Children handcuffed in police drug raid (and SOP of shooting the family dog)

Children handcuffed in police drug raid Dog also killed during bust; 18-year-old charged with misdemeanors, violation

SCHENECTADY -- A police strike team raided a woman's Prospect Street apartment and handcuffed her children and killed her dog early Tuesday in a $60 pot bust. The woman called it excessive force and a case of mistaken identity, but officers said they stormed the home for a good reason: One of her sons was selling marijuana there.

The Police Department's tactical squad knocked down the front door of the upstairs apartment at 110 Prospect St. and flooded into the apartment shortly after 6 a.m.

"I heard a big boom. My first reaction was to jump out of bed. We were trying to find where our kids were at and all of a sudden we had guns in our faces," said 40-year-old Anita Woodyear, who rents the second-floor flat.

During the ensuing chaos, police handcuffed two of the woman's children, Elijah Bradley, 11, and 12-year-old Victoria Perez, and shot at her dog in the kitchen before killing it in the bathroom, Woodyear said.

"That seems like an awful lot of firepower for marijuana," said Fred Clark of the Schenectady chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. "That's like spending $125,000 for $5."

Woodyear said she suspected police had intended to search a neighboring home, but had the wrong address on the search warrant. Neighbors said they suspect illicit drugs are dealt at other homes on the block.

But police said they have no reason to apologize. They said they raided the house because Woodyear's 18-year-old son, Israel M. Bradley, sold three plastic bags of marijuana there for $40 on Sept. 15. They allege he sold two other bags of marijuana in the house for $20 on Aug. 28, they said.

"We had the absolute right house. We had the absolute right target," said Assistant Chief Michael Seber.

Police said Bradley was one of several drug dealers they have under investigation on Prospect Street.

Bradley was arrested and charged with misdemeanor counts of criminal sale of marijuana, an offense punishable by up to one year in jail. He was also charged with unlawfully possessing marijuana, a violation.

Police Lt. Peter Frisoni said Bradley admitted he sold from the apartment in a statement to investigators after the raid.

"The moral of the story is: If you don't want officers barging into your house with their guns drawn, don't let drug dealers stay with you and deal drugs out of your apartment," Frisoni said.

Woodyear said she is appalled about the way her children were treated -- and said her 12-year-old daughter was hit with pepper spray.

The dog, a pit bull terrier named Precious, urinated on the floor in fear and tried to run from the police before it was killed, Woodyear said.

Elijah Bradley said he awoke to find armed men in his home. "They had the shotgun in my face," the 11-year-old said. "I punched at him. I didn't know who he was."

Police said they had reason to have weapons drawn. Their search warrant noted that among the things they planned to search for were firearms, although no handguns were found.

The NAACP has previously criticized how police conduct raids, most notably during an incident earlier this decade when a Hamilton Hill girl was held at gunpoint and handcuffed after her mother agreed to allow police to search their home for an armed man. The family later sued the city, but the jury awarded no damages. But Paul DerOhannesian, a defense attorney and former Albany County prosecutor, said such a response may have been warranted if police believed there were guns in the house.

"This type of search warrant execution can be very dangerous from a law enforcement point of view," he said.

"You're going to have a heightened sense or need for security for officer safety. You literally have no idea what you're walking into."

Here are some nice ones:

Jeffery Robinson.
July 30, 2002

Police storm the home of Jeffery Robinson, a 41-year-old gravedigger in South Memphis, Tennessee. Robinson lived in a small building on the site of the cemetery that employed him. Police conducted the raid based on an anonymous tip that someone was selling marijuana on the cemetery grounds.

Raiding officers kick in Robinson's door and immediately shoot him in his bedroom, putting a bullet through Robinson's neck. Robinson would die three weeks later.

Police said at the time that Robinson charged them with a box cutter. They also found a small amount of marijuana near a camper in Robinson's backyard. Immediately after the raid, Robinson was charged with possession, even as he lay in a hospital, fighting for his life.

A review by the Memphis police department's internal affairs unit and the Attorney General's Office found no wrongdoing on the part of the police. For two and a half years, the officers who participated in the Robinson raid remained on the Memphis police force.

In October 2004, the jury in a federal civil suit brought by Robinson's family made some striking findings.

The jury concluded that the box cutter police say Robinson charged them with -- which was never fingerprinted -- was planted on Robinson after the raid.

During the trial, a medical examiner and blood spatter expert also testified that the shooting couldn't possibly have happened the way police say it did. Furthermore, the shirts worn by Robinson and the officer who shot him vanished after the raid. Trial testimony revealed that police bought a new polo shirt, still in its wrapper, and booked it as the shirt Robinson wore the night he was shot.

The federal jury concluded that the officers shot Robinson without justification, then tampered with the evidence to cover up their mistakes. The jury also cast doubt on the ensuing investigation by the police department's internal affairs division.

In February 2005, the eight officers involved in the raid were finally suspended, more than two years after the raid. Robinson's family won a $2.85 million verdict against the officers, and negotiated a $1 million settlement from the city of Memphis.

Sources:

"Eight Memphis officers finally suspended in botched drug raid," Associated Press, February 5, 2005.

Jacinthia Jones, "8 officers suspended in '02 drug raid -- Until now, they remained on force even after jury finding," Memphis Commercial Appeal, February 5, 2005, p. A1.

Botched Raid on an Elderly Couple.
March 22, 2006

Police in Horn Lake, Mississippi raid a home after a tip from an informant that someone's operating a meth lab inside.

Once the paramilitary unit arrives at the scene, however, they find two houses on the property instead of one. They decide to pick one, and conduct the raid anyway. They end up waking up, terrorizing, and injuring a couple in their 80s, leaving the man with bruised ribs and the woman with a dislocated shoulder. They find the meth lab in the other house.

Police chief Darryl Whaley insisted that his officers "acted properly" and "followed procedures" in guessing which home was correct before commencing with the raid.

Source:

"Elderly couple hurt in raid on wrong house by Horn Lake police," Associated Press, March 23, 2006.

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