His shirt says:
"Alchol Tabacco and Firearms should be a convience store, not a government agency." lol
Posted on 10/28/2006 11:27:01 AM PDT by traviskicks
A Sugar Land woman says police went too far when they burst into her home and arrested her boyfriend and son on drug charges. The raid left her dog dead and caused thousands of dollars in damage.
"It was bang, bang, bang, then there was a boom as they broke the door in, threw the fire grenade, and then shot the dog," said homeowner Margot Allen. "This all happened in anywhere from five to fifteen seconds."
That's how Allen's son and boyfriend describe what happened that day. Sugar Land police acted on a tip. They say they found traces of marijuana and cocaine in her trash after a month-long investigation.
"There's no crack done in my house," she said. "There's occasional marijuana in my house. I don't do it because I don't happen to like it."
Based on the evidence in the trash, a regional SWAT team arrived at the home. Police say they knocked, waited 30 seconds, and then broke in with guns and a concussion grenade. The house suffered $5,000 damage and one officer shot and killed Margot's golden lab, Shadow, when police say it charged toward one of the officers. What did officers find inside?
"A joint half the size of my pinky fingernail and then one about this big," she said, showing a length on her finger. "And not anywhere near this big around."
The Sugar Land Police Department declined an on-camera interview, but they are defending their actions, saying they followed protocol to the letter.
The department says it was determined that the bust would be of a moderate risk. Even though they had no specific threat, they were prepared for firearms in the house and felt obligated to anticipate any resistance or violence. They say killing the dog was regrettable. They also say Allen's boyfriend has a history of drug convictions. But for Allen, it was overkill.
"They treated us like we were terrorists," she said. "They broke the door down. They shot my dog. They set my house on fire."
Both Allen's son and her boyfriend were charged with a Class B misdemeanor for that small amount of marijuana. That's punishable by up to six months in the county jail or a maximum $2,000 fine. Both of them will be in court on January 9.
I am not a believer in legalizing drugs. But this certainly seems like overkill to me.
Also, I hate to say it, but this poor woman is foolish to admit ANYTHING to the police or reporters without a lawyer's advice. Fine, she wasn't smoking, but she admits she knew it was in the house. Even that could get her in trouble.
Maybe she needs a new boyfriend and needs to build a more stable situation in which to bring up her son. And her poor dog.
I think she was being sarcastic.
Yes, exactly.
This "ABC13" article goes out of its way to say what was found. No mention of what was reasonably expected to be found.
It's a MSM article. It leaves a lot to be desired. I can't come to a conclusion based on its incompleteness.
Apparently some Freepers (not you)can.
and the cops went home safe!
What will the pit bull haters say now? LOL!
send me your address and we can fix that right away. Seriously though, all it takes is a grudge from a neighbor, ex, coworker you beat out for a promotion, anything. Lace your garbage with some drugs, phone in an anonymous tip to the police that you are a dealer, and you too can have masked, armed men destroy your house. I hope you aren't a gun owner with fast reflexes who, knowing he/she is innocent of criminal activity, assumes the armed men are criminals and tries to defend him/herself.
That happened here not too long ago (TN). Cops got the address wrong, broke into an elderly couple's home, and the man was shot dead trying to defend his wife. Oh well, so sorry. We were following protocol, after all.
What we don't know is what the police had for intel before they entered the house. Did they have intel of weapons? Did they have intel of significant amounts of drugs being present? So they shot the dog...did the dog attack one of the officers? If so, there is why you have a dead dog.
The real issue here is if these folks had NOT been involved with drugs, they would not have been in the situation they are in. The police had a valid search warrant, that was based upon a specifice set of facts that gave a judge sufficient belief that it was proper to issue asearch warrant. This is no different that the US invasion of Iraq. We had a specific set of facts, generally accepted and recognized by Dims and Republicans alike, that gave us a credible justification, along with UN Sanctions, to invade Iraq and remove Saddam from power. While some things are not exactly as we had expected, the reasons for our invasion remain solid. If Hussein has cooperated with the UN and the US to allow unfettered inspections, then perhaps he may haf retained his power...but he didn't...just as those post heads chose to keep weed in their house. Sorry....the cops were doing their damned job....
The house suffered $5,000 damage...
In other words the single wide was totaled.
"They treated us like we were terrorists," she said. "They broke the door down. They shot my dog. They set my house on fire."
Welcome to America...land of the FREE
So if someone accuses you of some crime, say theft, are the police justified in kicking in your door and exploding stun grenades to capture you, or should they have used reasonable means to determine whether in fact any basis for the charge exists?
heh heh... I like it.
The police have a responsibility to enforce laws, whether the laws are sound or not. Marijuana and cocaine are illegal to own or possess. We may not like it, but the police do have a responsibility to enforce this, to the best of their ability, within the guidelines set forth by the policies of their departments, in accordance with the limitations set upon them by public officials. I no more fault the individual officers execting the raid then I fault any Soldier in Iraq who causes damage to a home when conducting a raid. The individual officers who execute raids like this, just like our Soldiers, do not make the rules.
Does it not seem rather self-evident that when you engage in the activity that the woman admits was occuring in her home that you put yourself at risk for incidents like this, especially if the "man" of the home has a history of drug use and the police had reason to believe that this was not going to be a low risk entry? Regardless of whether the law is just or unjust, you've got to use some common sense when considering what risk you are putting yourself at. I have lived in places where owning a firearm was illegal, but I chose to own one anyway. In those cases, I realized that I was doing something that, while I thought it morally and ethically pure, was illegal. And I knew that carried some risk with it. If the local constabulary had known that I was in possession of a firearm and saw fit to raid my dwelling, it seemed self-evident that they would come in with weapons at the ready. While I would have held a position of absolute moral superiority in complaining about the law, I would not have been in much of a position to complain about the actions of those enforcing it.
Thats pretty pathetic. The police in that area must not have very much to do.
There's another one that reads "Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms" in the front and in the back it says "Sounds like a party...who's bringing the chips?".
Nice! Not sure I would put it on my car though. I would get pulled over about 5 times a day and my house would end up like the one in the article!
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