Md: The Cheye Calvo raid...

H

hammer4nc

Moderator
Cliff notes summary: A 30 lb package of marijuana is intercepted by drug agents in Arizona; addressed to the wife of a small-town mayor in Maryland. Police posing as deliverymen drop the package off on the mayor's doorstep, then execute a swat raid as soon as the package is brought in the house. The mayor's two labrador retrievers are killed by police during the raid. Now, police theorize that the package was part of a scheme involving parcel delivery personnel, and the addressee had no knowledge of the illegal contents. At this point, the victims of the raid appear squeaky clean, and are both "civil servants". They're calling for federal civil rights investigations into several aspects of the raid.

Here's the latest article: http://wjz.com/local/police.raid.mayor.2.790454.html

Worth clicking on the short news video in the right hand column...shows the victims holding a press conference.
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Potential discussion points (legal/political):

* Another "no knock" warrant, reserved for dangerous known criminals and rarely granted (we're assured :p), here misused on prominent citizens with no criminal background?

* Raid carried out by county officials without any consultation with police from local jurisdiction?

* Killing of household pets, always a hot issue...coupled with the other data above, perhaps indicative of "over exuberant" swat/drug warrior mentality?

* Possible double standard applied to the raid victims because they are public officials, post-raid? (Like stacking charges as often done to defame the suspects). Now, all of a sudden, this is NOT an isolated screw-up?

Police are still defending the raid; it could make for a very interesting case.
 
Allot of cops want to play it like the movies, breaking down doors and killing all the "bad guys" inside the house. They lack restraint.

The laws really need to be changed.
 
We were just discussing this case a short while ago at home. Another interesting detail:

1) The police (P.G. County Sheriff's office) did NOT have a "no-knock" warrant.

2) Reportedly, when the mayor, handcuffed and in his underwear, lying face down next to a puddle of blood and the corpse of his dog, asked to see the warrant they did have, officers refused to show it.

Possibly, they could claim they did not need one since they had probably cause, e.g., they watched the package, known to them to contain drugs, be moved inside the house. However, they had aforehand obtained a search warrant from a judge. But it was NOT a "no-knock" warrant.

I really hope this is the bell-weather case that curbs some of these too-frequent errors and tragedies. While these folks lost their beloved pets, others have lost their lives from similar practices.
 
No knock?

There's a lot of discussion about "no knock" warrants. Here, a distinction without a difference. From another article: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5it3aTQrD8Kz2hZ6GDZybEvffY1hgD92DOL1G3

Calvo's defenders — including the Berwyn Heights police chief, who said his department should have been alerted ahead of time — said police had no right to enter the home without knocking.

But officials insisted they acted within the law, saying the operation was compromised when Calvo's mother-in-law saw officers approaching the house and screamed. That could have given someone time to grab a gun or destroy evidence, authorities said.
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So, because opsec was compromised by the mother-in-law, screaming when she saw through the window, plain-clothes men with guns approaching the house; the raid became a no-knock.
 
Pre raid: total lack of investigation.

Post raid: Circle the wagons.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/08/07/mayor.warrant/?iref=hpmostpop

Calvo said he had just returned home from walking his two Labrador retrievers, Chase and Payton, when his mother-in-law told him a package had arrived for his wife, Trinity Tomsic.

Moments later, Calvo was in his room changing for a meeting when he heard commotion downstairs.

"The door flew open," he said. "I heard gunfire shoot off. There was a brief pause and more gunfire."

Calvo said he was brought downstairs at gunpoint in his boxer shorts, handcuffed and forced onto the floor with his mother-in-law near the carcass of one of dead dogs. Video Watch Calvo describe the raid »

"I noticed my two dead dogs lying in pools of their own blood," Calvo said.

Calvo said his mother-in-law is still recovering from the incident.

"She got the worst of it," Calvo said. "She was literally in the kitchen, cooking a lovely pasta dish, and they brought down the door and shot our dogs."

While he was being held, Calvo said, he told police he is the town's mayor, but they didn't believe him.

Berwyn Heights has its own police force, he said, but Prince George's County police did not notify the municipal authorities of their interest in his home or the package.

"They didn't know my name. All they knew was my wife's name. They matched that to the registration of the car," Calvo said. "It was that lack of communication that really led to what has really been the most traumatic experience of our lives."

After the raid, arrests were made in the package interception scheme.

The incident has prompted the couple to call for a federal investigation because, they say, they don't believe police are capable of conducting an internal investigation.

"They've said they've done nothing wrong," Calvo said. "I didn't sign up for this fight, but I think what we have to do now is make changes to how Prince George's County police and Prince George's County sheriff's department operate."

Calvo said authorities entered his home without knocking and refused to show him a warrant when he requested one.
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Thats sad that the couples dogs were shot. Makes me sad that things like this happen. I guess intel isn't what it used to be.

Mistakes were made and rules broken. Punishment should be dealt but like cases prior alot less will happen then we want.

The officers felt threatened by a dog running away??????

Someone screams when plain clothe officers with guns arrive at the house. This is why police officers have uniforms.

More issues will come up......
 
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I've been waiting for a case like this; it was inevitable that they'd eventually do a botched raid on somebody with enough political clout that they can't cover it up.

I wonder if hizzoner can on his own authority fire the police chief (with cause; no unemployment benefits, lose his pension, etc.)?
 
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Yeah, I heard the story on WTOP the past couple days. The mayor is royally...upset. Doesn't even seem to be his fault, the drugs were apparently delivered to his house without his doing.
 
The article on this from the Baltimore Sun.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-mayor0807,0,4563211.story

The fact that this has happened before, almost blow by blow, is disturbing.

Calvo said he wants federal officials to examine policies that he said have led Prince George's police officials to serve warrants on wrong addresses and kill family pets before.

In once such case, Prince George's sheriff's deputies executed a warrant on the home of Frank and Pamela Myers of Accokeek in November. The Myers told sheriffs that they had the wrong address as their dog began barking from the yard. The couple asked if they could retrieve their dog, but deputies refused. Minutes later, two shots were fired and the dog was killed, according to a notice of a tort claims filed by attorney Michael J. Winkelman. The Myers were never charged and nothing was seized from their house.

"This has happened before, and without oversight, it will happen again," Calvo said.
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It's lucky the M-I-L wasn't chopping meat and had a large butcher's knife in her hand when they broke in or her dead body would likely have ended up next to the dog's.

The neighbor said it best:

Cheryl Compton, a neighbor, said her two sons, 5-year-old Cody and 7-year-old Ty, played with the mayor's dogs all the time, and that everyone but the Prince George's County police knew where Calvo lived.
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Knock or No-Knock is NOT the issue. The issue is the use of Paramilitary style Police raids at every opportunity to:

1. Make the War on Drugs look cool / justify it.
2. Justify their budgets.
3. Let's face it, some of these guys just think it is cool to bust down doors and make people eat floor. Most cops are NOT power mad thugs, in fact the vast majority are not. Sadly those that are seem to gravitate to those areas of LE where such abuse of power is easiest to accomplish.

And without further delay... The CATO map of botched military raids!

http://www.cato.org/raidmap/

"If a widespread pattern of [knock-and-announce] violations were shown . . . there would be reason for grave concern."

—Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, in Hudson v. Michigan, June 15, 2006.
 
Police officials in Arizona first intercepted the package when a drug-sniffing dog alerted them to the presence of marijuana. It was addressed to Tomsic. An undercover officer in Prince George's delivered the package near 6 p.m. and was told by Calvo's mother-in-law to leave it on the porch, according to Calvo's attorney, Timothy Maloney.

Prince George's County police arrested two men involved in a scheme to transport marijuana. Once packages were dropped off by a deliveryman, a suspect would pick them up -- with the addressee oblivious to the plot. Police seized a half-dozen packages that contained about 417 pounds of marijuana, including the 32 pounds delivered to Tomsic, the Associated Press reported.
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The police knew or should have known they were busting into the home of a completely innocent person. There was no good reasons for the behavior of the police, only bad reasons, some pointed out above.

And what if the innocent citizen inside was carrying? I hope the first instinct when your door is kicked in would be to draw and point and identify your target...and then you are shot dead by Officer No-Investigation or his buddy Officer Ima Hardass.

What's the liability for killing a cop who no-knocks...assuming you live to be liable?

Can you imagine this happening in 1776? Some Brits concoct a scheme to import illegal arms/tea/who know by delivering it to unsuspecting innocent colonists. The local law finds out about this, busts into a home of a known loyal patriot, ties them up and kills their dogs. I don't think Madison, Jefferson and their friends would have been too keen on the idea!

[There is no bigger civilian supporter of the police than myself. They are under paid and under appreciated and put their lives on the line each day while the worst thing that might happen to me today is a paper cut. But, there are some fellow officers that are really making the profession look bad.]
 
Bad Police Work ...

... and zero apology.

The dogs went crazy when the MIL screamed and in a matter of seconds the door was busted, two dogs shot and a family traumatized for life. It could have been much worse and it should have never happened.

A police setup from the beginning, no warrant and a lack of supervision mixed with a black shirt, jack boot, we are god like militarist attitude and this is the result. Any supervisory members in on this action should be terminated and prosecuted to the fullest. Set an example. Change their attitude and mandatory retraining of the whole department top to bottom.

Shame on them.
 
Shame on them.
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I am beyond shame on this issue......if the courts cant figure this one out....I would like to see other means of justice.

I hope this is the case that proves to be the tipping point of this issue. Enough is enough.
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I agree but again......unless you see real cops doing real time for violating the Bill of Rights....nothing will change.

We dont take the bill of Rights seriously enough in this country.
Each cop involved needs to lose their job at the very least. I hope the mayor and "the people" level the department inside and out.
IMHO the cops need prison time.
I'm not anti-cop....I'm pro-liberty........
liberty vs cops????? I will pick liberty every time.



Lets at least Michael Vick the cops.....if we all dont care about the bill of rights, then lets at least throw the cops in jail because they killed the dogs.......(sad but I'm afriad this is why the outrage is there...because the dogs are dead not because our rights are)
 
Prince George's County police arrested two men involved in a scheme to transport marijuana. Once packages were dropped off by a deliveryman, a suspect would pick them up -- with the addressee oblivious to the plot. Police seized a half-dozen packages that contained about 417 pounds of marijuana, including the 32 pounds delivered to Tomsic, the Associated Press reported.
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What we don't hear about is how the police handled the half dozen other packages FedEx'ed from Arizona to Maryland.
 
I'm a big supporter of LEOs and the work the average law officer does to keep us safe, but it's way past time to put an end to the paramilitary style raid, plain clothes on a raid, and the use of masks on a raid. In this case we're talking p-poor police work and those in charge and those that took the shot should be doing felony time for animal cruelty. All involved should be handing over their pensions to the family. But what will happen is what always happens. The investigation will be a complete and total whitewash and medals will be handed out for brave police work.
 
At the risk of sounding callous...

I say GOOD JOB!

Its past time that we see those in power in this country (civil servants, a Mayor, etc.) are not above the law! I am glad to see their dogs shot, that they were handcuffed for hours in their underwear, and that thepolice agency busted in their door because the raid "was compromised". I am glad to finally see them treated exactly the same way as any other honest law abiding citizens of our country!

Note; for those unable to figure it out on their own, the above is sarcasm.

Non uniformed men with guns had to break in before someone inside could grab a gun (horors!) or destroy evidence (32 pounds of pot?)
(How fast could anyone destroy 32 pounds of pot?)
They shot the dogs because they felt threatened? And reportedly, one of the dogs was running away! Big strong policemen!:barf:

I could understand shooting a dog that was hanging off your arm, but running away?

Too many poeple wearing police uniforms (or wearing them part of the time when they are on the job) think waay too highly of their precious fundaments. There was a time in this country when police were not allowed to shoot anything or anyone they thought might be a threat, they could only shoot when there was an actual threat. Yes, it did result in some officers paying the ultimate price for their choice of careers, but that was understood as one of the risks you took for taking the job. And it didn't stop generations of good people from taking jobs as police. And it kept down the body count of innocent bystanders, both two and four legged.

Hollywood style swat raids are great on TV, but they are a pretty poor excuse for real investigative police work, IMNHO.

Anyone old enough to remember Ken Ballew? That was in Md also. OF course, that raid turned out a bit differently. They shot him. And he faced trial with a bullet in his brain, and confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. And that was nearly 40 years ago!

This crap has got to stop!
 
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