The DirecTV installers were struggling.
They'd been fiddling with the satellite TV system for two hours at Julie and Steven Pyle's home in Savage. The installers called DirecTV at one point, saying they were being "held hostage" on the job.
Then things really went haywire.
A DirecTV dispatcher called the police, who showed up at the Pyle house with guns drawn. Savage police forced Julie Pyle to the ground in her driveway and handcuffed her, even after the DirecTV installers told officers there'd been a mistake, the Pyles say.
Outraged at their treatment and the search of their home, the Pyles filed a federal civil rights suit against DirecTV, Savage police and Scott County law enforcement dispatchers.
"These are middle-class people who have never had any trouble with the law in any capacity in their entire lives," said Marc Kurzman, the Pyles' attorney. "These are regular people. She's a schoolteacher. Their first reaction is this shouldn't happen. You shouldn't have SWAT teams coming after someone if they know there's not a crisis."
The Pyles, unsatisfied with police explanations and armed with recordings of police communications, are seeking more than $75,000 in damages alleging negligence, false arrest, negligent reporting of a crime, emotional distress and civil rights violations.
DirecTV International, based in El Segundo, Calif., declined to comment, citing the pending litigation. Savage Police Chief Rodney Seurer said attorneys have instructed him not to comment.
According to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, two DirecTV installers showed up at the Pyles' home about 3:30 p.m. Oct. 13. While the installers worked, representatives of DirecTV called Julie Pyle twice to check on their progress.
Julie Pyle baked the installers cookies "because they were having such difficulty finishing the installation," according to the suit.
At 5:45 p.m., a DirecTV dispatcher, based in Oklahoma, called Scott County sheriff's dispatch, reporting, "Our technicians are being held at gunpoint by the customer. ... I know that one of them is trying to negotiate with the person so they can try and leave. ... The customer has a gun."
Another DirecTV dispatcher in Oklahoma came on the line with Scott County dispatchers minutes later, reporting that the installers had given Julie Pyle what she wanted and left the Pyle home.
Scott County dispatchers called the installers. Both verified they'd left the Pyle home and tried to straighten out the confusion.
"I think there's a major misconstrued statement going right now," one installer explained. "Maybe they heard in the background the statement ... to my manager that I am stuck here."
Scott County dispatchers told the installers Savage police officers were already at the house. The Pyles allege the installers spoke with police at the scene and told them this was not a hostage situation involving a gun.
But the Savage police sergeant in charge asked Scott County dispatch to call Julie Pyle and ask her to leave the house.
Julie Pyle, believing she may have been the victim of a theft, walked out of the house with the phone still in her hand and saw six guns pointed at her. She was cuffed, and her home searched. Police found nothing, according to her attorney.
"They knew before they baited her to come out of the house and swarmed her with guns that there was no basis to do this," Kurzman said. "I don't know if it's from TV shows like 'Cops,' but they were all pumped up and wanted to carry through with their exercises."
The Pyles were released and were not charged with a crime, Kurzman said. Their teenage son had just left for a softball game and did not witness the incident, he said.
After the incident, Julie Pyle suffered severe post-traumatic stress disorder, panic attacks and insomnia, according to the suit.
