Acting only on a tip from an unreliable informant, a team of NYPD drug cops smashed through the door of a Harlem apartment as part of a drug raid on May 16, 2003. After detonating a flash grenade, the cops stormed into the apartment only to find a dazed, middle-aged woman struggling to catch her breath. Though she was stunned and lying on the floor, police handcuffed her and treated her like a criminal suspect.

Fifty-seven-year old Alberta Spruill, a 29-year city worker, respected neighbor and churchgoer, was getting dressed for work at the time of the police raid. She died from a heart attack...