Libertarian ping! To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.
Posted on 05/03/2008 12:26:13 PM PDT by nin_kasi
OPA-LOCKA, Fla. -- Federal agents on the hunt for criminals on Thursday raided the wrong house while searching for drugs.
Police and federal agents raided 50 marijuana grow houses around Florida on Thursday, calling it "Operation D-Day."
They seized $7 million worth of pot plants, but they also kicked in the door of Noel Llorente's Opa-locka home and found nothing but bewildered homeowners.
"I was frightened for my husband because they threw him on the ground," Llorente's wife said. "I was scared.
Llorente said he was just leaving for work when unmarked cars pulled up, Drug Enforcement Administration agents jumped out, threw him down with guns drawn, handcuffed him, stormed into his home and searched for drugs.
"I asked them why they came to my house, they said a neighbor or somebody called and said I had a hydroponics lab in my house," Llorente said. "Then I asked them if a marijuana plant could grow inside my underwear drawer."
The Llorentes said they don't speak much English – they're immigrants from Cuba. They said one of the reasons they came to the U.S. was to escape oppression from the Cuban police.
Isabel Llorente said she never thought this could happen here.
"Never, because they criticize Cuba so much," she said. "I've never gone through anything like this."
She said what made it especially traumatic was not knowing if the agents were really police or imposters. She said she tried to call 911, but they wouldn't let her.
"What added salt to this injury was after the situation – house is searched, door is broken – they just walked away," the Llorentes' lawyer said. "Like, 'We're the government. We made a mistake.'"
The homeowner said he received only a minimal apology from police and federal agents.
"When I asked them about the door, they said, 'Sorry," Noel Llorente said. "When I asked them about my reputation, they said, 'Sorry.'"
The same thing happened to our neighbors. The police broke down their door in the middle of the night and nearly gave our neighbors heart attacks. The police ransacked the house looking for drugs. The only problem was that the people the police were after had moved out over two years before. They should have had a clue that they were at the wrong house when it was evident that the people they were looking for were black while the people whose house they burst into were white.
Gestapo by any other name is still the Gestapo.
All of them put together would not make a hair on the butt of just one of the men on that beach that day. Operation D-Day... sheesh!
jack-booted thugs
Do your part to fight the war on drugs...
Go buy a lot of hydroponics equipment...lights..etc..
Grow tomatoes...
Dovetails perfectly with the piss on the victim approach to crime which is very clear today.
They only piss on the victim when they (the cops) make them the victim and can play the “oops, we’re the government, see ya” card.
Hm... interfered with her Right to petition the government for a redress of grievances, didn't they? ;^)
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
FYI
Libertarian ping! To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.
lol
They usually don't say sorry , partly to avoid having it used as an admission , but mostly because they are not sorry . They figure you were just lucky they did not find something .
I have always considered citizens exercising their 2nd Amendment rights a blessing. It's better to die on your feet than live like a slave.
Live free or die!
"When I asked them about the door, they said, 'Sorry," Noel Llorente said"
Maybe the cops are working with Home Depot and Loews. /s
When they raid the wrong home they are totally responsible for whatever happens. If one of the innocent persons dies in whatever way, including justifiable self defense, the police are guilty of murder.
They figure they've gone to all this expense and training that they just have to "do something" with them. Combine that desire with "anonymous tips", a lack of real planning and verification, and we get scenarios like this.
Sometimes, I wonder if they would finish that sentence as, "Sorry you didn't try and resist so I could go Rambo on your butt, kill your dog, and psychologically scar your children. I didn't even get to shoot my gun!"
I never used to have that kind of cynical attitude toward law enforcement (and for the regular cops in general, I guess I still don't), but these kinds of stories about these special units are becoming way too common.
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