Arlington police stormed the Garden of Eden organic farm in south Arlington, Texas, at around 7 a.m. on 2 August 2013.[1] More than 50 officers, armed with military-style weapons, cut through the chain-link gate.[1] Most of the residents were still asleep.[1] The officers rounded up and handcuffed all the adults, including five visitors.[1] The ACLU said residents were held at gunpoint for at least half an hour.[2] A guard stayed with a sleeping toddler and newborn while officers took another resident downstairs.[1] The farm’s account said all eight adults present were handcuffed at the gunpoint of heavily armed SWAT officers.[3] NBC 5 reported that six adults lived at the farm.[4] One resident, 30-year-old Quinn Eaker, was arrested on an outstanding warrant over unpaid parking tickets.[4] Police removed the handcuffs within about 30 minutes.[4] The residents said police did not show a warrant until two hours after the raid began.[5] The raid lasted about 10 hours.[2]

Police had a search warrant for marijuana plants.[4] In June an anonymous source told police Eaker was growing marijuana in a garden surrounded by bamboo.[4] On 30 July a Texas Department of Public Safety aircraft photographed the garden, and an officer thought the plants looked like marijuana.[4] Eaker said the plants police mistook for marijuana were likely tomatoes.[4] No marijuana or other drugs were found.[1] Officers and city code inspectors instead took away 17 blackberry bushes, 15 okra plants, 14 tomatillo plants, native grasses and sunflowers.[2] A city abatement team then mowed part of the garden.[1] The farm covered 3.5 acres at 7325 Mansfield Cardinal Road.[6]

The residents demanded an apology from police.[4] They also sought compensation for the damage done during the raid.[4] In July 2015 the owner and four other members sued the city.[7] The case was filed in federal court in Fort Worth.[8] The suit said police had no probable cause and based the search largely on an anonymous tip and a flyover that spotted what looked like marijuana plants.[8] The city said it was reviewing the lawsuit and that the factual recitations appeared not wholly accurate.[8] The case was later stayed pending the owner’s bankruptcy, and no outcome is reported.[7] The ACLU, then running a 25-state investigation into police militarization, cited the raid as an example of routine drug enforcement conducted like a war.[2]