Bobbie Sapp, a 49-year-old registered nurse with no criminal background whatsoever, was victim to an abrupt police raid in 2017.
According to a report from the Free Thought Project, Sapp could be facing life behind bars after this encounter with law enforcement.
On the night of this incident, police broke into Sapp’s home in Florida, storming her bedroom while she slept, and then shot her. Additionally, they arrested her and charged her with multiple felonies.
The whole incident started when a disgruntled ex-boyfriend used a police welfare check to intentionally harm her. In an interview with News 6, she insisted she did nothing wrong.
Instead, she was greeted by various shadowy figures in her bedroom, who pulled off her covers, yelled at her, tasered her, and then shot her.
“He used this wellness check as a way to put me in harm’s way,” she declared.
By not even bothering to knock on the door, call her, or use any other non-violent means to confront her, the cops aided a man shoot this woman on his behalf. This disgruntled ex-boyfriend didn’t live in the house and could have been anyone for all she knew.
“My girlfriend was threatening suicide last night, I just came to the house and trying to get in,” Sapp’s ex-boyfriend relayed to the 911 operator.
Sapp claims these were all lies. If she actually wanted to commit suicide, she could’ve used one of the two guns which she regularly sleeps with. She ended up not doing so.
“She is very well armed,” Sapp’s ex-boyfriend explained to the 911 operator when asked if Sapp had guns at her place.
“She’s threatened suicide by cop before,” he stated.
Sapp has no record of suicide attempts.
“I was asleep in my bed. I was not at all contemplating a suicide or suicide by cop,” Sapp told News 6.
Regardless, police showed up to the home and took directions from Sapp’s ex, who did not even live there.
“There’s one way into the house to crawl through a window and I don’t want to do that at this point. I want someone here with me,” Sapp’s ex-boyfriend pointed out during the call.
When police arrived at the scene, Sapp’s ex instructed them how to burst into the home. Not knowing that the ex was no longer with Sapp, the police followed his instructions.
“I’m asking if there’s any weapons in the house, he tells me there’s enough weapons in the house to start a revolution,” officer Jeff Marcum, a responding officer in this incident, said according to an interview with News 6.
The weapons found at Sapp’s home were two pistols that were snatched from Sapp’s bed after the police shot her.
Originally, the police claimed they were breaking into Sapp’s house before announcing themselves as law enforcement.
However, after they entered Sapp’s bedroom, they conceded that they didn’t announce themselves while Sapp was asleep. She was not aware that the police were raiding her house.
“We’re yelling at her to, you know, let us see your hands, let us see your hands,” Marcum stated.
Due to Sapp not immediately responding to the police’s orders, force was escalated.
“I didn’t have my glasses on, I’m legally blind,” Sapp stated. “I couldn’t identify anybody, but I remember there being shadows figures standing in my room. They pulled the covers off me.”
“At that point when she pulled the cover, Ms. Sapp immediately came up with a handgun and pointed it right at us,” Marcum said to investigators.
Sapp pushed back against the idea that she ever drew out a gun. She says that if she did point her gun at the cops, she would have been killed because multiple cops would’ve riddled her with bullets.
“If I had been pointing my gun, the way they said that I was, why didn’t they all shoot me, instead of just one person?” Sapp asked.
One cop then used a tazer on her. Marcum then pulled his gun and shot Sapp, which led to her arrest.
“It doesn’t make any sense that they would come in that way unless they were lied to by somebody that was using this well-being check as a tool to put me in harm’s way,” Sapp noted. “To process that has been really, really difficult. It’s something that could happen to anyone.”
Sapp was charged with the following felonies:
Att. First Degree Murder Of Leo W/firearm
Att. First Degree Murder Of Leo W/firearm
Agg. Assault On A Leo (w/ A Deadly Weapon)
Aggravated Assault With A Deadly Weapon
Aggravated Assault With A Deadly Weapon
Aggravated Assault With A Deadly Weapon
Resisting Officer With Violence
This case demonstrates how even the police are not exempt from committing major errors in the line of work.
The job of law enforcement is difficult, but there is still a need for accountability in their line of work.
More importantly, Sapp’s ex-boyfriend should face justice for abusing the welfare check system to terrorize his ex.
This incident highlights how these processes must also be reformed to protect people from unjust police raids.
