An internal review of the incident concluded that officers did not violate any laws or policies.
FRISCO, Texas — The Frisco Police Department will add training and adjust how it reviews situations where officers force their way into private homes after a January incident where officers went into the wrong apartment while looking for a victim of a reported domestic disturbance, later found on a different floor.
The department cleared both officers involved following an internal review sparked by the complaint from Elvin Turner and his mother, Lisa, who described being terrified when the officers pushed into their apartment.
“It is extremely unfortunate that Mr. Turner was caught up in the middle of something he did not deserve,” Frisco Police Chief David Shilson said, adding that the department had apologized to the family.
He pointed out that officers went to the apartment a dispatcher directed them to based on a 911 call.
“They’re doing the best with the information that’s provided to them in that moment,” Chief Shilson said.
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 saying on camera. “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 thought initially I was going to be shot,” Turner told WFAA. “This situation has turned me into somebody that I’m not. I have so much anger inside of me now, I have so much rage inside of me now because I’m still battling ‘Why was my word not good enough?'”
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.
Shilson said that call formed the legal basis for officers to enter the apartment without a warrant. He said the officers had no choice but to search the apartment in case there was a victim inside, although he wishes it was handled differently.
“We could’ve taken the time to say ‘Hey, we cannot leave here until we go in and verify there is not a victim in that apartment,'” the chief told WFAA. “Because the ramifications of us not investigating and not checking to see if there’s a victim in there are pretty severe.”
An internal review of the incident concluded that officers did not violate any laws or policies. But Shilson said the department would make changes as a result of the incident and Turner’s complaint.
“We need to do a better job of communicating,” Shilson said.
Frisco Police will also now consider officers pushing their way into an apartment as a “forced entry,” which would trigger the same automatic review protocols as incidents such as those when officers break down a door.
Additionally, complaints like the one Elvin Turner filed will be escalated to a supervisor and separated from more typical comments the department receives, Shilson said.
He said the department examined the history of the officers involved as part of its consideration and found no pattern of excessive force or racial profiling.
Documents obtained by WFAA show the officers had both received commendations for lifesaving work in 2024. However, the officer who forced his way into the Turner’s apartment has had three excessive force complaints since 2020. The department cleared him in all three cases.
“We look at every single one of these complaints individually,” Shilson said. “Out of 11 thousand calls for service [that number of complaints] is pretty good, that’s pretty good.”
Elvin Turner said the changes the department is undertaking are “a good start.”
“I’m not really sure what answers I would need to feel at peace because I’m still trying to process the event itself,” Turner said.
