I just read one of most disturbing stories I have read in some time. Last week, a police SWAT team broke into into a man’s house in the DC suburbs, the mayor of that area actually, accused him of being involved in a drug ring, shot his two black labs and interrogated he, his wife and his mother in law. The drugs? A package of 30 pounds of unopened marijuana still sitting outside their house. One of the dogs tried to runaway and the cop just shot it and proceeded to question Cheye Calvo and his wife Trinity Tomsic while the dogs just lay there and died.
Did the dogs attack? Nope. Has there been a problem in the area with drugs being shipped to random folks houses and intercepted by the drug dealers? Why yes there has. You may also wonder exactly how much is 30 pounds of marijuana?
This picture is from a different raid but apparently shows how much 30 pounds is.
Even if it turns out the pot was delivered to Calvio on purpose (which there is no real proof of yet) and he was involved in some illegal drug activity - is the amount of marijuana pictured enough to warrant murdering 2 innocent dogs? Unless the dogs were attacking the officers or the homeowners threatened the cops, I don’t think any amount of drugs would make it OK to shoot 2 dogs.
Also - it turns out the police didn’t even have a no knock warrant. Perhaps if they had knocked, asked a question or two and seen what was what, those 2 dogs would be alive and they’d be closer to solving the problem.
There is of course the issue of whether this would even be a news story is it hadn’t happened to a white man who happens to be a mayor.
I’ve been posting this TakePart link a lot lately, but unfortunately they’re have been a lot of stories where the police have been misbehaving. So, takepart and learn about the People’s Justice Coalition, a group that was initiated by the NYC Coalition Against Police Brutality (CAPB) and allies. They are a coalition of NYC-based grassroots organizations that have joined forces to win community control and police accountability.
Read on:
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Filed under:
Ethics • Human Rights
Related Links:
HR 5843 and Rep. Barney Frank Attempt to Legalize Pot
Pot Dispensary Owner Guilty on Federal Charges
Sex in the Suburbs
The Truth About Cats and Dogs (in Saudi Arabia)
Sean Bell Update : The People Speak!
Tagged as:2 dogs shot • 2 labs shot • 30 pounds marijuana • Cheye Calvo • Cops Kill Dogs • DC Suburbs • Drug Raid • Drug Wars • People's Justice Coalition • Police • police brutality • SWAT • Wrongful Death
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9 posts in the last 24 hours
Not to downplay the unnecessary deaths of two dogs, but this couldn’t have been the most disturbing story you have read “in some time.” People die unnecessarily of starvation every day, kids are beaten, women sexually assaulted…
All the same, I’m glad you’re drawing attention to police actions that may be, in fact, against the law, and are at the very least immoral.
CaseyI agree that there are many more disturbing things happening in the world, but what makes the above story so worrisome is that cops shot the dogs. Cops, at a very basic level, are suppossed to protect us. We grant them a huge amount of power to do so.
When they abuse this power, especially in such a violent way, it is without a doubt one of the most disturbing things that could happen. While I am hugely bothered by starvation etc… they are either part of larger systemic problems or the result of one (to be general) bad person.
What is ultimately disturbing is not the action but the people who committed the action. If the police can do this, if they can shoot Sean Bell 50 times and be acquitted, whose to say what they can’t do.
Gina TelaroliSince the plant has been on the planet before we invented law, I am still trying to figure out why it is still illegal when we now know better.
ONE Texas Ranger
Inspired by Barry Cooper
ONE Texas Ranger has seen a light, and left behind his peers.
He shows us how to hide our stash. Let’s give him three big cheers.
After fighting a dirty drug war, undercover of the night,
He tired of violence, grief and horror. He saw a senseless fight.
Man made drugs are rampant now, because many live in pain.
Cannabis was a wonderful gift, like the sun, and moon and rain.
In the face of prohibition, we must all stand up as one.
To demand a lawful change, and make our lives more fun.
Barry Cooper, EX Texas Ranger, is ONE man who wants to end,
Man’s stupid law against a plant that was nature’s way to mend.
I think that to grow and smoke it, was to be a God given right.
We, THE PEOPLE, can change the law, if we just use all our might!
Love Lora Bruncke
loraI am totally disgusted that these Police officers shot those dogs, they were not pit bulls being set onto them, they were two terrified family pets, just trying to get out of harms way. These officers should be prosecuted.
KerrisThe killing of those two dogs was psychological torture committed by the police against an innocent family. THAT is what is so disturbing. The mayor’s 61-year-old mother-in-law was forced to lie face-down on the floor, hand-cuffed, beside one of the dogs as it bled to death. I guess that’ll teach her daughter to think twice about becoming a victim of identity theft again! What incomprehensible stupidity . . .
PeterPlunket