March 3, 2004—NV
A Las Vegas SWAT team deploys a flashbang grenade and breaks through the glass patio door of Thomas Spear, a 25-year Air Force veteran. Officers handcuff Spear and drag him across the shards of glass while yelling obscenities at him.
The SWAT team believed Spear was about to commit suicide. Spears was actually recovering from brain surgery, was partially paralyzed, and had fallen asleep after taking an extra dose of anti-seizure medication.
Spears had broken no laws. After the raid, the Spears were shunned by neighbors, and forced to move to another town. Spears said enduring the effects of the raid was worse than his illness. "It's much worse than being paralyzed on half your body," he told the Las Vegas
July 23, 2004—AZ
Police conduct a massively armed raid on a home they suspect contains illegal assault weapons and ammunition. In a densely-populated, upscale neighborhood, a SWAT team from the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department, complete with an armored personnel carrier, uses grenade launchers to fire at least four rounds of tear gas into the windows of the home. The quarter-million dollar home catches fire shortly after officers enter.
As the homeowners evacuate, police officers chase the family's 10-month-old pit bull puppy back into the burning house with puffs from a fire extinguisher. The dog perishes in the flames. Police allegedly laugh at Andrea Baker, the dog's owner, as she cries at their cruelty.
Later, the brakes fail on the SWAT team's armored personnel carrier, causing it to lurch down the street and smash into a parked car. The car's owner, Julie Madrigal, had fled the car just moments earlier with her nine-year-old daughter after the two grew frightened by the firing of tear gas canisters by SWAT officers.
The home is completely destroyed. Nearby homes are also put at risk. Police find no assault weapons, only an antique shotgun and a nine-millimeter pistol, both of which are legally owned. Nevertheless, police arrest 26-year-old Erik Kush on outstanding traffic violations.
The sheriff of Maricopa County is Joe Arpairo, who made national headlines in the 1990s for his aggressive treatment of inmates and unconventional approaches to crime control. One member of Sheriff Arpairo's SWAT team once told CBS News reporter Jim Stewart the best part of being on the SWAT team is that, "You get to play with a lot of guns. That's what's fun. You know, everybody on this team is--you know, loves guns." Another adds, "Hey, the bottom line is it's friggin' fun, man. That's the deal. Nobody wants to take burglary reports."
June 5, 1994—AZ
A SWAT team in Tucson, Arizona deploys a flashbang grenade while conducting a raid on the home of a 75-year-old woman, her son, and three small children.
Police then discover they've targeted the wrong address.
April 1, 1987—AZ
In April 1987, police in Scottsdale, Arizona kick down the door to Stephanie Swengel's apartment with such force that the door's wood stripping flies across the room and the lock dislodges from the wall.
Swengel and a roommate are held at gunpoint for ten minutes before one officer asks Swengel her apartment number. Police then realize they've targeted the wrong residence.
The Jerome, Arizona Raid
October 15, 1985—AZ
In October 1985, a massive team of nearly 100 federal narcotics agents storm a town of just 460 people on a predawn massive marijuana sweep. According to residents, women and children are dragged out of their beds as police break down doors to search homes.
Police seize dozens of pounds of marijuana from the town many describes as an outpost for "hippies."
March 15, 1999—WA
In March 1999, Linda Elsea looks out her window to find a team of SWAT soldiers armed with assault weapons barreling up her driveway. She is handcuffed, body cavity searched, and taken to the police station.
Dick and Linda Elsea began smoking marijuana after the passage of Initiative 692, a Washington state measure authorizing the use of cannabis for medical purposes. The marijuana helped treat Dick's apnea and Linda's severe muscle pain, caused by fibromylagia, until police raided their home based on a tip.
On March 31, 1994, a SWAT team in Federal Way, Washington conducts a drug raid on suspect Joel Duncan. Duncan share an apartment with three roommates, including 19-year-old Shawn Cottrell.
As police force entry by breaking down the door at around 10:30 pm, Cottrell emerges, and according to police, he's holding a gun (Cottrell's family would later establish that Cottrell's fingerprints weren't found on the gun). A police officer fires two bursts from his semi-automatic weapon, hitting the Cottrell five times, and killing him. Cottrell was not the subject of the raid, and not suspected of a crime. Duncan was unhurt in the raid, and later charged and convicted of drug crimes.
Though police insisted that they knocked and clearly announced themselves before the raid, occupants of the apartment, neighbors, and at least one police officer outside the building heard no announcement.
May 22, 1992—WA
In May 1992, police in King County, Washington conduct a no-knock raid with cameras from the television show Cops in tow.
Police break open the door of the Glover family and their four children. They put a gun to Floyd Glover's head and order him to the floor. Theresa Glover is handcuffed at gunpoint. Despite being half-dressed, and with the cameras still rolling, police at first refuse to let her cover up. Other officers then storm the children's bedroom, screaming, "Everyone on the floor!"
Police had targeted the wrong home.
Cops would later decide not to air the raid. The same police department had conducted two other "wrong door" raids in the previous year.
March 24, 1992—WA
In March 1992, police in Everett, Washington storm the home of Robin Pratt on a no-knock warrant. They are looking for her husband, who would later be released when the allegations in the warrant turned out to be false.
Though police had a key to the apartment, they instead choose to throw a 50-pound battering ram through the apartment's sliding-glass door. Glass shards land inches away from the couple's six-year-old daughter and five-year-old niece. One officer encounters Robin Pratt on the way to her bedroom. Hearing other SWAT team members yell "Get down!" Pratt falls to her knees. She then raises her head briefly to say, "Please don't hurt my children." At that point, Deputy Anthony Aston fires his weapon, putting a bullet in her neck, killing her.
Officers next entered the bedroom, where Dep. Aston then put the tip of his MP-5 assault submachine gun against Larry Pratt's head. When Pratt asked if he could move, another officer said that if he did, he'd have his head blown off.
Though a subsequent investigation by a civilian inquest jury found the shooting "unjustified," the officer who shot and killed Pratt was never charged.
June 12, 1990—WA
In June 1990, an anonymous informant gave Seattle police five addresses where marijuana was allegedly being sold. Two of them prove to be wrong.
The first was the home of Warren Chinn, also the Washington State horseracing commissioner at the time. At around midnight, police storm the Chinn household without knocking. Chinn's wife Honoria is at home with her 90 year-old mother. Mrs. Chinn is handcuffed, violently thrown to the ground (she sustains significant bruising), and held at gunpoint. Police begin to search the house, then realize they're at the wrong address.
Warren Chinn, a political refugee who came to the U.S. in 1952, would later tell a reporter, "This is why I left China." Chinn also wondered what might have happend had he or his son been home. "Somebody break down my door and I start shooting. You would do that, too."
A Seattle police department official would later tell the media that "it's rare that anything like this happens."
February 17, 1988—WA
In February 1988, police in Seattle, Washington conduct a late-night drug raid on the home of 41-year old Erdman Bascomb after an informant tells them there's cocaine inside.
Police knock on Bascomb's door, wait just a few seconds, then force the door open with a battering ram. Officer Bob Lisoski confronts Bascomb in the darkened apartment, mistakenly believes Bascomb to be holding a gun, and shoots him dead. Bascomb was holding only the remote control for his television.
Police found no drugs or weapons in Bascomb's home. In 1995, a federal jury found no wrongdoing on the part of Seattle police, and awarded Bascomb's family no damages.
Le sigh.
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Topic: Swat team raids house and kills pets over a small amount of pot. (Read 14468 times)