‘I thought I was going to die’ | Body cam video shows North Texas officers forcing entry into wrong apartment

FRISCO, Texas — A North Texas man and his mother want the Frisco Police Department to make changes after an officer forced his way into their apartment last month while searching for a domestic disturbance incident later found on a different floor. 

Video from the officer’s body-worn cameras shows Elvin Turner repeatedly telling officers they do not have permission to enter his apartment.

“You can’t come in. It’s just me and my mother here,” Turner can be seen on camera saying. “You’ve got the wrong apartment.” 

One officer entered anyway and pointed his stun gun at Turner as he did. The other officer, a Frisco Police sergeant, stayed at the door, according to the video Turner obtained and shared with WFAA. 

“I immediately throw my hands up because I think it’s a gun,” Turner told WFAA Monday. “I feared for my life. I thought I was dead.” 

His mother, Lisa Turner, said she was worried officers would shoot her son. 

“I was afraid that I was going to see my son’s life taken in front of me,” Lisa Turner said. “The way they came in on us just like we weren’t anybody. And we are somebody.” 

She said she’s heard stories before of officers entering the wrong apartment and killing the person inside. In September 2018, an off-duty Dallas Police Officer shot and killed Botham Jean, mistakenly believing the 26-year-old accountant was in her apartment rather than his own. 

A police report, obtained by Elvin Turner through a records request and shared with WFAA, confirms officers located the couple involved in the disturbance on the floor below. Video later showed the Turners helping officers find the sound of the fighting and point them to the right apartment.  

“We take any complaints like this very seriously and will take any and all necessary steps to improve our response,” a Frisco Police spokesperson said, adding the department met with Elvin Turner on Monday and has opened a review of the incident. 

In the initial call, just after 6:15 the night of January 23, a woman reports hearing a “disturbance where it sounds like a male is beating a female” and told dispatchers it sounded like it might be from the apartment above hers — although she said she wasn’t sure, according to a police report and the 911 call, both obtained by Elvin Turner and shared with WFAA. 

She said she heard a woman screaming “Don’t hit me again, please stop,” according to the report. 

Officers responded to the complex near Stonebriar Mall and knocked on the door of Turner’s apartment, which is one floor above the woman who called 911.

When he said they couldn’t come in, that they had the wrong apartment and his mother — who can be seen on body camera video from the door — was the only other person inside, the officers still forced their way inside.

Body camera footage:

In the police report, the officer cites “exigent circumstances” as the reason for forcing the door open and said Elvin Turner was suspicious in part because he only opened the door part of the way. Turner said he was just trying to keep his dog from running into the hallway. 

“Elvin was of a larger stature than me,” the officer wrote in the police report. “To attempt to prevent force from being escalated, I drew my department issued taser and pointed it at Elvin briefly (however it was not activated and remained “off”) and told him to back up.” 

After checking the apartment, the sergeant can be heard on body camera video apologizing to the Turners, who indicated a plan to file a complaint about the officers’ behavior. 

Shortly after the officers left his apartment, Elvin Turner asked the sergeant to follow him onto the apartment balcony where both Turners can be seen on body camera video pointing out a different apartment, a floor below, where it sounds like there may be a fight occurring. 

Officers eventually spoke with the couple in that apartment, who admitted to having a fight but denied that it got physical, according to the report. The officers left without filing any charges against the couple, but before they did, they discussed their interaction with the Turners. 

“If we go back up there and you say ‘I’m sorry’ and smooth it over with them more, it probably wouldn’t go any further, you know what I’m saying?” the sergeant tells his officer. 

They go upstairs and knock on the door again, but the Turners were already at the police department filing a complaint. 

Lisa Turner said she used to feel comfortable in the home she shares with her son — but has felt “nervous” every day since the officers burst through the door. 

“It’s still in my mind that I could’ve seen my son get shot. And that plays in my mind all the time,” she said. 

Elvin Turner has filed an informal complaint with Frisco Police and plans to file a formal one too, he said. He learned how to navigate open records laws to obtain the body camera video and reports related to the incident. 

“I felt like when I opened that door, we were already guilty,” he said. “I feel like this is something that can literally happen to me every day of my life. Not only can it happen to me, it can happen to any other Black and Brown individual.” 

In emails he shared with WFAA, the Frisco PD Lieutenant who supervises the sergeant and officer-involved said he recommended the complaint against the officer be classified as “exonerated.” He explained, “In our system, this means the incident did take place, but the officer acted legally and within policy.” 

“I am truly sorry this happened to you,” the lieutenant wrote. “It was a rare set of circumstances and I hope you and your mother can understand and forgive us.” 

Turner said he disagreed with the lieutenant’s findings and requested to meet with the chief. He was slated to meet with the Frisco Police Deputy Chief of Operations Monday afternoon and said he hoped he wouldn’t be met with “more of the same.” 

“If it can happen to me and my mother, it can happen to you,” he said.