WASHINGTON - A D.C. couple says police caused thousands of dollars of damage to their home and says the District won't pay for the damages.

"What I have seen on the part of the police department is sloppy detective work and frankly, by the city, a total unwillingness to take responsibility," said Allyson Kitchel.

Allyson Kitchel and her husband David feel like they've been through the ringer not once, but twice. Last May, she arrived to find a "swarm of police" at her Capitol Hill home.

She remembered, "Armed police officers on my front porch, in my front yard and down on the sidewalk."

She said she screamed "that's my house" and showed her ID.

"The officers did get on their walkie talkies and say stop," Kitchel told us. "They were radioing to the other team of officers in my backyard with a battering ram trying to break through the iron bars."

Kitchel explained just days before the raid, a 19-year-old man was arrested on gun charges.

"They asked the young man's mother where does he live and she said he lives at what is my house. That wasn't true," stated Kitchel.

It wasn't true because Kitchel said she and her husband bought the house from the suspect's family back in 2007.

Kitchel said, "The family hadn't lived here for 18 months."

The search warrant indicates police were looking for firearms, ammunition and records or papers relating to the lease or ownership of the premises.

"They didn't need to come and search my house to find out who owns it," said Kitchel. "The one thing they didn't check was the public land record, which are free and readily accessible."

Kitchel said the battering ram and crowbar police used on the back on the house caused more than $3,000 in damage. She also just learned that city is not going to reimburse her because the warrant was "authorized and valid and that MPD officers determined there was sufficient probable cause" to search the house.

"A valid search warrant based on bad information," said Kitchel.

Kitchel added, "I expect the city to make this right. I expect to be compensated for the cash we spent out of pocks to return our house to its condition."

We spoke with Councilman Tommy Wells' office and it is making inquiries into the Office of Risk Management, which ultimately denied Allyson Kitchel's claim. Also, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police Department (web | news) said she could not comment at this time.

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