Posted on 08/09/2008 5:36:06 AM PDT by Virginia Ridgerunner
Police said yesterday they have cleared Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo and his family of any wrongdoing in connection with a package of marijuana that police intercepted en route to his home, leading to a violent raid in which deputy sheriffs killed the family's two dogs.
Prince George's County Police Chief Melvin C. High delivered the news in a telephone call Thursday to Calvo, saying police and State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey determined that Calvo and his family were innocent victims caught up in a drug-smuggling ring.
High exonerated the mayor and his family and expressed regret that they were victimized by drug dealers and that their dogs had been killed. High stopped short of apologizing for any action by law enforcement, police and Calvo said.
Sheriff Michael Jackson said yesterday in his first extensive interview since the incident that he was extremely upset that the Calvos had called for and been granted a civil rights review by the FBI.
(snip)
Jackson reiterated his explanation that it was a scream by Calvo's mother-in-law, Georgia Porter, who saw officers running toward the house, that changed the calculation of officers conducting the raid.
"At that point, they see you, you don't see them, and you don't know where they are. . . . That's dangerous," Jackson said. "You really don't have time to deal with that dog, you really don't have time to deal with that person. You have to secure and go.
"It is unfortunate that those dogs were killed," he said. "That would be the case whether it was the mayor's house or anyone else's house. A loss of life is always unfortunate. That is not our goal."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
2 questions not asked:
Do you have a dog Sheriff Michael Jackson and where do you live?
I hope the police force is sued out of existence.
Well Good grief! If I saw armed men running at my house, I'd be screaming too!! These guys are idiots!
-from a reading of the article it seems the cops did NOT have a warrent that allowed them to enter the house without permission......seems the mayor would have a good case if that is so.
Actually, fir they claimed they had a no-knock warrant, then someone pointed out they did not - no they claim that no-knock warrants do not exist in MD.
and the plot thickens!
-hey check out the end of the WFTD thread.......the congresscritter hinchey makes local news.
And the Sheriff.
Hi, pnh102:
I’ve lived in P.G. County for fifty plus years and the place has been an annex of D.C, for about thirty of them. The cops in P.G. have had a nasty reputation of breaking all the rules for the same amount of time.
The only reason the Beltway Shooters, Mohammed and Malvo are alive today is that they were not arrested in P.G County.
The P.G. cops will never go after the real criminals, because it’s all about funding. A drug or gun bust has tangible evidence that can be used on the news or press conference as proof that more money is needed for ‘Special Tactical Operations’.
Personally, I hope the Mayor goes ahead with his civil rights investigation and nails some hides to the wall.
Jack.
The Sheriff's Department says it's investigating what went wrong.
...which puts the lie to Sheriff Jackson's laughable claims now that his department can investigate itself and correct any wrong-doings.
Well, now he's got DOJ finally on his case, so maybe now someone will clean house there and send some rogue cops to jail.
Sickening.
Will do.
BTW, the police also initially claimed to have given the mayor a copy of the warrant during the raid - after it came out that it was not a no-knock warrant, the officers on the raid claimed that did not have a copy during the raid, nor had they seen one.
And the only justication for the dynamic entry is the “scream” - which has only been reported by, you guessed it, the police. You know, the ones without a warrant.
They could have at least googled the owner of the house before the raid. Take seconds and would have averted a real problem. Unless he was the mayor of Detroit it would have taken just one black and white to carry out the arrest and then clearing the issue up.
You would think that the judge who issues a search warrant would at least have some background on the property occupant/owner.
“Prince Melvin” needs to be fired, as do all who participated in the raid. And then the county needs to completely abolish “dynamic entry” operations except in “hostage held” situations.
.Ahh, I guess I misread the story. From this "apology," it seems that the whole story was misreported. Apparently there was some sort of "home invasion" where drug dealers kicked in the door of the mayor's home, threw various members of the family on the floor, holding them at gunpoint, and assassinated the family dogs.
I guess it was the Prince George County police that came in and rescued them from the drug dealers. It makes perfect sense now, and the apology takes care of everything.
Mark
The cretin thug Storm Troopers who perpetrated this raid, without even knowing who owned the house, aren't even fit to lick dogs' asses.
Senior ranking officer shoots two unarmed furniture deliverymen at his house, killing one. After a long process, creep is finally in jail.
Suspected cop-killer placed in solitary confinement in county lock-up, ends up strangled in his cell. Investigation ongoing.
Stupid, needless no-knock drug raid terrorizes innocent citizens; two family pets shot and killed by thug cops.
Many more depressing stories, too numerous to recount here.
Isn't it sad that it will not be the defendants own money, but that of the tax payers.
Maybe their door knocker was out of order...
Mark
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