BOSTON (WHDH) - A Beverly woman’s call for help takes an unexpected turn.
Police responded to her home and broke down the door to check on her daughter.
But now, the department is apologizing for what happened next.
“You can see the officer’s boot print right there on the door. It’s all cracked,” said Deborah Maijenski.
The front door kicked in. A bedroom door bashed in as well.
Maijenski’s home, left unlocked and unsecured, for more than five hours.
And it was the police who were responsible.
“I don’t understand why I wasn’t notified. No one let me know as my house lay wide open to the public,” Maijenski said.
One morning in Late May, Maijenski’s teenage daughter was reported as possibly suicidal. Officers were sent to her Beverly home to make sure she was OK.
“I appreciate them going in and checking on my daughter,” Maijenski said.
According to a police report, officers knocked on two different exterior doors, but received no response. So they kicked in the front door and a bedroom door, standard protocol when someone’s life may be in danger.
Officers then found out the daughter was actually somewhere else, so they left.
But the front door was unable to be secured, so it remained open and unlocked.
Maijenski’s daughter was found safe a short time later.
But her mother says she was left searching for answers.
“They had no explanation as to why I was never notified other than, it was a busy day in the city of Beverly yesterday,” Maijenski said.
“That is a fundamental best practice violation,” said Tom Nolan, a former Boston police lieutenant.
Nolan says an officer should have stayed at the home or at least reached out to the homeowner.
Steve Tellier: “She has a right to be upset?” Nolan: “Yeah, absolutely. I think she has a fair concern, that the police didn’t ensure that her home was secured.”
After 7News started asking questions, the Beverly police chief called Maijenski and apologized.
The department tells 7News: “In this incident, the safety of the distressed female is paramount and locating her in an effort to provide aid and services that she may need was paramount. The Beverly Police acknowledge that an oversight was made … when officers failed to notify the homeowner that the residence’s entry had been breached.”
But for Maijenski, the damage is done.
“It definitely has left me feeling extremely unsafe,” she said.
Maijenski has applied to the city to try to get them to pay for the repairs, which cost her more than $1,000. But she’s still waiting for a response.
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