NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A community organization is seeking more information after a police raid involving a multi-jurisdiction operation. 

The Workers’ Dignity group shared the video, showing more than 20 officers at the Hobson Flats Apartments back in November, followed by the sound of an explosion.  

Metro police say the video does not show steps officers took beforehand, including multiple announcements for anyone inside to come out. They were carrying out a search warrant as part of a drug investigation. Police did not find anyone inside the apartment, but they did find 30 grams of crack cocaine and a firearm.  

Workers’ Dignity said the incident was brought to their attention last week.  

“For the people affected in this scenario, what they want is answers, they want to what was happening. Why was this amount of police force used for a single apartment complex?” said Cecilia Prado, Executive Director of Workers’ Dignity. 

The organization has asked the Community Oversight Board to investigate after residents say they were never followed up with or told what the raid was about.  

“A lot of neighbors speak Spanish inside that building, they didn’t know what was going on. So, many of them had already some post-traumatic stress disorder from previous interactions with the police,” Prado said. “Others were saying that they hide in the bathroom, hide in the tub, so this had a lot of different physical consequences on the residents, and then also psychological.” 

Approaching sensitive operations discretely can be important when trying to track down fugitives, and the suspect was eventually caught at another location. The suspect was wanted on a felony outstanding warrant in Sumner County. When the person was arrested, police found a firearm, 3.8 grams of methamphetamine, 5.1 grams of marijuana and 6 grams of cocaine.

Workers’ Dignity volunteers say residents wished they would have been given information to help them understand what happened, and whether they needed to be concerned.  

“We’ve seen how SWAT teams, police force have gone into wrong apartments before and it’s come out in tragedy. You know, we’re fortunate that we know nobody was killed, if somebody was killed we would understand that, but that doesn’t mean that the way it goes down does not have an impact on folks nearby,” Workers’ Dignity volunteer Anfernee Welch said.  

The Community Oversight Board confirmed to News 2 they have opened an investigation into the incident. They issued the following statement: 

“We reached out to MNPD last week and were told that the SWAT action was related to an open investigation, so they would not share any details at this time. They did disclose that SWAT was serving a search warrant at the location and that no arrests were made. 
 
MNCO has opened an investigation based on the video we’ve received. We share the community’s concerns about the number of officers involved and the apparent use of flash-bangs inside the apartment complex, and hope MNPD will disclose more information about the incident soon.”