NYPD kept back info on botched raid

What wrong door?

The NYPD didn’t reveal to the Civilian Complaint Review Board that Queens narcotics cops accused of a botched no-knock raid hit the wrong apartment due to a paperwork snafu, the Daily News has learned.

The CCRB, the city’s watchdog agency charged with investigating civilian complaints against cops, exonerated NYPD Detective Lawrence Avvenire, who was accused of abuse of authority for his role in the December 2017 raid. Avvenire, now retired, could not be reached for comment.

The News on Sunday reported that a Far Rockaway family of six was left so traumatized by the raid that they moved out of their home.

Nigerian immigrant Isaac Okoli, now 63, claims police made matters worse by planting evidence — a vial of cocaine — and arresting him during the raid, even though it was obvious to the family that cops were in the wrong apartment.

The drug charges were dropped before Okoli ever saw a judge. The family has filed a lawsuit against the city and NYPD.

An NYPD spokesman told The News wrong-door raids are “extremely rare.”

But police on Sunday could not say why the department did not provide to CCRB the search warrant affidavit presented in court that showed police were looking for a 30-year-old cocaine dealer at 22-37 Dix Ave., the building nextdoor to the Okoli family’s home.

Police only handed over the actual search warrant they executed, which instead mistakenly lists the family’s apartment at 22-29 Dix Ave.

A CCRB spokesman noted the city has been pushing state legislators to let CCRB investigators see sealed police records. Search warrant affidavits are routinely sealed prior to the warrant’s execution.

“This is just one example of the type of evidence which the CCRB is often denied because it does not have adequate access to relevant records,” the spokesman said.

The Okoli family’s lawyer, Rehan Nazrali, who got the affidavit after filing a Freedom of Information Law request, believes the NYPD intentionally misled the CCRB to hide the fact it raided the wrong home. “They took advantage of the opportunity to game the system and act with impunity,” Nazrali said. “It says, we know how to beat the system.”