Gilbert settles raid lawsuit for $185,000

Gilbert and a Phoenix couple whose home burned down in a 2006 SWAT raid have settled a lawsuit for $185,000.

Daniel Ortega, attorney for Salvador and Carlota Celaya, said the settlement will cover the cost of a new home and replace their valuables.

"We ultimately came to a figure that was fair on both sides," Ortega said Wednesday.

The couple alleged in the suit filed Dec. 13, 2007, in Maricopa County Superior Court that a Gilbert police officer who tossed a "flash bang" grenade through a window of the couple's south Phoenix house was "grossly negligent and careless."

The grenade, which ignited a bed, wasn't deployed in "the manner consistent with the printed manufacturer's warnings, which instructed the user that it not be deployed on or near furniture," Ortega alleged in the lawsuit.

After the fire began, Salvador Celaya, 74, started firing a gun, keeping police at bay and delaying firefighters from responding.

Ortega said that in coming to an agreeable figure, both sides considered the replacement value of the home, the purchase value and Celaya's actions weighed against whether the flash bang was deployed correctly.

The two sides reached an agreement in February and a Maricopa County Superior Court judge signed an order to dismiss the case March 5, according to court records.

Ultimately, the settlement was driven by the real estate market, Ortega said.

The figure used for the settlement was the value of the house in 2006, which would have declined in the current market.

"We did very well under the circumstances," Ortega said.

Police went to the house on Dec. 13, 2006, at 9:30 p.m. in search of a man wanted in a carjacking and home invasion.

Police reports show that a pickup truck used in a Scottsdale home invasion three days before was registered to Sonia Celaya, daughter of the Celayas. Police also found a car stolen from the home invasion parked a few blocks from the Celaya home.

Police had also been tracking the cell phone use of the suspect, Erasmo Ruiz Villarreal, and investigators said they had reason to believe he was in the area.

After police surrounded the house, officer Garett Tinsdale tossed a diversionary canister through the window, igniting the bed.

According to an internal police review, Tinsdale said he looked but didn't see the bed before he threw the grenade. Tinsdale said he would have tossed it away from the bed had he seen it or not thrown the device at all.

Gilbert police cleared the SWAT team of wrongdoing in June.

Villarreal, 24, pleaded guilty in August 2007 to auto theft and armed robbery for an Oct. 30, 2006, carjacking at Mercy Gilbert Medical Center, and to first-degree burglary for the home invasion in Scottsdale. A judge sentenced him to 15 years in prison.