Posted on 02/21/2002 6:29:19 AM PST by gdani
ACLU sues agents in drug raid
By Howard Pankratz
Denver Post Legal Affairs Writer
Thursday, February 21, 2002 - The American Civil Liberties Union sued federal and state agents Wednesday, claiming that authorities conducted a no-knock drug raid on a Pueblo home where they manhandled residents and kicked the family dog.
Dan and Rosa Unis were at home Aug. 19, 2000, when heavily armed agents wearing black uniforms, helmets and masks stormed their home, according to the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Denver.
They allegedly booted "Tramp," a small terrier, across the living room, ordered the family to get down on the floor and held them at gunpoint.
"To me, if this is the war on drugs, they missed their target, but they scored a direct hit on the Constitution," said Mark Silverstein, legal director of the ACLU of Colorado. "They had no search warrant, no arrest warrant and no other legal authority.
"This is the most blatant disregard of the Fourth Amendment that I've seen since I've been here at the ACLU," Silverstein said.
"I was in shock," said Rosa Unis, 54. "I couldn't believe what was happening."
The lawsuit names agents of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and federal Drug Enforcement Agency, plus several "John Does," as defendants. Officials with both agencies said they had just received the lawsuit and could not comment on it.
It was unclear Wednesday what led authorities to the Unis home that night.
Dan Unis, 53, is a social worker for Pueblo County; Rosa is a Spanish teacher at McClelland School, a private school in Pueblo.
During the search, officers concentrated on the bedrooms of her two sons, moving furniture, turning over beds, throwing cushions off couches, going through drawers, and "generally overturn(ing) the contents of the two bedrooms," the lawsuit alleges.
After the search, the officers took the family's two sons, Dave and Marcos, both college students, into custody, the lawsuit says.
The two were released about 40 hours later.
Silverstein said he may ask for an investigation by the FBI and U.S. Justice Department.
The lawsuit claims the state and federal agents violated the family's constitutional rights by engaging in an illegal search and making illegal arrests. It seeks unspecified damages.
I don't know who used this terminology. It sounds more like a home invasion and kidnapping to me.
One non-violent way to resist out of control LEOs is to build structures that are inherently resistant to Jack-Booted-Thugary.
Drug Warrior scum. I hope the ACLU wins and they go to jail so they can be subjected to forced caging like all the non-violent people their f**ked-up "War" has falsely imprisoned throughout the years.
>waiting for the Drug Warriors to show up and explain how this was all justified and that these people were surely guilty of something<
One non-violent way to resist out of control LEOs is to build structures that are inherently resistant to Jack-Booted-Thugary.Another is to start setting up webpages that feature some of the more egregious offenders personally (names, their offenses, addresses, phone numbers, etc.). ATF and the various "child protective services" agencies are the first that come to mind when this treatment is considered. No reason DEA can't be added.
"Wanted" posters are another trick that might be used. The Yippies used to make them up for informants and sneak them onto post office walls.
-Eric
It does not say if there were any warrants. It does not say if the sons of the couple were charged with anything.
I'm no fan of the government but this article leaves out too much to make a final decision, in my opinion.
I thought about drop kicking him too. Instead I pushed him away about three times with the bottom of my shoe, (on his nose) the last time I think the dog got the message.
Doesn't have anything to do with this story, just made me think about all the dogs I've encountered while working, this was the latest. Occupational hazard.
Simply, yes. They put tape over their badge numbers as well. They are the biggest cowards out there.
That's just speaking for us though. We're only an 'on call' team and we work the road when we are not being used, so we all have a cute little pin that says "SWAT" on it. Must be an Army thing, I was in the Corps and we didn't have a badge and a pin for everything. So, everybody knows who we are because of the pin. Being on perimeter, I usually don't wear a mask.
Read the line that says: "They had no search warrant, no arrest warrant and no other legal authority"
If they in fact had no warrants I would say the whole lot of them belong in jail.
Every time I've gone on a call out we've given the homeowner copies of the warrants. If they had warrants and didn't give copies, that seems like very bad policy. Perhaps the young men who got arrested, for what we don't know, got copies.
LAW ENFORCEMENT: WHEN THE DRUG WAR SNARES THE SUBURBS
"Eighty-year-old Lyman "Sandy" Sanborn is an unlikely target of the drug war. A childhood acquaintance of Ronald Reagan, he piloted C-47 transport planes in World War II for a special unit that reported directly to Gen. Dwight Eisenhower. Settling in Roseville after the war, Sanborn became a lifelong Republican Party activist and staunch supporter of Placer County law enforcement agencies.
That's why it was such a shock to the fervently anti-drug veteran when the Special Investigations Unit of the Placer County Sheriff's Department busted down his door in the early morning of July 1, 1999. Screaming deputies in SWAT get-up pointed guns at him and his 77-year- old wife. Cops handcuffed his grown children, who were living at the time in his home. Sanborn's horrified young grandchildren witnessed the raid."
Ha! How's that for irony? Seems the old guy's son had done some shopping at a gardening store, so he was targeted for a raid.
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