Hey, Gestapo, does this belong to you???
Posted on 06/26/2014 9:43:47 AM PDT by Altariel
HOMESTEAD, FL — EXCLUSIVE — A Florida couple was traumatized after a dozen heavily armed SWAT agents crashed through their front door, flash-banged their cat, aimed rifles at them and searched their home without explanation.
* * * * *
The raid took place in the pre-dawn hours of June 10th, 2014. At approximately 6:16 a.m., Kari Edwards and her live-in boyfriend were intruded upon by men dressed in full SWAT gear and wielding rifles. After smashing down the couple’s front door, agents tossed concussion grenades and proceeded into the home.
“They busted in like I was a terrorist or something,” said Ms. Edwards.
SWAT enters Kari Edwards’ residence with rifles drawn. HOMESTEAD, FL — EXCLUSIVE — A Florida couple was traumatized after a dozen heavily armed SWAT agents crashed through their front door, flash-banged their cat, aimed rifles at them and searched their home without explanation.
* * * * *
The raid took place in the pre-dawn hours of June 10th, 2014. At approximately 6:16 a.m., Kari Edwards and her live-in boyfriend were intruded upon by men dressed in full SWAT gear and wielding rifles. After smashing down the couple’s front door, agents tossed concussion grenades and proceeded into the home.
“They busted in like I was a terrorist or something,” said Ms. Edwards.
Broken door. (Source: Kari Edwards) Personal belongings tossed everywhere. (Source: Kari Edwards) “[An officer] demanded that I drop the towel I was covering my naked body with,” Ms. Edwards said, “before snatching it off me physically and throwing me to the ground.”
“While I lay naked, I was cuffed so tightly I could not feel my hands. For no reason, at gunpoint,” Edwards said. “[Agents] refused to cover me, no matter how many times I asked.”
Ms. Edwards said her boyfriend told her that an agent holding an assault rifle to her back was gawking at her exposed body. “Eying me up and down like I was eye candy,” she said.
The house was equipped with a surveillance system, which captured video of the agents from a couple different angles. Here is the first angle of the exterior of the property:
“I have never been in any trouble before,” Ms. Edwards told Police State USA. “Haven’t even had a traffic ticket in over ten years.”
In fact, she said she used to work for the Department of Homeland Security, but became disabled from an on-the-job injury in 2006. She identified the raid as a DHS operation.
“I know I saw ‘ICE’ on one shirt and my boyfriend saw ‘Gang Task Force’ on another,” she told Police State USA. “Someone’s just said, ‘Special Agent.’”
Edwards requested to see the agents’ identification but was not obliged. One officer pointed to his uniform that read ‘POLICE’ and allegedly said, “Isn’t this enough ID for you?”
“When I told him that I could buy that [uniform] up in Miami, he called me ‘retarded’ and ‘f***ing stupid,’” Edwards recalled.
Shattered shower door. (Source: Kari Edwards) A scorch-mark from the flashbang. (Source: Kari Edwards) Edwards said that the SWAT team threw a flashbang at her cat, Dusty. She says that Dusty normally had a friendly personality and greets everyone, but now is “fearful and hard of hearing.”
When agents discovered that they were being recorded by home surveillance cameras, they forcefully twisted the cameras, saying that they “can’t be recorded.”
In the below clip, a flashbang was detected and an agent is seen spotting the camera and jarring it so it faced a wall.
“My boyfriend, who is asthmatic, started having trouble breathing from the lingering smoke created by the flashbang grenade, and asked for his inhaler. The agent said, ‘Do I need to call paramedics?’ My boyfriend said, ‘No, I just need my inhaler, can someone to get it for me?’ Again he was answered with the paramedic offer,” Edwards said. Finally another officer gave him his inhaler.
The agents “trashed the house,” and reportedly smashed some clear glass shower doors and broke a vintage statue.
Broken door jam. (Source: Kari Edwards) Broken door jam. (Source: Kari Edwards) A broken statue. (Source: Kari Edwards) Ms. Edwards said a warrant was finally given to them after 2 hours. She said it lists her address and was signed by Jonathan Goodman, a federal magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The warrant says the agents were authorized to look for computers & electronic media.
Curiously, Ms. Edwards said the agents ignored most of the electronics in the home. “They didn’t take any and didn’t even look at most of it,” she said. “We have a lot [of electronics] because my boyfriend fixes up broken computers to resell.”
“I still don’t know why,” Ms. Edwards told Police State USA. “I called the judge’s chambers today and the secretary said he or someone else would get back to me.”
Because they couldn't find a 19-month-old baby in his crib.
From the Daily Mail (underline mine):" The team eventually handed her a warrant signed by Jonathan Goodman, a federal magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, she said.
The warrant authorized the agents to search for computers and electronics - with the agents suggesting it was for child pornography - but Edwards said they did not seize any items."
The photos at their website show a lot of destruction.
Can't find much info on the judge - a Law n Order hack or was he lied to as to the evidence?
Foliation of Evidence
Absolutely! Turn about if fair play.
“The warrant says the agents were authorized to look for computers & electronic media.”
If they wanted to look for computers and electronic media, why didnt they go to a Staples store? /s
That must really turn you on
DHS is nothing without recruiting other departments to do their dirty work.
I cannot see how the Feds can legally allow outside agencies to act with DHS
in any enforcement capacity when no laws are broken at those other agencies' level
or alignment of enforcement.
Another possibility would be the blatant Abuse of our anti-terrorism laws
being unjustly used against American citizens. They were not sold to us as
citizen enforcement, but rather outside-in the US enforcement for protection.
The DHS is housed in the CIA building here in Dallas. How would people respond
to the CIA busting down our civilian doors? It's illegal, yet some Dept called DHS
who WORKS alongside the CIA is allowed to do just that without ANY open
claim for justification.
The FEDS do not get to do these things without proof of a Federal law being broken.
At this point they're kicking in doors on a search-to-Justify mission.
When they are met with resistance they'll kill everyone in the house and get away with it.
Well, if some innocent homeowner manages to kill a few of them in the process
they should never face charges. Ever. The Feds need good solid reasons
to break into homes of Civilians. Warrant or no Warrant, they're asking for it!
You really think they care? Sue them. It doesn’t come out of their pockets. The taxpayers are on the hook - it’s the taxpayers who have the gun to their heads no matter what. Sort of reminds me of the islamofascist regime ruling Iran: after killing people they come back to their family’s place and demand payment for the expense of murdering their loved ones.
Hey they were lucky they didn't flash bang a crib with a baby in it.
Then they should be subject to the same laws as us.
Exactly my point. I’m waiting for a raid to happen in MA and I will encourage the people involved to seek pro-bono help.
“We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.” Barack Hussein Obama, 7/2/2008They don’t call it a Civil Defense force, that would imply we need (or perhaps that we deserve) defense. The official name is National Civilian Community Corps.
I think of it as the NatCCC, or more simply, as the NatCs...
Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping!
To get onto The Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping List you must threaten to report me to the Mods if I don't add you to the list...
And the judge as well. No judge should willy nilly issue warrants without sound evidence. Welcome to Amerika.
as always thanks for yet another depressing post....but informative as usual
Giving them reason to blow you and the rest of your family and dog, cat and fish away just because they can.
Now you’re talking. It the only way to deal with the ninja wanna bes
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.