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Posted on 09/28/2006 5:26:29 PM PDT by Sir Gawain
Children handcuffed in police drug raid Dog also killed during bust; 18-year-old charged with misdemeanors, violation
By MIKE GOODWIN, Staff writer First published: Wednesday, September 20, 2006
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.
"No apology, no 'sorry about your dog,' " she said.
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.
In addition, police said Bradley was carrying marijuana in the home on Sept. 1.
"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.
"The whole street is a mess right now. We'll be back," Seber said.
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.
Police said the animal was aggressive and left them no choice but to shoot.
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."
"Chidren of inner city villains and hoodlums who have no respect for the police or others."
I wonder if raids like this one with the pre teen children having shotguns in their faces, handcuffed, and their dog shot dead might have anything to do with their disrespect and distrust of police?
Uh, maybe the badge, and the fact that he would be shouting "Police, get on the ground!!!?"
Although SCHENECTADY is a suburb of New York City, there are very inner city areas there. Just as there is in other 'burbs of the big apple.
You might not be able to compare it to the Bronx, but I would consider it inner city.
Please, don't try to race bait me, OK. I realize what you're impying, and you can back off. There are people of all races in these neighborhoods, and I never mentioned anything about race anyway.
No.
We have drug dealers selling to majors because of Marijuana prohibition. We have drug dealers selling to minors because they, the dealers are creeps.
I think that the general war on drugs is a waste of time, money and effort. I also think that it is undermining our Constitution, and corrupting law enforcement with the advent of the asset forfeiture laws. I do not believe that drugs are being sold to minors because of the war on drugs as you stated. Drugs are being sold to minors because of scumbag dealers, the destruction of our culture by liberals, gutless, useless parents and minors who are stupid and/or losers.
I wonder if their parents didn't deal drugs and teach them not to respect the police they wouldn't have to deal with having shotguns in their face or their dog being shot.
Me:We have drug dealers selling to majors because of Marijuana prohibition. We have drug dealers selling to minors because they, the dealers are creeps.
LOL@mugs!
Your point changes -- my point stands.
"I wonder if their parents didn't deal drugs and teach them not to respect the police they wouldn't have to deal with having shotguns in their face or their dog being shot."
Let's stick with the facts here. The brother was the dealer. He may or may not have been dealing with the knowledge of his mother and siblings. Either way, he was a nickel dime vendor not worthy of bringing this sort of brutal assault upon the mom, the young children, the family home, and the dead dog.
I wonder if you are too dense to figure that out?
Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here
Do you have children? Do you know what they do, if you have them? If you don't know what you're children do under the roof you provide them then, IMO, you are subject to the fate that they incur. Let's step away from personal attacks, since you know I am not dense at all and realize that from the article you have absolutely no idea how involved the son was in drug dealing. In addition, the officers, regardless of the amount of drugs that were found, had enough of a reason or they wouldn't have had the raid.
Dealers do buy pits, but the kid selling quarter bags is not that kind of dealer.
A dealer is a dealer. When the kid realizes he can sell bags of dope and make more money is that going to be ok? Sorry but if you can't do the time don't do the crime. I don't like the fact the family was terrorized and the dog was killed. But if the son/brother wasn't selling drugs in the 1st place none of this would have happened.
What do you think costs more? A SWAT team, or a couple of cops, and Roto rooter? Warrants can be served during working hours, unless it can be shown that people are not home normally. If the kid was caught on the street with the amount he had sold, they would have taken it away, and sent him a court summons.
"These guys are cops that go through ADDITIONAL training."
So they are WELL-TRAINED street thugs. Training alone does NOT cause one to rise above the thuggery that 90+ percent of so-called SWAT thugs do in the course of these highly WRONG home invasions. A thug is a thug and no amount of uniforms or training or anything else is going to change that fact.
The ONLY time such tactics are called for is the very RARE circumstance when someone's life (other than the "cops") is in danger. Then, of course, the cops will wait outside til the shooting stops and go in to count the bodies. Look at Columbine, for example. Which makes them COWARDLY thugs.
Very true. But I have lived in neighborhoods where the drug dealing was way out of hand. The cops would pick up kids on the street when they could. However the kids had a system to alert each other when the cops would even drive down the street. Then you would see the street be empty. I think in this case the cops thought they had more in the house then the kid had. All in all its a shame that this had to happen. I have also known of parents who fully were aware of what the kids were doing and justified it by saying it brought more money into the household, thats really sad. When kids have to sell drugs to help out at home its a d@mn shame. Maybe the cops were just trying to make a statement, I don't know. The kid will most likely be out doing it again in a few days.
"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.
Police said the animal was aggressive and left them no choice but to shoot."
Hmm, from the preponderance of police claims that every dog they meet is vicious and had to be shot, I tend to believe the dog owners.
"Precious", oh yes, that sounds like just the sort of name you give a man eater!
Note that the dog was killed in a enclosed space, not the open kitchen, increasing my tendency to believe it really was running away.
I will probably know tomorrow if I am adopting another "Pit Bull" puppy.
I only got involved to help find it a new home after it's former owner was threatened with eviction for having it.
I did find some one who wants it badly, but they are in Washington state and transport cost are high from Nevada.
"Bull Dozer" (Dozer) is smart and friendly, I kind of swore off getting any more dogs after losing a couple of elderly dogs in the last couple of years.
But I really like Bullies, and this one is so damn smart & friendly......
"Bigger budget = More toys".
Bigger budget = HIGHER PAY GRADE do to rapid promotion as the department grows.
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