Drug Cops Found Nothing After Breaking Into A 90-Year-Old Woman's House

     A broken door. Smashed windows. Residue from a flash grenade on the carpet. That's the state in which cops in south Florida left a 90-year-old woman's house after raiding it for drugs. They didn't find any illegal activity, but won't admit they made a mistake.

     The woman said the raid happened on December 18, 2014. "I don't know how the cops got in here. The noise woke me up when something said boom! Like a bomb or something," she said. "Cops standing over here talking about where's the drugs? I said 'what? What drugs? Ain't no drugs in here.'

     Riviera Beach police said they got a search warrant based on evidence of criminal activity.

     After drug-sniffing dogs failed to find anything, the police left. When asked whether they got the wrong address, a police spokesperson said that just because the woman didn't know anything about drugs being sold out of her house "doesn't mean it didn't happen." The cops agreed to repair the damage to the woman's house.]

Robby Soave, "90-year-Old Woman's House Destroyed By Cops in Wrong-Door Raid," reason.com, February 18, 2015 

Criminal Justice Quote: University Decides Not to Arm College Cops With Assault Rifles

     Administrators at Idaho State University, on January 11, 2015, canceled an order for eleven AR-15 rifles for its campus security detail. The school ordered the weapons in August 2014 to have them on hand in case of a campus shooting. "On second consideration," said the school's vice president, "we determined it was in everybody's best interest if we let the local SWAT team deal with that sort of issue, and that our officers on campus would deal with containing the situation."

     The gun cancellation followed concerns among local law enforcement agencies that the school's campus public safety officers had overstepped their authority on several occasions…In September 2014, city officials in Pocatello said campus security officers delayed calling the police after an assistant chemistry professor shot himself in the foot during a lecture when a gun in his pocket went off. By the time city police arrived, the scene had been cleaned up.

     In late December 2014, the director of the Idaho State Police rescinded permission for university security vehicles to use red emergency lights after campus officers used the lights to stop motorists on and near the campus and issue traffic citations. The authorized use of the red lights were only to alert motorists, not to stop them…

     On other occasions, campus security administered an alcohol breath test on a driver before calling police and seized marijuana from a dorm room without notifying the authorites for days. Unlike some other large universities that have their own police departments, safety officers at ISU don't have broad authority. Campus officers can make citizen arrests and detain suspects for police questioning….

"Idaho State University Cancels Order for AR-15 Rifles," Associated Press, January 12, 2015 

Criminal Justice Quote: Albuquerque Police Demilitarize--A Little

     In July 2014, the Albuquerque Police Department reported that it doesn't need the massive armored vehicle the city acquired as military surplus…Albuquerque was among numerous agencies across the country that obtained one of these mine-resistant and ambush-protected vehicles that the military procured for the Iraq and Afghan wars.

     A police spokesperson said the department took delivery of the 14-foot-tall, 22.5-ton vehicle in January 2014 but has not used it in the field. (I guess that's because Albuquerque has not been invaded by foreign combat troops.)

     The department has other armored vehicles it can use for SWAT deployments instead of the mine-resistant monster. The department will work with the state to find a new owner for the vehicle. (How about Ukraine?)

"Albuquerque Police to Get Rid of Military Armored Vehicle," Associated Press, July 30, 2014 

Criminal Justice Quote: The SWAT War on Family Dogs Continues

     Instead of leaving with drugs and weapons they were sent to find, a Minnesota SWAT team executing a no-knock drug raid left with the bodies of a family's two dead dogs. "The first thing I heard was "boom," Larry Lee Arman told a reporter in recalling the raid in St. Paul at seven in the morning, July 9, 2014…

     Armed with a warrant for drugs and weapons, the SWAT unit barged into the house while Arman slept on a mattress with his two children. The officers shot Mello and Laylo, the family's two pit bulls. "One was running for her life, and they murdered her right here," Arman said. His sneakers were still stained with his dogs' blood. "I was laying right here and I thought I was being murdered."

     Camille Perry, Arman's girlfriend and the mother of the two children, was in the bathroom when the SWAT team broke down the front door. She expressed anger that the children could have been injured.  "The only thing I was thinking was my kids were going to get hit by bullets," she said…

     After the shooting and a search of the house, the SWAT unit failed to find any weapons. They recovered marijuana residue, some clothing, and a bong…Neighbors were not pleased by the incident. "All of a sudden, we see the dogs thrown out like pieces of meat, like they were nothing," said a neighbor. "We teared up because those dogs were real good dogs."

Chuck Ross, "SWAT Unit Kills Two Dogs," The Daily Caller, July 9, 2014 

Criminal Justice Quote: John Hytrek: Another Victim of SWAT Excessive Force

     A rural northwest Iowa man who suffers from Parkinson's disease has filed a federal lawsuit claiming that he was brutally pummeled by a SWAT team after a relative made false harassment allegations against him. The events giving rise to the excessive force lawsuit occurred in August 2012….Instead of speaking with the retaliatory relative, the sheriff's department in Pottowattamie County, Iowa…sent close to a dozen members of its SWAT team to the home of John Hytrek.

     Hytrek, 52, was working on a tractor in his driveway when the heavily armed cops jumped out of a van. Hytrek had previously warned the relative, who has a prior conviction for uttering false statements, to leave his property. "They ran for me with machine guns," Hytrek [told a local TV reporter]. "And I look at them, and I'm like, 'What?'"

     According to the lawsuit, the horde of SWAT members tackled the 52-year-old Parkinson's sufferer. His face slammed on a tire machine. The police officers punched him in the head at least five times. "I did not resist them, nothing," Hytrek told the TV station. "They could've come up to me and asked me what was going on, and they didn't."

     The lawsuit also alleges that the SWAT team positioned a sniper across the street to monitor the situation in case [the 52-year-old] with a degenerative disorder…tried anything.... Hytrek suffered serious injuries as a result of the melee--so serious that the SWAT team had to send him to the hospital before he could go to jail. He had a fractured eye socket. He also received a concussion and multiple cuts….

     A judge dismissed the false charges against Hytrek for harassment and assault in November 2012….

Eric Owens, "Machine Gun-Toting SWAT Team Blindsides Man, Pummels Him," The Daily Caller, May 19, 2014

Criminal Justice Quote: Wrong House Drug Raid in Virginia

     A Virginia grandmother still has nightmares of the wrongful police raid conducted on her apartment on the morning of April 10, 2014, at which time she was tied up and questioned in connection with an ongoing drug investigation. No drugs were recovered from the premises….Police raided the wrong residence, mistaking the elderly woman's apartment letter "E" for a "G."

     Ruth Hunter, a 75-year-old who lives in Henrico, Virginia, claims she has never done anything illegal in her life….But that morning, officers with the Virginia State Police kicked in her door and tied her up with cable ties. At first she thought she was being robbed. After the officers identified themselves, they began aggressively questioning her and demanded to know where she was hiding the drugs….

     "I thought it was just someone breaking in to rob me and kill me," she said. "They asked me had I ever stored drugs"….

     Police eventually arrested someone else--at an apartment two doors from Hunter's home. This apartment was "G."…[Due to militarized law enforcement and sloppy policing, it's dangerous to live close to people associated with illegal drugs.]

     Hunter was so disturbed by the incident she has decided to move out. [Good idea.] She has not gotten so much as an apology from the police department. Her door is still broken. [There is nothing rarer than a police apology. Cops surely consider this woman nothing more than collateral damage in the never ending drug war.]…

Robby Soave, "Cops Raid the Wrong Apartment, Tie Down Innocent 75-Year-Old Woman," The Daily Caller, April 23, 2014  

Criminal Justice Quote: Grand Jury Doesn't Indict Man for Murder in the Killing of a Drug Raid Cop

     Henry Magee, a 28-year-old Texan who accidentally shot and killed a police officer during a no-knock raid on his home, will not be indicted on murder charges, according to a grand jury. Burleson County police raided Magee's home in December 2013 after receiving a tip from an informant that he was in possession of drugs. Five pounds of marijuana were found on the premises.

     Police did not knock before entering the home, and they executed the search before sunrise…Magee's lawyer told the grand jury that his client thought the police were burglars, and he fired his gun to protect his girlfriend, who was pregnant. The bullet struck and killed Deputy Adam Sowders….

Robby Soave, "Man Who Shot Cop During Raid Thought He Was Defending Pregnant Girlfriend From Robbers," The Daily Caller, February 10, 2014