Posted on 02/07/2009 3:04:18 PM PST by ellery
"They hit the door right here and the door flew open," says Mike Hasenei, standing outside his Elkridge home.
His wife, Phyllis, was watching television with her 12-year old daughter when members of the Howard County Police Tactical Team came through the door.
"They had guns pointed at us. You have 25 guys coming in here all dressed in black and all that we saw were their eyes, and they're screaming 'Hands in the air!'"
Members of the team were acting upon a tip that an assault rifle, magazines and hollow-point bullets stolen from a marked police car the night before may be located inside.
Adding insult to injury, when the search led police to a back bedroom where they encountered the family’s dog, they opened fire.
Officers found no evidence of the stolen goods after ransacking the house.
At this point a complaint has been logged against the department, but Howard County Police aren't about to admit they were wrong or to apologize for their actions.
"No. We didn't find a weapon in this particular case,” said Sherry Llewellyn, a spokeswoman for the department, “but that doesn't mean that there wasn't good information that there were weapons there before we had a chance to get inside the house."
Now, Mike Hasenei is waiting on an Internal Affairs investigation into the raid before deciding whether he and his family will take the department to court.
"I'm not gonna sit down and let people walk all over me and say 'sorry' and walk out of my house."
No, I get it and YOU don’t. Yes, I see you’re very intellectual, but I’m seriously not impressed. I’ve got better things to do than to argue about who’s more superior intellectually. So, I’m not going to touch that one. What are we here, high schoolers? Wish I was that young again, but I’m way past that.
“No, the differences is, I am looking at root causes and solutions. You are complaining.”
There is little else I can do but complain. However, I would be interested in your solutions. What are you offering as a solution to home invasions of the innocent?
I also sometimes enjoy posting a long list of meanings for a single acronym of uncommon use. ...another peeve. ;-)
Ya see that's been part of the problem. Many times the LEOs are investigated by their *own* departments and friendly DA's within counties, cities etc.
This needs to stop completely, and law enforcement incidents such as this incident needs to be routinely investigated by a completely independent organizations.
It's no secret that many in law enforcement cover and protect each other as a matter of routine. This isn't even debatable. In questionable events, independent investigation should always be required.
I get peeved at posts about county-with-no-state-identified stories, too — sorry I did it myself this time. :)
Worth repeating. The numbers willing to cross that blue line and stand up for justice is vanishingly small.
“No, I get it and YOU don’t. Yes, I see you’re very intellectual, but I’m seriously not impressed. I’ve got better things to do than to argue about who’s more superior intellectually. So, I’m not going to touch that one. What are we here, high schoolers? Wish I was that young again, but I’m way past that.”
If you got it, then you wouldn’t be posing such a juvenile response. This is not about you, me, nor your husband. This is about the right for all Americans to be safe and secure in their homes. If you had any regard for freedom, you would know this without my reminding.
Was the suspected crime really worth the effort? Did the suspect(s) have a history of violence?
I’ve come to the conclusion that the the only justification for “no-knock” warrants is if someone’s life is in danger as in a kidnapping or child predator case.
All this thuggery is accomplishing is to promote disrespect for law enforcement officers and the law.
As for military and police,...been there and done that although not much of it in offices. ;-)
Many police officers DO keep the peace. You’re still on the “I think I’m better than you?” crap? Do you have some sort of inferiority complex or something? I mean, seriously, I have told you, and I’m not going to waste my time typing this out again, if it’s found that the cops were wrong, they need to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law!
And to answer your question, “This doesn’t happen to true innocents, right?” My answer is it doesn’t happen to the true innocents that I happen to know. Take it for what it’s worth. Whatever makes you happy.
Thank you Ken.. He’s scary smart sometimes.
I sometimes wish FR had an edit feature for just such occasions...but then I imagine a discussion like this complicated by people going back and editing their posts...and I figure it’s better off the way it is.
If the cops investigate themselves, and decide that they are wrong, they should punish themselves?
You don’t see, errrr, a problem with your solution?
And in this case, they’ve already declared that they’ve done nothing wrong, terrorized people, dead dogs, altered warrants and no contraband found notwithstanding.
“My answer is it doesn’t happen to the true innocents...”
So the computer analyst and his wife and child stole the weapons? Is this what you are charging? You do know this is what we are discussing? You do know this thread is about an innocent family terrorized?
Okay, now there’s a point that I agree with you on. No agency should be investigated by “their own.” Too many conflicts of interest possibly. I wouldn’t have a problem with that.
I think they know they can get away with shooting the dog. Why they would want to, when it’s cowering in a back bedroom...well, that will ultimately be between them and their Maker, I guess.
An armed society is a polite society. I have no dogs on my list this week. You?
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