SALT LAKE CITY — As Salvia Miramontes inspects the damage in her home, her couch and other pieces of furniture are loaded into a trailer to be taken to the dump.
"We had to throw away everything," she said.
Carpet. A couch. Clothes. Beanbag chairs. Anything with fabric. All of it had to be thrown out because it was contaminated with chemical residue from tear gas that police deployed inside the home.
But Miramontes insists neither she nor her family did anything wrong. Now, they're asking the city to help them put their house back together.
On Jan. 5, SWAT teams from several jurisdictions converged on Miramontes' home. Investigators were looking for one of her relatives, Roberto Miramontes, 37, who police believe had shot and killed Millard County sheriff's deputy Josie Greathouse Fox several hours earlier.
A cell-phone "ping" from Roberto Miramontes' phone led detectives to Salt Lake County. And the discovery of an orange Corvette — the one police were looking for — parked in front of Salvia Miramontes' home prompted police to surround the house in the Poplar Grove neighborhood of Salt Lake City.
After evacuating Salvia Miramontes and her family, SWAT teams shot several rounds of tear gas into the house, as well as a shed and camper in the backyard.
Roberto Miramontes was not inside. He was arrested the next day after police found him and Ruben Reyes hiding in a shed in Beaver.
Hours after police left Salvia Miramontes' home near 300 South and 1050 West, fire crews and the health department were called back because the lingering effects of the tear gas caused her and her family to suffer scratchy throats and teary eyes. The house was temporarily closed to occupancy by the health department.
Salvia Miramontes returned a few days later, but once again was overcome by the smell. Now, the health department has again closed the house to occupancy, posting notices on all the doors. Miramontes said it could still be three to four more weeks before she and her family can return.
The Miramontes family has filed a claim notice with Salt Lake City's Risk Management Division. In it, the family claims their Fourth, Fifth and 14th Amendment rights were violated.
"They were at the wrong house. The suspect they were looking for was not in my home," Salvia Miramontes wrote in the claim.
Neighbor and community activist Michael Clara, who is helping the Miramontes family, said he has tried to explain to them why the police did what they did.
"In the absence of a reasonable explanation (of why the car was parked in front), I totally understand. I can see they assumed you were lying. I think the police acted in good faith," he said.
Salvia Miramontes' 18-year-old son was upset and bitter toward police after the incident, Clara said. So Clara took the son and four other boys to Delta to attend Fox's funeral.
"This is why police did this," Clara explained. "There's purpose to what they're doing. Going to the funeral helped him understand the magnitude (of what happened and why police responded as they did)."
But now that Roman Miramontes is in custody, Clara believes the city needs to step up to the plate and help Salvia Miramontes and her family put their house back in order.
"The government's job is to fight homelessness, not create it, and that's what they've done here," he said. "Somebody in the city needs to take responsibility."
The Salt Lake Police Department declined to comment on the matter, referring calls to the Risk Management Division.
Monday, as many of Salvia Miramontes' possessions were loaded in a trailer to be taken to the landfill, she looked over the multiple broken windows and holes in her shed where tear-gas canisters were fired. Ten windows were broken, according to her filed claim.
A professional company will have to clean up the tear gas, at an estimated price of between $6,000 to $10,000, according to Clara and Miramontes.
Pink residue from the canisters remained on the ceiling and walls. Miramontes could only stand to be inside her house for a couple of minutes before her throat became scratchy.
"It still makes your eyes water. You touch your face (after touching the walls), and it burns. So we wear masks and gloves inside," she said. "We really want to come home. It's not easy to be living in another place."
Miramontes and her family have been staying in hotels, with the LDS Church and the Salt Lake School District helping pick up the tab, Clara said.
He believes there should be a standardized method of taking care of homes where police and SWAT teams are forced to use intrusive methods.
"I'm worried about the next family. This needs to be standardized. When the dust settles, maybe we need to regulate this statewide," he said.
Clara pointed to the Los Angles Police Department's "Wrong Door" unit, which helps fix damage caused by SWAT raids.
Clara said if Salt Lake City does not respond to Miramontes' claim, they will hire an attorney and take legal action.
e-mail: preavy@desnews.com