FBI and other federal agents barged into the wrong Boston hotel room in the middle of the night during a training exercise, where they handcuffed an airline pilot, put him in the shower, and interrogated him for more than 45 minutes. When agent finally realized they screwed up, they uncuffed him. When WBZ Boston, tried to interview the pilot, he said he wasn't allowed to talk about it.
The FBI issued a statement that didn't really explain why it chose to conduct its mock raid in a hotel filled with guests in the middle of the night:
At approximately 10:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 4, 2023, the FBI Boston Division was assisting the U.S. Department of Defense in conducting a Department of Defense (DOD) training exercise at a hotel in Boston to simulate a situation their personnel might encounter in a deployed environment. Based on inaccurate information, they were mistakenly sent to the wrong room and detained an individual, not the intended role player. Thankfully nobody was injured. The Boston Police Department was called and responded to the scene to confirm that this was indeed a training exercise. Safety is always a priority of the FBI, and our law enforcement partners, and we take these incidents very seriously. The Boston Division is reviewing the incident with DOD for further action as deemed appropriate.
From CBS News:
Vic Hartman, a former 25-year veteran of the FBI, said the training exercise in public does not make sense to him.
"Night arrests are unusual so why would you train for a night arrest at 10 p.m.," Hartman said. "It's unusual, there could be a justification for it, it's just not apparent to me on the surface."
He's not involved in this case, but he's done training arrests and oversaw exercises just like the one in question.
"On the face of it, it doesn't seem within protocol of most trainings," Hartman said.
