Cops raid home, kill two dogs (labs)

[Sweet72947]

A SWAT team for a package of weed? Now crack or meth or coke I might be able to understand, but WEED?

You need to register on washingtonpost.com to read this article, but here's the link anyway:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...l?nav=hcmodule

Police Raid Berwyn Heights Mayor's Home, Kill His Two Dogs

By Aaron C. Davis
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 31, 2008; Page B01

A police SWAT team raided the home of the mayor in the Prince George's County town of Berwyn Heights on Tuesday, shooting and killing his two dogs, after he brought in a 32-pound package of marijuana that had been delivered to his doorstep, police said.

Mayor Cheye Calvo was not arrested in the raid, which was carried out about 7 p.m. by the Sheriff's Office SWAT team and county police narcotics officers. Prince George's police spokesman Henry Tippett said yesterday that all the residents of the house -- Calvo, his wife and his mother-in-law -- are "persons of interest" in the case.

The package was addressed to Calvo's wife, Trinity Tomsic, said law enforcement officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the case is ongoing.

Tippett said police are working to determine for whom the drugs were meant.

Calvo said yesterday that he did not know how the drugs wound up on his doorstep. He works part time as the mayor and serves as director of expansion for the SEED Foundation, a well-known national nonprofit group that runs urban public boarding schools.


"My government blew through my doors and killed my dogs," Calvo said. "They thought we were drug dealers, and we were treated as such. I don't think they really ever considered that we weren't."

Calvo described a chaotic scene, in which he -- wearing only underwear and socks -- and his mother-in-law were handcuffed and interrogated for hours. They were surrounded by the dogs' carcasses and pools of the dogs' blood, Calvo said.

Spokesmen for the Sheriff's Office and Prince George's police expressed regret yesterday that the mayor's dogs were killed. But they defended the way the raid was carried out, saying it was proper for a case involving such a large amount of drugs.

Sgt. Mario Ellis, a Sheriff's Office spokesman, said the deputies who entered Calvo's home "apparently felt threatened" by the dogs.

"We're not in the habit of going to homes and shooting peoples' dogs," Ellis said. "If we were, there would be a lot more dead dogs around the county."

Calvo, 37, has been mayor of the 3,000-person town near College Park since 2004. His wife is a finance officer for the state, he said.

The investigation that led police to their house in the 8500 block of Edmonston Road began in Arizona, officials said. There, a police dog at a shipping facility identified the package as being filled with marijuana. Prince George's officers posed as deliverymen and brought it to Calvo's home.
Calvo said he came home early from work Tuesday. While walking the dogs, Calvo said, he noticed several black sport-utility vehicles and a woman parked in a car down the street.

"I figured someone was having a party," he recalled.

It was the police. They were watching, waiting for someone to bring the package into the house.

As Calvo returned to the house, he said, he spotted the large package that his mother-in-law had told a deliveryman to leave on the porch. He placed it on a buffet table near the front door and went upstairs to change.

"I brought it inside because I figured it was something we'd gotten for the garden," he said.

Moments later, just after he had undressed, Calvo said, he heard his mother-in-law scream that someone was coming toward the house. He looked out his bedroom window and saw officers in SWAT gear running across the lawn.

"I heard a loud crash and then 'bang, bang, bang,' " he said, recalling the sounds of the police shooting the dogs. "I hit the floor."

As the police came in, Calvo said, they shot his 7-year-old black Labrador retriever, Payton, near the front door and then his 4-year-old dog, Chase, also a black Lab, as the dog ran into a back room. Walking through his house yesterday, Calvo pointed out a bullet hole in the drywall where the younger dog had been shot.


"I understand they have a job to do, but it didn't have to go like that," Calvo said. He said the police could have knocked on his door and asked him about the package. "I've never done drugs in my life. Anyone who knows me knows that I am so adamantly opposed to them."

Police said yesterday that, when they seized the package during the raid, it was unopened.

Berwyn Heights Police Chief Patrick Murphy said county police and the Sheriff's Office had not notified his department of the raid. He said town police could have conducted the search without a SWAT team.

"You can't tell me the chief of police of a municipality wouldn't have been able to knock on the door of the mayor of that municipality, gain his confidence and enter the residence," Murphy said. "It would not have been a necessity to shoot and kill this man's dogs."

[Buddy'sParents]

Wait, police officers dressed up and delivered the package? And then when the man took the package in his home, they raided his home and killed his dogs? WTF? Am I reading that right? Please tell me my migraine has made me go crazy and that I read that wrong.

[shadowfacedanes]

I smell a lawsuit...

[AGonzalez]

Lawsuit hell, I smell entrapment. There's no way that can hold up in court, not to mention if I *know* I'm getting a package that's illegal in the mail, I'm not going to throw it on the counter and walk away after taking it inside, I'm going to hide it as fast as possible.
That's total BS, anybody could have mailed that package to anyone in the world, it's not like you can keep people from sending you mail, and if there's a way someone please let me know because I keep getting these things called "bills" in the mail and I don't want them either!

[2dogmom]

Why in the world would someone send this guy a package in the mail containing 32 lb of marijuana?

[Buddy'sParents]

Making sure I wasn't crazy and re-read it...

Prince George's officers posed as deliverymen and brought it to Calvo's home.

Why not just question the household? A raid? Really? *shakes head*

[noludoru]

WTFWTFWTFWTF??????

I mean.. WTF...


Why in the world would someone send this guy a package in the mail containing 32 lb of marijuana?

To create a situation like this, or at least one where suspicion would be cast upon the mayor. I would think the answer to that question is obvious?

[SizzleDog]

WTF???? This is MADNESS - I'm just speechless...

[Lilavati]

Lets see, this is case number . . . oh hell, I lost count, of police raids going berserk and killing people or animals under circumstances when it was either manifestly unneccesary or just plain the wrong address.

For example, heres another beauty, though fortunately, no person or animal was harmed: http://wcco.com/iteam/swat.team.honored.2.783216.html


I've being saying for years now . . . you think the War on Terror is damaging our civil rights? Let me introduce you to the drug war, which has been doing so more more than 30 years and yet no one seems to mind . . . except the people who have black clad thugs with guns break into their home and shoot at them and their dogs, of course.

[shadowfacedanes]

Totally on accident, I came across another Prince George's County law enforcement/dog debachery story this morning....

Police Raid Wrong Address, Kill Couple's Dog

An Accokeek couple is demanding an apology after Prince George's County Sheriff's Deputies burst into their home and killed their dog - all because deputies went to the wrong address.

Pam and Frank Myers were tucked away in their home Friday night watching a movie when the warrant squad pounced.

"All of a sudden I hear, bang, bang, bang, 'Open the door, police, open the door,'" said Pam Myers.

For 45 minutes the Myers were kept prisoner in their own home.

"They wouldn't let me go to the bathroom which is like seven feet down the hall," said Frank Myers.

"it was terrifying. I can't sit on my couch at night any more. I'm looking over my shoulder the whole time," said Pam Myers.

The Myers say the deputies knew immediately they had raided the wrong home. They say it could have ended with an apology, until the couple heard two shots from the yard.

"And I said, 'You just shot my dog," said Pam Myers, through tears. "I just wanted to go out and hold her a bit. They wouldn't even let me go out."

The couple's five-year-old boxer Pearl was killed. The deputy says he feared for his life. They say the dog would bark but was no danger to the deputies.

ABC 7/NewsChannel 8's Brad Bell reports that a search of court records shows a warrant for a suspected drug dealer who lives two doors away at 14610 Livingston Road. The address is clearly displayed on that house.

"It's just not right that people have to worry about - police have their jobs to do, but the house is marked over there. All they had to do was go look," she said. "I want the sheriff to apologize to my family for killing their dog."

The Myers say they have received no apology. They say the deputies just left the scene, offering no explanation. Deputies didn't even acknowledge that they had killed the dog, according to the Myers.

The Sheriff's Department says it's investigating what went wrong.

Deputies did, incidently, arrest the man named in the warrant Monday morning on felony gun and drug charges.

http://nevernwo.blogspot.com/

Wow.