A family barbecue turned into bedlam when armed men rampaged through a Queens Village home, destroying property and breaking bones.
But the family couldn’t call the police – because the invaders were the police.
A lawyer has filed a $70 million claim against the NYPD on behalf of Ellison Ingram and six other relatives and friends who were victims of a wrongful raid.
Their nightmare didn’t end until 48 hours later – when every person arrested was finally released from custody with zero charges, their lawyer said.
Alan Figman, who’s representing the family and filed the claim last week, said there was a shooting in a neighborhood park days before the erroneous raid.
“There’s no connection between what happened in the park two days earlier and the assault on this house,” Figman said. “Even after a thorough scouring and trashing of their house and finding nothing, they still felt obliged to arrest and keep them in jail for two days.”
The ordeal was heartbreaking for Ingram.
“They had guns on my mother,” said the 39-year-old chef. “They ran in and knocked everybody down.”
“I was like astonished,” he added. “I can understand if it’s a crack spot or drug den. But they were running into a family’s house.”
He said he’d just taken the meat off the grill and was getting ready to sit down for a hearty meal when a SWAT team in full gear and guns drawn busted into the house on April 26.
“It was scary,” Ingram said.
One cop walked over his 58-year-old mother – stepping on her.
A pin that was placed in Ingram’s ankle years ago broke when a cop stomped on him. He can barely walk now and needs surgery to repair the damage.
His girlfriend suffered a sprained wrist, and his son’s friends got a broken finger and nose.
“My son was on his knees with his hands above his head, and they kicked him in his face. They broke his tooth,” Ingram said.
“I understand they have to do their job,” he said. “But they beat everybody up.”
Ingram said he’s suing to make sure that what happened to his family doesn’t happen to anyone else’s.
“Do the job right,” Ingram said. “All I want is the injustice to stop.”
“The worst sight in my mind is seeing my mother being thrown to the ground. It was absolutely awful.”
NYPD officials could not be reached for comment.