not sure if this was posted or not...my bad if it was. this is kind of unreal. http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/08/08/maryland.mayor/index.html (CNN) -- Federal officials have opened a civil rights investigation into a police narcotics raid on the home of a Maryland mayor in which police burst in without knocking and shot the mayor's two dogs to death. Berwyn Heights, Maryland, Mayor Cheye Calvo comforts wife Trinity Tomsic at a news conference Thursday. Berwyn Heights, Maryland, Mayor Cheye Calvo comforts wife Trinity Tomsic at a news conference Thursday. Mayor Cheye Calvo of Berwyn Heights, Maryland, and his mother-in-law were handcuffed and forced to kneel on the floor during the July 29 raid, which police said was part of an investigation into a scheme in which drugs apparently were sent to unsuspecting people. Prince George's County police, who were in charge of the raid, issued a statement Friday clearing the couple of involvement and expressing "regret." The FBI and the U.S. attorney's office in Maryland are investigating the incident, FBI spokesman Richard Wolf said Friday. Calvo had asked for the federal investigation. "We lost our family dogs," he said Thursday. "We did it at the hands of sheriff's deputies who burst through our front door, rifles blazing." Video Watch the mayor's description of the raid » According to The Associated Press, two men, including a FedEx deliveryman, have been arrested in the case. Police said the scheme involved shipping drugs to unsuspecting people's homes and intercepting the packages. About $3.6 million in mar1juana had been seized, police told the AP. In this instance, investigators told the AP, a package containing 32 pounds of mar1juana was sent from Los Angeles, California, to Calvo's house in Berwyn Heights, a town of 3,000 residents 10 miles from Washington. The package was addressed to his Calvo's wife, Trinity Tomsic. In transit, a drug-sniffing dog in Arizona brought attention to the package, investigators told the AP. Police intercepted it when it arrived in Maryland, and it was delivered to the Calvo home by an undercover officer, according to the AP report. In a statement released Friday, Prince George's County Police Chief Melvin High said he called Calvo on Thursday to tell him that in screening the case with the state's attorney's office, "it was concluded that Ms. Tomsic and the Calvo family were innocent victims of drug traffickers." "I called him to express my sorrow and regret for that and for the loss of the family's beloved dogs," High said in the statement. A thorough review of the raid is being conducted, which is standard procedure in such cases, the department said. The Prince George's County Police Department was in charge of the raid, and the sheriff's special operations team was assisting. Video Watch the sheriff defend the drug raid » Calvo said he set the package aside after it arrived at his home and didn't open it. He said he was changing clothes and preparing to attend a community meeting when "the door flew open. I heard gunfire shoot off. There was a brief pause and more gunfire." He said he was brought downstairs at gunpoint while in his boxer shorts, handcuffed and forced to kneel on the floor along with his mother-in-law. Then, he said, "I noticed my two dead dogs lying in pools of their own blood." While he was being held, Calvo said, he told the police he is the town's mayor, but they didn't believe him. "They told a detective I was crazy," he said. Berwyn Heights has a police force, he said, but Prince George's County police did not notify the municipal authorities of their interest in his home or in the package. "It was that lack of communication that really led to what has really been the most traumatic experience of our lives," he said. Calvo added, "they've arrested the real criminals involved. We're pleased to have that and get our name back as well. But really, this doesn't excuse what they did."
They might should. In this case, they knew the package had drugs in it, and they knew the package had been delivered to the house. Why the no-knock raid? Even if the package had been flushed down the toilet as the police made their way inside, the police would've had a good deal of circumstantial evidence to support a drug charge. Certainly someone like Cory Maye and Officer Ron Jones would've been better off with a less extreme "raid" than the one they undertook. Given the apparent unreliability of the information police officers often receive, making allowances that protect innocent civilians might be warranted even if it results in a few more drug dealers flushing their stash or whatnot.
I don't quite get the scheme. why wasn't the package intercepted by the smugglers? did they know the feds were onto them? how did the mayor and his wife get caught up in this? were they just randomly picked to receive 2 pounds of pot?
If you randomly kick in someone's door .. without announcement or knocking IMO you cannot complain when they put a bullet through your fricking skull Rocket River
Unless you have a no-knock warrant. Well, I guess it is debatable whether you can complain (and actually, pretty unlikely either way since you will be dead with a bullet through your skull), but you can certainly prosecute someone who shoots at you. Normally they kick in the door and scream, “Police” a whole bunch, which along with the uniforms should let people know that it is the police. And quite often, police seem to knock and kick in the door before it is reasonably possible for someone on the other side to answer the door. At least, that is what I gather from catching re-runs of Cops.
Yeah, that 4th Amendment is so annoying! There was an American Revolution for less than the crap people put up with all of the time with the drug war. Good to see they are going after the dreaded mar1juana trade.
I understand that they exist I disagree with them to an extreme me and a few friends can rent cop uniforms and kick in doors? By time someone knows we not real cops .. we could have killed them all Rocket River
A package containing 32 pounds of pot? Seriously? Smoosh it, condense it, turkey bag it, package it tight, tape it what have you that's gotta be one HUGE STINKY package.
whoah... i thought it had said 32 ounces. 32 pounds is a lot of pot people need to move to California and take out the illegal aspect of scoring some pot.
Well... I guess if that is your concern... I don't see how you can't rent a few uniforms, knock politely, wait for your victims to let you in, then shoot them all. I don't see how a few seconds really makes a difference in that scenario. I mean, I guess it isn't an unreasonable concern but I don't see how the knocking and waiting to answer the door makes a difference. Unless you think you should have the right to keep the cops waiting outside front door for 30 - 45 minutes while you call the courthouse to confirm the warrant and have the PD fax over file photos of the relevant officers. And if you make that the standard, someone could just tell the cops they couldn't get ahold of anybody for basically as long as they want. Could they keep the cops out front for several days? Or just not answer the door and make the cops leave because nobody responds to the knocking?
That's really ****ed up that they killed two dogs. Drugs aside, that's ****ing terrible. I hope these cops are fully reprimanded.
i saw an interview on a news channel a little while ago with this mayor. he said they didnt have a warrant on them when they entered. said he didnt get a warrant from them until 72 hrs later or something
How does one just set a 32lb, unexpected package aside, let along a 32lb package of cheeba? Something doesn't sit right with the mayor's story.
that's what I'm trying to figure out. this guy, who happens to be the mayor of this town, happens to receive 32lbs. of pot randomly and is a victim of a drug smuggling ring?
Well, nowadays with the online tracking, I think you can get a pretty good idea when a package is showing up; especially if you know it's coming and the resident doesn't. If you have a half decent break-and-enter guy who can pretend to be a homeowner while writing a signature that won't be compared to anything, this could totally work. If they just did this at apartment complexes - like mine - where they leave packages at the office, and the staff is too lazy or trusting to have residents sign them out, this thing could have worked for a while.
