A Salt Lake family wants the city to pay for damage from a SWAT team search of their house.
It stems from the Jan. 5 search for the man accused of fatally shooting Millard County sheriff's Deputy Josie Fox.
Police originally believed the suspect, Roberto Roman, was hiding at the Salt Lake City home of his cousin, Guillermo Miramontes. A car believed to be connected to the shooting was spotted in front of the house on the 1000 West block of 300 South. Officers got permission to search the home and ended up firing 10 canisters of tear gas into the house before entering.
Roman was not inside. He later was found with an accused accomplice and arrested north of Beaver.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports damage to the Salt Lake City home is approximately $25,000. The family says it needs to replace the carpet, two couches, six beds, most of their clothing and all of the food that was in the house.
Family members tell the Tribune they're afraid they will get stuck with the cost. The family filed a claim against the city and says it will file a lawsuit if it doesn't get paid.
Community activist Michael Clara, who also is a neighbor of the Miramontes family, says the family has been living in a hotel room.
"Eleven days (after the SWAT search) the health department shows up and says 'Oh, this house, we need to close it because there is too much tear gas in there,'" he told KSL.
He says the family basically has been left homeless.
"The house is uninhabitable. Everything is damaged, the windows are all broken. There's no process in place to help someone in that situation," he said.
Salt Lake City isn't commenting because of the pending claim.
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