Harry Gehlert, a senior citizen with no criminal record, hardly expected to be led out of his Baltimore apartment and handcuffed by a heavily armed police tactical unit when his toilet overflowed. But that?s what happened in March of 2004, Gehlert said, after his downstairs neighbor complained.

Now Gehlert, 75, is suing the city and the management of his Mount Vernon building for unspecified damages because he is still haunted by the day he opened his door and found himself staring down the barrel of a gun, he said.