LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The city of Louisville agreed to pay $180,000 to a painter, his girlfriend and her young daughter to settle a lawsuit after Louisville Metro Police handcuffed them while acting on stale information and without probable cause when they raided a home in July 2019 to serve a warrant on an alleged drug suspect.

Roy Stucker had been hired as an independent contractor to work on the house for a new tenant when at least 10 officers raided the home in the Southside neighborhood "in military fashion," shooting objects through windows and breaking in with weapons drawn, according to the suit.

The house had been empty for days, with furniture outside on the curb and Stucker's painting truck sitting in front. The target of the investigation had already been arrested and was in custody.

Stucker and his girlfriend, Courtney Brown-Porter, initially believed they were being robbed and feared they would be killed, the suit claims. The couple and Brown-Porter's daughter were allegedly handcuffed for about 20 minutes.

"My clients are pleased to put this terrible incident behind them and have some closure," said attorney Josh Rose, who represented the couple.

The Jefferson County Attorney's office, which handles lawsuits against the city, did not immediately provide a comment or request for the settlement agreement. 

The case was dismissed in U.S District Court on Monday after both sides reached a settlement, according to court records.

The lawsuit was actually initially dismissed in March when a federal judge ruled that police had produced enough "probable cause" for former Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Mary Shaw to sign off on a warrant. (Shaw also signed off on the Breonna Taylor search warrant.)

But the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that ruling May 13, finding that the home had been vacant for several days and the suspect already had been arrested and was in custody when officers raided the house in the Southside neighborhood, shooting objects through windows and breaking in with weapons drawn.

Video of the SWAT raid at center of lawsuit by Roy Stucker for a 2019 raid by Louisville Metro Police. Stucker, his girlfriend and 10-year-old daughter were put in handcuffs. 

The higher court found that the officer who applied for the search warrant had inadequate training and the department has a history of improper searches.

"The district court erred by finding that no constitutional violation occurred," the three-judge appellate panel ruled.

Stucker told officers he had been hired to paint the house and pleaded with them not to handcuff his girlfriend and her child.

"Officers proceeded to handcuff and separate all three," according to the appeals court ruling. "A search of the mostly empty home yielded no evidence of any criminal activity. Officers joked after discussing their fruitless search that it revealed 'the old setting up the painters trick.'"

U.S. District Court Judge Greg Stivers had previously ruled that the warrant proved the alleged drug dealer had been to the home before it was vacated and evidence could have been found there. "Thus, no constitutional violation occurred in the issuance of the warrant," he ruled.

But the appeals court found that the suspect police were looking for did not live at the home, was never seen conducting a drug deal there and had only visited the person who lived there weeks prior to the search.

Also, the officer who wrote the search warrant testified he had not had any formal training on warrants in more than six years and did not know whether LMPD policies required him to determine who lived in the home.

When police arrived in two armored vehicles and at least one ATV on July 15, 2019, the house had been empty for days.

Within seconds of shouting out a demand to exit, police shattered then shot through a window.

"Out of nowhere, we heard like banging on the doors," Stucker previously told WDRB News. "We didn't know if it was somebody trying to get in or somebody's looking for someone who used to live there."

"They (police) treated us horrible, I mean, worse than if we was what he was looking for, talking bad about us, cussed her out for getting upset," Stucker said.

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