LAUDERHILL, FLA. – A Lauderhill woman is speaking out about the incident that occurred when law enforcement officers raided her home following the arrests of two individuals, one of whom was her brother.
The recent details emerged after a resident captured a Lauderhill Police officer making a controversial statement on a cellphone video.
In an interview with 7News on Friday, Chelsea expressed her belief that it was completely unnecessary for U.S. Marshals to forcefully enter her apartment on Thursday morning since the suspects were already apprehended.
“I could see where they kicked the door down, probably with their feet,” she mentioned, pointing to her red front door.
Chelsea, who preferred not to reveal her face on camera, stated that the officers spent three hours inside her house, during which they damaged television sets and even aimed a gun at her one-year-old child, who encountered them as they barged in.
“I heard the door slam open, and as I came out, my baby was in the hallway,” Chelsea recounted. “I saw a group of U.S. Marshals pointing a gun at my child, who was right there. I confronted them, telling them that my baby was harmless and insisting they put their guns away. One of them repeatedly told me to be quiet or I would be arrested.”
Chelsea explained that the U.S. Marshals were searching for her brother, Dimitri Holland, who stands accused of an armed robbery in Palm Beach County.
“It wasn’t a fight or anything like that. There was no need for any of it. He surrendered, he was right there,” she asserted.
Holland’s friend, Marcus Terell Robinson, attempted to flee, but Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies and a K-9 unit were present to assist in apprehending him.
A neighbor who overheard Robinson’s shouts grabbed her cellphone and started recording the arrest.
“I went outside to the patio,” the neighbor, who wished to remain anonymous and not be shown on camera, said.
She was heard in her cellphone video questioning the officers, “Did you get him off of him?”
“I told them to remove the dog from him because he wasn’t resisting,” she told 7News.
Shortly after, a Lauderhill Police officer can be seen instructing the neighbor to go back inside.
“If you want to get shot, just come outside, then,” the officer yelled.
“Seriously?!” the neighbor exclaimed.
“He wasn’t resisting, so that’s why I was upset about the dog,” she told 7News. “And for him to say that was completely uncalled for. He could have simply said, ‘Go inside the house.'”
A spokesperson for the Broward Sheriff’s Office stated that the K-9 is trained not to release the suspect until they are apprehended.
Once Holland and Robinson were arrested and in custody, Chelsea claimed that the police vandalized her home.
“When I came downstairs, the TV was on the ground, my daughter’s room was in disarray, and her bed was broken at the bottom,” she described. “In my room, they dismantled my bed and broke it. As you can see in the pictures, my bed is damaged.”
Cellphone footage of Chelsea’s apartment depicted clothes scattered on the floor. She mentioned that the U.S. Marshals were searching for a cellphone, a shirt, and other items.
When asked if the officers were looking for a firearm, Chelsea responded, “There is no gun. The only gun present is mine, and I have a license to carry it.”
In response to the officer’s behavior towards the neighbor in the video, a spokesperson for the Lauderhill Police issued a statement indicating that the incident, including the comments made, is under investigation.
Robinson appeared in bond court in Fort Lauderdale on Friday, facing charges of obstruction.
“The suspect attempted to divert law
