BALTIMORE (VINnews) — On Thursday, the home of a (shocked) Baltimore Rabbi became the target of a massive police raid. It turns out to have been a case of mistaken identity, and thankfully nobody was hurt.
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As first reported in Baltimore Jewish Life, Rabbi Yehonasan Aryeh Seidemann was on his way home from his shul’s office for a quick lunch when he discovered two dozen police vehicles and dozens of armed agents, some with rifles drawn, descending on his quiet suburban home. Members of his family were inside as well.
The backstory began with the Seidemanns’ daughter and son-in-law who were visiting from Ohio, at the same time the Ohio police happened to be searching for a criminal from that area.
Apparently, the son-in-law’s cell phone number had originally belonged to the criminal, and as a result, the number pinged at the Seidemann’s house.
The Ohio fugitive task force contacted the local authorities as well as federal law enforcement agencies. When the “cavalry” arrived they saw an Ohio license plate in the Seidemanns’ driveway, making them quite certain they had located the fugitive, which led to a harrowing few minutes.
According to Hamodia, the police had surrounded the house, and ordered everyone inside to leave. The officers, some of whom were from a SWAT team, others from local and state police, as well as U.S. marshals, came with large rifles, battering rams and other items not seen in the suburban neighborhood in recent memory.
However the SWAT team did not break down the door, as is often the tactic. Rather they asked that the door be opened slowly and everyone vacate. The son-in-law who was present calmly said that he has a baby in the house and was permitted to retrieve the sleeping 2-year-old before leaving.
Rabbi Seidemann reportedly said the incident ended on a friendly note as the law enforcement personnel were very apologetic, and he thanked them for the work they do protecting the community.
Hamodia reported that Rabbi Seidemann incorporated the harrowing event into his Shabbos drasha. “…my daughter pointed out that our avodah as we lead up to Tisha B’Av is to work on rooting out sinas chinam, and a large part of that is being dan l’kaf z’chus, judging people favorably. It all seemed very clear to the police that they had their suspect; the phone number, the car’s license plates…but really they knew nothing. How often do we think we know everything there is to know about a situation that we’ve observed or heard about, and we’re not even close; we know nothing about it.”
Valuable lesson to all the criminal thugs out there in how to interact with law-enforcement. Be combative, confrontational or non-compliant, and you’ll wind up like George Floyd or Michael Brown. Follow orders , and if you’re innocent, all will end peacefully.
Thanks to Hashem that this case of mistaken identity ended peacefully, without anyone being harmed. One would have thought that a little more preliminary investigation by the police (i.e. surveillance of the premises, checking as to whom the car and premises belonged to, and running a background check of the car’s owner, as well as the owner of the home), would have made law enforcement realize that this was the wrong house.
This news broke Thursday. VIN late to the party. Maybe if VIN would advertise an email or hotline for the public to report breaking news, (or suggestions or complaints) instead of being so purposely secretive and elusive, maybe, just maybe, you could report on it before everyone else does.
I had police bang on door at 6am for the same reason: I had a phone that was still being given to banks by some criminal. We tried alerting them to the fraud when they would call.
I hope all of the rabbis children are married, because, you know… what will the neighbors say when asked about the family? “Rabbi Seidemann? Oh, the Seidemanns are really fine people. I mean, occasionally dozens of heavily armed police show up unannounced, but who hasn’t had that happen to them, amiright?”