said. "Even our own relatives don't talk to us because they think that we're making meth."

The Reubens said they have never in their lives taken any illegal drugs, and wouldn't even know how to make meth.

The family said they have asked for an apology from the police, but so far none has been issued. In fact, when they met with the police, one officer accused them of selling meth to children.

In October, the Reubens filed a complaint with police headquarters in Window Rock charging the Shiprock District with violating their civil rights, excessive use of force, and trespass.

They also have tried to hire an attorney, but have had no luck yet.

"We want to clear our name - that's the main thing," Daniel said.

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