Scheduled for debate by the U.S. Supreme Court is a legal dispute involving a woman suing the U.S. government due to a mistaken FBI raid on their residence in Atlanta, Georgia.
The incident occurred on October 18, 2017, when FBI agents forcibly entered Trina Martin’s home in Atlanta. Upon bursting into her bedroom in the early hours, the agents aimed their guns at Martin and her then-partner, while her 7-year-old son cried out for her in distress from another part of the house.
Martin, aged 46, was prevented from tending to her child during what she described as an agonizing period, until the agents realized their error in mistaking her home for the location of a suspected gang member.
An attorney for Martin will go before the Supreme Court on Tuesday to ask for the reinstatement of her 2019 lawsuit against the U.S. government accusing the agents of assault and battery, false arrest and other violations.
The Atlanta home where Trina Martin, her then-boyfriend Toi Cliatt and her 7-year-old son were living when the FBI broke down the door and stormed in, is seen on Friday, April 25, 2025. (AP)
Cliatt was uncuffed, and the agents left for the correct house, where they arrested the man they were searching for.
The agent leading the raid returned later to Martin’s home to apologize and leave a business card with a supervisor’s name. Cliatt said the family received no compensation from the government, not even for the damage to the house.
Martin said the most distressing part of the raid was her son crying.
“When you’re not able to protect your child or at least fight to protect your child, that’s a feeling that no parent ever wants to feel,” she said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
