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."
It is called conducting a thorough investigation and looking before you leap. Yes, it takes time, but it protects citizens and the police.
You would be just the kind of person to do it too, aren’t you.
I see no difference between your thinking and Code Pink’s. You just hate different people that keep us safe. Other than that, mirror image.
I border Army Corps land with access to a major watershed. The fun will be unlimited. :^)
Sure I belong here. I can think.
Since the “jack booted thug” cop haters here are all up in arms based on the “info” and “circumstances” in the article, do you have an “info” not presented?
This is what public education has done to this country. All the replies on this thread show the government should have no say in education. It’s pitiful.
Let me answer. Ring..Ring..Ring.. Hello? ....
Q..We believe you have stolen property from the PD.
A..What?
Q..We believe you have stolen property from the PD.
A..I don’t think so..
Q..Will you and all inhabitants come out to verify you are not a threat to our safety while we check?
A..Uh..OK give me a minute
QQ..All clear
Damn that was tough! Whats the dogs name?
It doesn't matter if he was Jack the Ripper, they had the wrong house, the info was wrong, they shouldn't have been there in the first place, it was unconstitutional, unlawful, illegal, a violation of the people's civil rights and you want to know if the guy has ever had a criminal record?
What you should be asking is if there is someway they can put these criminal frickin' LEOs behind bars for about 10 or 15 years.
You bet. Like the government auditing you then fining you or jailing you if your late or behind etc...Yet who is auditing the government? A government that isn’t even capable of balancing a check book or staying within a simple common sense budget, with no fear of punishment.
I presume that if in a few weeks time if all of them are arrested in the case or other facts come out you will be the first to update us.......yea, sure.
I do bet if they fire the cop that shot the dog you will be the first to ping me and crow. But I didn't defend the actions of the police, despite the hysterical postings from the trailer park. I asked for the facts. If you don't think I was accurate, well, I admit I didn't print off the article. I simply read them and moved on. I come here for news and rarely get involved with mud fights.
Somewhere along these posts I pointed out after reading the article where it was mentioned the actions of the dog and the breed the cop wasn't justified, based on the report. But that is lost to the screaming yahoos.
From all the flack since it seems CODE ORANGE (FR Cop Haters) have grown as large and malicious as the Neo Confederates ever were.
“Taking the info at face value” was the key part. It makes your three paragraphs after that pretty meaningless.
No justification needed. I threw a general description out there and you saw yourself in the mirror.
I’m reminded of when Bush went to Israel and talked about appeasers and all the Democrats screamed he was talking about them.
Well, at least you went on the facts as presented in the article, not the first one, the one at the links later.
The one where a judge signed the warrant.
You know, the judge.
Did you read the one where I found out from the link provided later the dog turned out to be an Australian cattle dog (I don’t remember what the other one was) The one where I said the article said the dogs ran away? The one that said if accurate it wasn’t justified in shooting the dog? No?
Oh, wait, maybe facts don’t mean anything. Post away.
Then you know somebody presented wrong facts to the judge. Who is that?
Can you really just ‘pencil in’ a new name on a warrant?
So far all I have is a swat team raided mom and daughter and shot a dog looking for a rifle. I have been absent tonite and missed the updates. Thanks for clarification. :^)
Well it sure looks like you’re looking for a problem to have to throw a trauma drama over.
Frankly, I think that anyone in law enforcement today MUST sacrifice their common decency just to practice the occupation. Lying, misrepresentation, equivocation, and duplicity are just how the game is played these days.
Tell me your husband NEVER in his twenty five years piled on extra charges just because a suspect pissed him off, and I’ll agree with you on what a good guy he is. If not, as far as I’m concerned, you’re just as bad as he is.
This is exactly the kind of agressive ignorance we are complaining about. If I doubted you were actually married to a cop, the way you doubted another poster was formerly in law enforcement, I certainly believe it now. You act just like one.
Great and valid points all!
The fact that they have failed to find any evidence connecting their stolen toy to "Mike".
How it's looking now: Some informant told them that a guy named "Mike" took their gun. They looked up their perp list and came up with "Michael L. Piccioni" and had a warrant prepared. During the time it took them to find the judge they got info the Picconi was acquainted with Michael L. Smith.
Now they know their informant isn't the most reliable of guys so on one of the copies of the warrant, they cross out "Michael L. Piccioni" and scribble in "Michael L. Smith". "just sign here Judge - trust us we're cops"
They then go off to plan raids on the Picconi and Smith residences. When they ask the computer for Smith's address, it comes up with an old one under the name of "Michael Hasenei". If you're a cop you don't think too deeply, so you hit all the Mike Gang's cribs
One thing you don't do is admit to yourself that some lowlife informant stiffed you with the wrong info.
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