Judge: Deputies Would Have to Shoot Me

BSO report details Easter mishap involving judge

Ilona Holmes was willing to die Easter Sunday when she faced off with Broward Sheriff's deputies who stormed her relative's home, an incident report stated.

Holmes, a Broward Circuit judge, allegedly told a BSO investigator "You'd have to shoot me to get me to sit on the ground tonight" when she was order to get on the ground by deputies who had their weapons drawn.

Deputies had arrived at Holmes' sister's house in Deerfield Beach after a call that it was being burglarized, but they ended up having the wrong address.

What happened next is what outraged Holmes and her family.

Deputies pulled out their weapons and began treating the family like criminals, even after Holmes identified herself as a judge, the family alleges.

But a BSO report of the incident lays the blame at the feet of the neighbor who called 911 and appears to paint Holmes and her family as uncooperative.

Deputies were told there was a burglary in progress at 235 SW 4th St., but that address doesn't exist.

Holmes' sister, Carmita Scarlett, owns the house at 230 SW 4th St., and the family was having Easter dinner. The peaceful night was interrupted by deputies, who surrounded the house with guns drawn thinking the occupants were really burglars.

The report states the woman who made the 911 call, Nikeya Curry, pointed to Scarlett's house as the one being burglarized and watched the home with deputies for several minutes.

Curry "never alerted deputies that the house that police was surrounding was the wrong house," the report stated.

After Holmes and her family were ordered outside, they were told to get on the ground, a report stated.

Holmes, who told deputies she was armed before she came outside, refused to sit on the ground because she had a bad back.

"None of the residence complied with police," a deputy wrote.

It wasn't until a high-ranking BSO official arrived on seen and recognized Holmes from her years on the bench that deputies realized they had the wrong address.

After things died down, Holmes and her family "appeared very upset that police had pointed weapons at them," the deputy wrote.

No burglars were found at the correct house and nothing appeared to be taken from the residence.

When investigators went to question Holmes further about what happened, she was in no mood to talk.

"She stated to me from inside that she was soaking her feet and now was not a good time," the report read.

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