SWAT Kills Labs in Botched "Raid"

[luvmylabs23139]

Unbelievable!




From "The Washington Post"

Berwyn Heights Rallies for Mayor and His Dogs

About 100 people gathered on a ball field in the tiny town of Berwyn Heights last night to rally in support of the town's mayor and in memory of his two dogs who were shot and killed by law enforcement officers during a drug raid last week.

Residents, many accompanied by their own dogs on leashes, recalled 7-year-old Payton and 4-year-old Chase, black Labrador retrievers, as dogs who would stop and greet them on walks.

Members of a Prince George's County Sheriff's Office SWAT team shot the dogs Tuesday while bursting into the home of Mayor Cheye Calvo. The raid, conducted jointly with county police narcotics officers, took place after officers saw Calvo bring a package containing more than 30 pounds of marijuana from his front porch into his house. They had been tracking the package since police dogs sniffed out the presence of drugs at a shipping facility in Arizona.

The package was addressed to Trinity Tomsic, Calvo's wife. But law enforcement sources said last week that they are now investigating the possibility that the mayor and his wife were unwitting recipients and that a deliveryman might have intended to intercept the package as part of a drug smuggling scheme.

The package landed on Calvo's doorstep after police posing as deliverymen brought it to the door and Calvo's mother-in-law asked that it be left on the porch. Police recovered the unopened package from the home Tuesday night but made no arrests. Calvo has said he was interrogated for hours while handcuffed and surrounded by the bloody bodies of his dogs.

A spokesman for the sheriff's office has said that the department regretted the shooting of the dogs but that deputies felt threatened by them. The spokesman did not return a call for comment yesterday.

[brwndg/yelladawg]

UNBELIEVABLE!!! I can only imagine how I would react if that happened to one of my "children"

[Bob Gutermuth]

One news report even stated that one of the dogs was from behind. I don't know how that dog could have been threatening the officers.

[Legacy 6]

I don't have really any negative experiences with retriever dogs... esp Labs. I've never seen one of our dogs go after a person... raccoons, of course, are another story.

They should have just grabbed a pop bottle and smacked the dogs' noses if they felt threatened.

Shooting a dog is despicable, shooting a dog in the back, IMVHO, should get you an immediate expressway ticket to hell.

To play Devil's Advocate here... When I've done house raids, you're on edge like a MF-er. Everything is a threat until proven otherwise... so I could see two dogs running to the front door as being, in an initial snap-decision assessment, threatening.

On the other hand, interrogating the homeowner with his dead dogs around him... Cruel and Unusual Punishment?

The whole thing reeks of over-zealousness. And this comes from an Infantryman... so that might (or might not) be saying something...

Any thoughts Smitty?

[Bob Gutermuth]

PG County is right on the outside of Babylon on the Potomac(D.C.) and has an horrific crime rate. Law enforcement in the county has a shoot first and ask questions later mentality, not totally unjustified all things considered. Pit bulls and other aggressvie breeds have been used quite a bit by dope pushers to guard their stash. BUT some advance scouting might have told the S.O. if these dogs were guard dogs or pets. 25 years in Law enforcement and the only dog that ever bit me was a mop dog that snuck out from under the couch, it didn't weigh 10 lbs soaking wet.

[Joe S.]

PG County is right on the outside of Babylon on the Potomac(D.C.) and has an horrific crime rate. Law enforcement in the county has a shoot first and ask questions later mentality, not totally unjustified all things considered. Pit bulls and other aggressvie breeds have been used quite a bit by dope pushers to guard their stash. BUT some advance scouting might have told the S.O. if these dogs were guard dogs or pets. 25 years in Law enforcement and the only dog that ever bit me was a mop dog that snuck out from under the couch, it didn't weigh 10 lbs soaking wet.

You know Bob, YOU are one A-MAZZZZZ-ING individual.

Kind Regards,

Joe S.

[KEukaFlyer]

Why not get a warrant (which they must have had anyway) and show up to search the house if they know the package is in there... Especially considering its the mayor, rather than tear his house apart....ridiculous.

[paul young]

there are definitely people wearing badges that shouldn't be.

they already had the place staked out and the package couldn't leave on it's own. why the urgency to break in and hold people at gunpoint? it was the MAYOR'S house-not a crack house in D.C.

TOO MANY HOTHEADS NOT THINKING THINGS THRU!!!!-paul

[paul young]

you know, Bob, i was thinking this could happen to you and yours.....

drug dealer sends package via carrier company and has it delivered to your address, intending for their connection on the other end to pick it up before you get home. either your wife or daughter come home and bring the package into the house.....

still feel like defending the "shoot first" mode of operation? i bet your Chessies would be a lot less than friendly towards people pointing their guns at them and your family.

America becoming Amerika?-paul

[Brad B]

Why not get a warrant (which they must have had anyway) and show up to search the house if they know the package is in there... Especially considering its the mayor, rather than tear his house apart....ridiculous.

Obviously they had a warrant. Just because it was "the mayor" why should he be treated differently than any other drug dealer ? I don't see where the information provided says they tore his house apart.

Armchair QB's shouldn't judge an officer's decisions based on a news report. But I agree Paul, there are many who shouldn't be wearing a badge and unfortunatley they are the ones we most often see in the limelight in situations like these.