A ring video doorbell has captured the terrifying moment armed police officers raided the wrong address.
The footage shows laser sights pointed at Eddie Croasdell, 56, as he is cuffed and dragged outside in his boxers and T-shirt.
But the officers’ blunder meant the knifeman they were hunting got away. Sky engineer Eddie, of St Albans, Herts, said: “I was woken up to bashing at my door on Sunday morning at 8.30 am to see what looked like a platoon of US Marines standing outside.
“I was completely, completely terrified. I opened up and was painted with laser targets and someone shouting, ‘Put your hands over your head’. I thought, ‘S*** they must think I’m a terrorist. They are going to shoot me’.
“I racked my brains to think of something I might have done recently or in the past — but I can’t even bring myself to drop litter. While the police were treating me like Osama Bin Laden, the guy they wanted got away.
“How did they got it so wrong? I mean, it’s not like South Central LA or something, it’s St Albans.”
Eddie’s 15-year-old son Jack was also quizzed at gunpoint during the raid. Pacifist Eddie also feared that in the confusion, the officers would shoot his dog, a Jack Russell- Chihuahua cross called Ash.
He said: “From outside I could hear them frantically shouting, ‘There’s a dog, there’s a dog!’
“They made it sound like there was some sort of military attack dog hidden in there.”
In total nine armed and six uniformed officers, two vans, three cars and a dog-handling unit were said to have been on Sunday’s raid. Eddie has complained to the police watchdog and is considering legal action.
Hertfordshire Constabulary said: “Public safety is our number one priority in these circumstances and time was of the essence.
“Officers attended reports that a person in one of the flats was being held at knifepoint.”