UPDATE: Mayor is calling for a federal investigation. Says it's too early to think about monetary compensation.
The story about the Prince George's County police who burst into the Mayor of Berwyn Heights' home in a drug bust and shot his two dogs -- one of whom was running away -- gets worse.
1) the police didn't have a "no-knock" warrant, meaning sending a SWAT team bursting into the Mayor's house was not covered by the warrant they did have. Oops.
2) They HAVE arrested someone: a deliveryman. Who doesn't have anything to do with the Mayor or his household.
Police Chief Melvin High (ironic name, dontcha think?) told the WaPo that most likely the Mayor's family were "innocent victims."
Yeah. Of the police department.
Meanwhile, people like me who spend time commenting on this stuff in the blogosphere have been demanding retribution and encouraging lawsuits.
The problem with suing Prince George's County is that any settlement is going to come from the taxpayers (or is the County insured for stuff like this?)
At the very least, someone should be fired. As more details emerge it becomes clearer that the police really screwed this up - and as a result a family lost two beloved pets.
11 comments:
Sorry about the taxpayers, but if I were the mayor, I'd sue the bejesus out of them. The DA should file criminal charges, too.
Some heads need to roll over this. I can't begin to convey or imagine the anger that would consume me if my dogs were killed for no damn reason. Some higher ups need to lose their jobs immediately and rules and regulations need to be reevaluated.
This is so unacceptable that it makes me sick.
This is your Patriot Act at work. LE has no accountability. This whole thing is over a shipment of grass?
Firings, prison, etc., are more than warranted. But the Mayor needs to hit the County where it hurts. There needs to be a major league lawsuit here, not only against the authorities, but the individual officers involved in the assault.
This is still "our" country, right?
The concept of a no-knock is constitutionally flawed. I'd love to see the fallout if the mayor had come down the stairs armed and firing (as he would have every moral right to...)
The Police Chief, all of the officers, and everyone who authorized or took part in this injustice should be fired immediately. They lack good judgement and cannot be trusted. The Mayor should sue the socks off them as well. I know if it were my dogs, I'd have already been to see my lawyer.
So... the police break down the door of a house and shoot two dogs of a non-aggressive type, hand-cuff the mayor his wife and an old lady fail to provide him with a copy of the warrant and REFUSE TO APPOLOGIZE ?!!! Nice. Strong work officers. That's the kind of failed critical thinking and idiotic action which endangers innocent lives and destroys public confidence in our police force. Was any backgroud check done on the occupants (mayor and wife) prior to this illeagal search ? Was the judge who signed the warrant aware that drugs were routinely being mailed to unsuspecting persons for the purpose of intercepting them prior to delivery?
The mayor and family, citizens of Berwyn Heights and Prince George's County should persue every political, electoral, civil, and criminal avenue open to them to remove the officer who made the call "on the ground" to "go in heavy", the sherriff who failed to appologize for the aggregious action of his officers, and the officer(s) who discharged his firearm inapropriately in the home.
This makes me sick.
As a former Police Officer, I feel ashamed. It hurts my heart to hear that two family pets were shot and killed (one while trying to run away). As a former Police Officer, and Combat Veteran of Iraq..have had numerous situations where I have felt threatened, but have never had to use my firearm in response. I find it hard to believe that an entry team of heavily armed personnel, wearing full body armor, would feel the need to open fire on these dogs. If these folks are that threatened by two Labs, then mabye they need to pursue another line of work. I hate to critisize another police officer, but these are the types of Police that make all of the rest look bad. If I were the homeowner, I would go after this Department (as well as the Sheriff) and pursue all criminal and civil avenues available. This really bothers me, and I hope the outcome will possibly prevent this sort of thing from repeating itself somewhere else.
What does the Patriot Act got to do with this?
Jim --- The mayor could have come down the stairs armed and firing...but he'd be dead. I'd like to hear more about the constitutionality of the "no-knock" warrant.
Again, to everyone clamoring to sue -- the cost to the county would ultimately be borne by the taxpayers who live there who had nothing to do with this. I don't know that you can sue individually those responsible who were acting on the county's behalf (albeit incompetently) without the county bearing some or all the cost ultimately.
But I am not an expert on these matters. Maybe someone who knows what happens when a local gov't and public servants gets sued can chime in here?
Regarding the police officers of the SWAT team, I don't know enough to criticize them as they did would they were trained to do, i.e., go in to a hostile and violent environment. The problem I have is with the incompetent idiots who thought it was a good idea to use a SWAT team in the first place. Those decision makers, tho they didn't pull the triggers, are the ones to blame for the death of the dogs.
I really don't care if the taxpayers have to bear the cost. The sheriff and the other law enforcement officials involved in this home invasion are public employees, and the sheriff is an elected official. If you don't like having to pay for the crimes your employees commit on the job, you need better policies in place. A successful lawsuit might help motivate taxpayers to see that this kind of thing doesn't happen again.
When are the people of this country going to start issuing "no knock warrants" on the homes of police officers that do this kind of thing and get away scott free. If it started happening to them and their dogs were shot and they and their families were held at gunpoint and handcuffed for no reason the police might get a different view point.
These types of incidents were happening long before the Patriot Act. This has little to nothing to do with the Patriot Act and everything to do with the War on Drugs.
http://www.cato.org/raidmap/
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