Woman suffers heart attack during search for drug suspect

By Mike Morris

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

An elderly Polk County woman suffered a heart attack after police mistakenly came to her home with guns drawn, looking for drug suspects.

Polk police officers and agents from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration went to Helen Pruett's double-wide trailer Tuesday morning to serve an arrest warrant but mistakenly went to the wrong home.

"It was not a search warrant," Polk County police Chief Kenny Dodd told WSB Radio. "She came to the door, opened it and talked with us on the steps. The house was never breached."

After speaking with the 76-year-old Pruett at the front door, officers "realized that the subject we were looking for was not there," Dodd said.

"She made us aware that she was having chest pains and we got her medical attention and I stayed with her and kept her calm and monitored her vital signs until the ambulance arrived," Dodd told WSB.

The chief defended the decision to approach the house with guns drawn.

"These were considered high-risk warrants," Dodd said. "These individuals are known drug dealers and they were looking at a lot of time in federal prison, so obviously, when we serve those types of warrants, we usually go in with guns drawn just to protect ourselves."

WXIA-TV reported that Pruett was taken to a Rome hospital, where doctors confirmed that she had suffered a heart attack. She is recovering at the hospital.