Gangsters in Blue

I received this email months ago, but for various reasons hadn’t had the time to follow up. Yesterday, I was finally able to confirm the details of at least the specific raid described below. I haven’t yet been able to find the other examples in Carrol County, Maryland mentioned in the email, but if anyone out there knows of other cases, please let me know. This is outrageous. It ought to put the fear of God into the parents of teenagers. It used to be that if your kid got picked up for possessing pot, they called you down to the police station, and you drug your kid home by the collar. Now, they send the SWAT team to tear down the door and terrorize the entire family at gunpoint.

For now, I’m omitting the family’s name and other identifying information. I haven’t been able to get back in touch with the woman who sent the email, but I was able to confirm the details of her case in a conversation with the family’s attorney.

I am a 45 year old mother of 3 boys ages 12, 18 and 22. I reside inn Carroll County, MD. I have been a federal employee for 17 years. My husband has been employed…with a local firm for over 27 years. Although my husband had some very minor law infractions back in the early 1980’s (traffic violations), since that time he has never been arrested for any criminal violation. I myself have never had any type of criminal violation and have had one traffic violation (driving 10 miles over) in over 20 years of driving.

On October 3, 2006 my oldest son was involved in a traffic stop and arrested on a misdemeanor marijuana charge. Just about a year later on September 30, 2007 my son was again stopped and arrested for a misdemeanor marijuana violation. I was present in court on January 4, 2008 when he plead guilty and paid a $350 fine. At about 3:30 a.m.on January 10, 2008 approximately 16 Swat Team Members of the Maryland State Police entered our home with force with M-16s at the ready. Please note that we are the only county in Maryland that does not have a county police department. While the M-16s were drawn they handcuffed four of us (my oldest son has been living with his girlfriend for sometime now) this includes my 12 year old son. After reviewing the search warrant I was horrified to realize these “hut-hut”men came in with M-16s in the middle of the night because my son had been arrested for a misdemeanor marijuana charge. The affidavit filed for the search warrant stated that” it had been the officer’s experience that persons who are arrested with illegal drugs continued to use, abuse and/or distribute illegal drugs”. This was the probable cause. The affidavit also indicated that other than my oldest son, no person living in our home had any prior criminal history.

I would like to provide you with more details but the bottom line is that they did find small amount of marijuana in our downstairs basement and confiscated a shotgun that my husband had since he was 18 years old. The gun has never even been fired. The two of us, my husband and myself, were taken to the local barracks and held for over 8 hours without being read our rights or being granted a phone call.

We have since learned that over 100 of these warrants have been issued by the judges here in Carroll County during the past year. Apparently if your son or daughter is arrested with even a trace of marijuana in Carroll County, they will follow up and issue a warrant based on one officer’s belief that the person will abuse the drug again. We have now heard horror stories of other families just like ours that have also been traumatized in much the same way….

The state’s attorney has contacted our attorney….and indicated they will be dropping all charges against me and they would be willing to drop all charges against my husband if he agreed to an out patient type drug program. Please understand that acting as a father first my husband told the cops that anything they found in our home was his regardless of where it was found. We have decided not to agree to this because we believe this is no longer about us. This is about the next family that is terrorized in this way. This is about an innocent person that could be killed the next time for a misdemeanor pot charge. We go over and over what could have happened. We feel blessed that it didn’t. But we feel a duty to make sure our feelings are known.

I hope you look into what is going on here in Carroll County. I’m beginning to believe that we live in a police state.

The attorney who represented the family told me yesterday that the husband eventually plead guilty to possession of marijuana, though the marijuana was a trace amount, and likely belonged to the son who had moved out. He was given what’s called a “probation before judgment,” which means the charge will be cleared from his record if he stays clean for three years. The state also dropped the ridiculous gun charge.

I cringe when I hear the phrase “police state,” because it’s so often overused. But to be honest, I’m not sure how I’d argue to this woman that she doesn’t live in one. Two misdemeanor pot charges against a kid who no longer lives at home, and they send the paramilitary squad barreling into his parents’ house in the middle of the night.

Pinellas County, Florida:

A Pinellas County sheriff’s deputy knocked on Lee Ann Hutts’ door Tuesday night and her dog, Smoke, started barking incessantly.

Within moments, the deputy pulled out a gun and shot Smoke in the head.

That’s about all Hutts and the deputy agree on.

The deputy says Smoke attacked him, and he shot in self-defense.

Hutts said Smoke was barking, but never attacked the deputy. An eyewitness backs Hutts’ account.

[...]

Hutts, 32, and her neighbor Tina Morrow said deputies came to their mobile home park on 28th Street N investigating a burglary report. Unable to find the right home, a deputy went to Hutts’ door.

Hutts, who takes care of a disabled sister-in-law and lives with her fiance and roommate in her mobile home, said her 9-year-old chow-pit bull mix was barking when she opened the door but stopped when she told him to be quiet. She tried to put him in another room but he followed her out. Smoke kept barking but never left her side, she said.

The deputy was agitated, she said, and kicked her dog. Then he shot him.

“I damn near passed out,” Hutts said. “I had blood all over me, I was screaming.”

The deputy left, she said.

Pinellas sheriff’s spokeswoman Marianne Pasha offered a different account based on an incident report from Sgt. Robert McGuire and a supplemental report from a backup deputy.

McGuire, a 24-year veteran, wrote that when he knocked on Hutts’ door he could hear a dog barking. When Hutts answered, he asked her to secure the dog. The dog appeared to charge him, so he shooed the dog with his foot.

“He believed the dog was going to bite him,” Pasha said, so he shot him in the head.

The deputy was unaware that Smoke died. Pasha asked a reporter how the dog was doing and was told he had died.

The cop wasn’t even bitten. He shot the thing in the head because “he believed the dog was going to bite him.” That’s apparently all it takes. The cop’s belief that he’s going to be beaten. Even in the presence of another witness who tells a different story. Even in your own home, on your own property, when you’ve done nothing wrong. They can come into your home, kill your dog, and leave. And there’s not a damned thing you can do about it.

Another week, another wrong-door raid lawsuit.

The suit, filed by attorney Mike Raulston, says on Feb. 13, 2008, the Bradys were at home when the officers suddenly came in, though they did not have any kind of warrant. The suit does not say where the house is located.

It says Officer Tinney forced Tarran Brady to the floor while holding a loaded gun to her head and threatening her.

The suit says Officer Fuller pointed his loaded gun at Randy Brady and ordered him to also get down. But Mr. Brady refused to do so and asked if they had a warrant.

It says the couple was held at gunpoint while the home was searched, placing them, their children, their spouses, nephews, nieces and grandchildren “in mortal fear.”

The suit says, the officers left “after realizing they had made a mistake.”

Earlier this week, Jacob Sullum noted that the Richland County, South Carolina Sheriff’s Department went out and arrested eight people on marijuana charges allegedly associated with the now-famous bong photo of Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps.

Attorneys for two of those eight are now speaking out about how they were arrested.

“He’s sitting there on Saturday, and 12 cops kick in the door with guns drawn, search the house, and find 5, maybe 6 grams of pot,” Harpootlian said about his client, who was arrested in the first raid at the Wells Point Drive home near Ballentine.

“They never asked him, ‘Who sold you the pot?’” Harpootlian continued. “They were asking, ‘Were you at the party with Michael Phelps? Did you see him using marijuana?’ It was all about Michael Phelps.”

The charges resulted from Saturday’s raids and are not connected to the November party that Phelps attended.

Harpootlian, the former top prosecutor for Richland and Kershaw counties, and McCulloch contend Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott is conducting an overzealous investigation of their clients to try to get evidence against Phelps.

“The sheriff’s department is deploying resources they are normally reserving for major drug dealers and major criminals,” said McCulloch, also a former prosecutor…

Harpootlian said his client, whom he noted is on leave from USC, is “scared” because of the enormous publicity surrounding Phelps.

“He’s being treated more harshly than any kid anywhere in the country,” Harpootlian said. “The only reefer madness is being done at the sheriff’s department.”

According to Harpootlian and McCulloch, police seized four laptop computers, a desktop computer, a computer storage drive and a cell phone, mostly to search for incriminating photos of Phelps.

I guess they can at least be thankful Sheriff Leon Lott didn’t send his tank.

Another glorious moment in America’s drug war.

Question: The fact that this skit was included in Dmitri Martin’s new sketch series on Comedy Central indicates…

(a) wrong-door raids have become so ubiquitous that the concept has entered the popular culture, or…

(b) Martin and his producers have no idea how often this sort of thing happens, and therefore found the idea so absurd that it’s funny.

(Via Rogier Van Bakel)