Posted on 04/03/2013 6:30:02 AM PDT by Altariel
A Leawood couple says heavily armed Johnson County deputies barged into their home last year, turning it upside down and detaining them and their children for more than two hours in a fruitless search for marijuana.
“This is how we were awakened: banging, pounding, screaming,” the mother, Adlynn Harte, said Friday. “My husband opened the door right before the battering ram was set to take it out.”
The father allegedly was forced to lie shirtless on the foyer while a deputy with an assault rifle stood over him. The children, a 7-year-old girl and 13-year-old boy, reportedly came out of their bedrooms terrified, the teenager with his hands in the air.
And all because the couple, Robert and Adlynn Harte, bought indoor gardening equipment to grow a small number of tomato and squash plants in their basement, according to a lawsuit filed this week. The equipment was never used for marijuana, the couple says, and no one in the family has ever used illegal drugs.
Nearly a year after the SWAT-style raid, the Hartes still don’t know what evidence deputies used to persuade a judge to grant a warrant to search their home in the 10300 block of Wenonga Lane on April 20. Their requests for records that could provide such information have been denied by the sheriff’s office.
The lawsuit filed Thursday asks the court to order the release of the records. The information revealed could be used in a federal civil rights lawsuit.
“You can’t send out the SWAT team because people are trying to grow tomatoes in their basement,” Robert Harte told The Star.
(Excerpt) Read more at kansascity.com ...
To an extent, I agree. But I think the police also bear some culpability here. Much as I despise any and all drug use and trade, does growing marijuana in your basement rise to the level of requiring an attack with assault rifles? I think not. The various law enforcement agencies need to face charges for irresponsible behavior and endangering the lives of citizenry as well. I’m having a hard time seeing the justification for a SWAT type raid in any instance without clear evidence of known violent behavior.
Oh, but you can.
Alcohol prohibitionists had and have the same attitude and justifications. Many of them owe their livelihood to prohibition.
There is a free app from the ACLU for downloading to your cell phone called Police Tape. It will record audio and/or video in stealth mode which you can submit to the ACLU for review.
Available here:
http://www.aclu-nj.org/yourrights/the-app-place
You’re right.
Apparently the cops were watching the store and taking license plate numbers. Paying with cash would have made no difference.
“””does growing marijuana in your basement rise to the level of requiring an attack with assault rifles?””””
Yes. Drug dealers are usually armed. If you bust down a drug dealer’s door, you gonna get shot.
If you were a cop... and your mission was to serve a warrant on a suspected drug dealer’s residence, would you want to go in unarmed? If I were to go raid a drug dealer’s house, you better believe I am going to be protecting myself.
The right to face your accuser is a foundational civil right.
‘zackly !
but what if it is not something the ACLU is interested in? (like constitutional rights) can you still obtain a copy of it?
They'll still tell you the drug war has nothing to do with the 2A, even after the testimony that the DEA was a willing and active participant in Fast and Furious.
Civil Right - Endowed by our Creator; Stolen by our governments.
Again, yes, I understand that drug dealers are usually armed - but there are also other signs when someone is dealing drugs. Lots of traffic to/from the residence; people don’t stay long. If the account is accurate, doesn’t sound like that kind of activity was in evidence here. I just think a SWAT type raid on that little evidence is unacceptable.
The recording is on your phone. You may send a copy to them for review for free. You may also have your recording reviewed by your own attorney.
Couldn’t happen. The police would NEVER barge into innocent people’s homes, terrorize women and children, and/or shoot their dogs for the purpose of seizing their property.
( Do I really need a sarc tag?)
are you flippin kidding me? Most conservatives say if people want to destroy themselves with the depravity of drug abuse, let them
U.S. BANS IMPORTS OF ASSAULT RIFLES IN SHIFT BY BUSH
March 15, 1989
The Bush Administration today banned imports of semiautomatic assault rifles indefinitely, pending a review of whether the military-style weapons are being used for sporting purposes.
The step, announced by William J. Bennett, the director of national drug policy, is effective immediately and was taken after officials learned that requests this year from importers to bring in the weapons had already nearly tripled those for all of 1988
-snip-
But White House officials said Mr. Bush, a life member of the National Rifle Association and an opponent of gun control, shifted his position after lobbying by Mr. Bennett, by drug officials and by his wife, Barbara, who had indicated she favored a ban.
http://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/15/us/us-bans-imports-of-assault-rifles-in-shift-by-bush.html
just plain bad luck
Probably not in WA and CO
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