Posted on 09/28/2006 5:26:29 PM PDT by Sir Gawain
Children handcuffed in police drug raid Dog also killed during bust; 18-year-old charged with misdemeanors, violation
By MIKE GOODWIN, Staff writer First published: Wednesday, September 20, 2006
SCHENECTADY -- A police strike team raided a woman's Prospect Street apartment and handcuffed her children and killed her dog early Tuesday in a $60 pot bust. The woman called it excessive force and a case of mistaken identity, but officers said they stormed the home for a good reason: One of her sons was selling marijuana there.
The Police Department's tactical squad knocked down the front door of the upstairs apartment at 110 Prospect St. and flooded into the apartment shortly after 6 a.m.
"I heard a big boom. My first reaction was to jump out of bed. We were trying to find where our kids were at and all of a sudden we had guns in our faces," said 40-year-old Anita Woodyear, who rents the second-floor flat.
During the ensuing chaos, police handcuffed two of the woman's children, Elijah Bradley, 11, and 12-year-old Victoria Perez, and shot at her dog in the kitchen before killing it in the bathroom, Woodyear said.
"That seems like an awful lot of firepower for marijuana," said Fred Clark of the Schenectady chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. "That's like spending $125,000 for $5."
Woodyear said she suspected police had intended to search a neighboring home, but had the wrong address on the search warrant. Neighbors said they suspect illicit drugs are dealt at other homes on the block.
"No apology, no 'sorry about your dog,' " she said.
But police said they have no reason to apologize. They said they raided the house because Woodyear's 18-year-old son, Israel M. Bradley, sold three plastic bags of marijuana there for $40 on Sept. 15. They allege he sold two other bags of marijuana in the house for $20 on Aug. 28, they said.
In addition, police said Bradley was carrying marijuana in the home on Sept. 1.
"We had the absolute right house. We had the absolute right target," said Assistant Chief Michael Seber.
Police said Bradley was one of several drug dealers they have under investigation on Prospect Street.
"The whole street is a mess right now. We'll be back," Seber said.
Bradley was arrested and charged with misdemeanor counts of criminal sale of marijuana, an offense punishable by up to one year in jail. He was also charged with unlawfully possessing marijuana, a violation.
Police Lt. Peter Frisoni said Bradley admitted he sold from the apartment in a statement to investigators after the raid.
"The moral of the story is: If you don't want officers barging into your house with their guns drawn, don't let drug dealers stay with you and deal drugs out of your apartment," Frisoni said.
Woodyear said she is appalled about the way her children were treated -- and said her 12-year-old daughter was hit with pepper spray.
The dog, a pit bull terrier named Precious, urinated on the floor in fear and tried to run from the police before it was killed, Woodyear said.
Police said the animal was aggressive and left them no choice but to shoot.
Elijah Bradley said he awoke to find armed men in his home. "They had the shotgun in my face," the 11-year-old said. "I punched at him. I didn't know who he was."
Police said they had reason to have weapons drawn. Their search warrant noted that among the things they planned to search for were firearms, although no handguns were found.
The NAACP has previously criticized how police conduct raids, most notably during an incident earlier this decade when a Hamilton Hill girl was held at gunpoint and handcuffed after her mother agreed to allow police to search their home for an armed man. The family later sued the city, but the jury awarded no damages. But Paul DerOhannesian, a defense attorney and former Albany County prosecutor, said such a response may have been warranted if police believed there were guns in the house.
"This type of search warrant execution can be very dangerous from a law enforcement point of view," he said.
"You're going to have a heightened sense or need for security for officer safety. You literally have no idea what you're walking into."
I see I have a twin.
LOL!
In all series, though, I added some communication (read that as substance) and subtracted some sarcasm (or as you said, "crap") for my last post (#398) to you. Hope it reads better, though it is a little long.
"It sure did put the nanny staters in their place!"
I would like to think so. And their silence is deafening.
Tomorrow's Headline: "Cops bust down door, $60 in handgun ammo found."
I've heard the term "moonbat" used often over the past few years and never knew what it meant. I just had to look it up.
THIS IS FROM WIKIPEDIA:
Moonbat is a term often used as a political epithet. Some Iraq War supporters use it to insult opponents like Noam Chomsky and Pat Buchanan. According to an article by New York Times language maven William Safire, the term was first used by the famous science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein in 1947. [1]
Moonbat is a political epithet coined in 2002 by Perry de Havilland of Samizdata.net a libertarian weblog. It was originally a play on the last name of George Monbiot, a columnist for The Guardian. Although the term enjoys great currency in the libertarian and conservative blogosphere as an all-purpose insult for modern liberals, peace protestors, and other ideological opponents, that was not the original intention as it was just as often used to describe the more extreme elements of libertarian or paleo-conservative thought.
People write of the "moonbat" in a range of uses. For example, the earliest use listed in Google Groups is a user's screen name on an Ultima Online newsgroup post from 1998.[1]. Recently, open source advocate Eric Raymond used the term in an interview in The New Yorker to describe eccentric Wikipedia contributors.[2] The term has come into wider use in politics, sometimes as "moonbat crazy"; Boston commentator Howie Carr uses the term regularly.[3] In September, 2006, Carr ran a number of "How do you spot a moonbat?" segments on his daily radio show, and defined the term to mean "A left-wing nut who probably suffers from Bush Derangement Syndrome."
Libertarian Perry de Havilland of Samizdata says a moonbat is "someone on the extreme edge of whatever their -ism happens to be". Adriana Cronin-Lukas defines the term as "someone who sacrifices sanity for the sake of consistency". De Havilland says it was not originally a play on the last name of George Monbiot, a columnist for The Guardian, although he and Monbiot have appeared on the BBC together expressing politically opposed views. [citation needed]
The term was originally rendered as "Barking Moonbat", suggesting that certain issues seem to trigger a reflexive response from some people much like wolves howl at the moon.[citation needed] It evokes the traditional association between the moon and insanity. While this term was originally coined to attack commentators on the Right, it was also used to afront Leftists.[citations needed].
Some bloggers claim "moonbat" is neither a general epithet for U.S. War on Terror critics, nor even a purely U.S.- oriented term. They say they use it only against those who construct elaborate conspiracy theories concerning American foreign policy.[citation needed] For example, someone who claims that George W. Bush caused the 9/11 attacks would fit this category. "Idiotarian" fits a similar context.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonbat
I'm a lot of things and some of them not good, but I'm not a moonbat.
</:^D
Well, we shall see how phoenix responds to your series post. I found it well thought out as well as thought provoking.
Well, I certainly feel safer now.
MWUUHAAAAHAAAAHAAAHAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! Um... I mean thank you.
(It's "he", by the way.)
I was just trying to take the statist argument to its loony conclusion: Kill the children to save them. Or as Rush puts it, illustrating absurdity by being absurd.
Like you, I'm shocked by some of what I read here. I always thought that a true conservative would never approve of a finger wagging nanny state. We've all seen this nation's various flirtations with such well intended meddling. The end result is always more government, less freedom, and the original problem left unsolved. (But with the nanny demanding more and more resources anyway.)
The Jihad on Drugs is no exception. Taxes are taken from us, our freedoms are curtailed, and our lives endangered; but, we receive no benefit. Narcotics are still available and we are still exposed to whatever hazards they bear on their own. Only now, with this jihad, we get still more risk thrown in with no return on our investment. We get a bigger government, a bigger boot on our necks, and more empty promises of how it will finally work this time. That isn't my definition of conservatism.
Thanks! That makes my day!
well said my friend...dittos
PS
Your sincere post deserves more than dittos but it is late here for the ole man. My glass is near empty and the ice has melted. I'll catch you on the rebound.
goodnite all
Thank you for confirming MY proposition.
I agree that prohibition has created the black market, but it doesn't cause kids to use drugs. We'll agree to disagree.
Thanks.
Why not?
Why Not? Are you serious?
Based on his previous posts, I'm sure he is serious ... and I also would like to see your answer to his question. (I'd also like to know if you think the legal use of alcohol is OK, and if so why legality is relevant to what experiencing life should or shouldn't include.)
Ok, you explain to me why experiencing life shouldn't include the illegal use of drugs, alcohol, or any other substance that will alter your personality. Please note that most drugs don't alter your personality. You alter your personality, and, if someone chooses a drug to do it, what is it to you?
Also, explain what "illegal use" means. Does making something illegal by man's law make the object bad? If it is bad on its own, please explain why.
Then, please explain why a human being should be prohibited by law from eating, taking, drinking or smoking anything he judges to be worthy.
So when you posted "those who smoke it can't read, remember things, think very well and their overall motivation drops," you meant only "while they are under the influence"? So what? The same is true of the legal drug alcohol.
Seems to me they could have waited for him to leave the house and then arrest him. But hey, it gives the cops something to do instead of trying to catch terrorists, murderers, rapists, etc.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.