Missouri SWAT team shoots family dog during raid over â??small amountâ?� of marijuana

Thu, 06 May 2010 18:04:38 By: Russ Belville, NORML Outreach Coordinator

Weâ??ve told the story of drug war canicide â?? dog murder â?? before here on the NORML Stash Blog. From the LAPD dog killing during dispensary raids to the Buffalo man who pleaded with cops to let him put his beloved pets in another room before cops gunned them down, and even the mayor of a town in Maryland forced to sit handcuffed near a pool of his slaughtered black labsâ?? blood during a SWAT raid that turned out to be in error.

This incident in Missouri happened in February and is just one of the 100-150 militaristic raids on homes every day in America, most often to serve narcotics warrants, which usually means marijuana, the substance involved in almost half of all drug arrests. But never before have we brought you actual video of law enforcement protecting us from adults smoking a bowl in their own home and serving us by executing family pets in front of small children.

(Warning: if you love your dog as much as I love Roscoe P. Coltrane, my Jack Russell terrier, scratch its belly and get to your serenity place before you view this. It is very disturbing.)

YouTube - Columbia Mo SWAT Raid 2/11/2010. Cops Shoot Pets With Children Present

If you notice toward the end of the video you can see what appears to be a small bong on the coffee table. The Columbia, Missouri SWAT team sure took down a big-time drug kingpin while he slept peacefully with his wife and seven-year-old child, huh?

(Columbia Daily-Tribune) Police discovered a grinder, a pipe and a small amount of marijuana, Haden said. Because the SWAT team acts on the most updated information available, the team wanted to enter the house before marijuana believed to be at the location could be distributed, she said.

â??If you let too much time go by, then the drugs are not there,â?� she said.

Drug distributors traditionally have a history with firearms, which is why the SWAT team is used when executing such warrants, [police spokeswoman Officer Jessie] Haden said. If the SWAT team believed they could have executed the warrant successfully during the daytime when the wife and child were not present, they would have, she said.

Well, the â??drugsâ?� werenâ??t there, now, were they? But letâ??s pretend they were. Letâ??s say the man was holding enough marijuana to qualify for a felony charge in Missouri (over 35 grams). Are we to understand that holding any more than an ounce and a quarter in Missouri is justification enough to send SWAT to burst into a manâ??s home late at night and start firing weapons and slaughtering his pets and terrorizing his wife and children?

And what exactly is it that made the SWAT team believe it couldnâ??t execute a successful warrant in the daytime? The presence of his pit bull and corgi (yes, these cops shot a corgi) or that his wife and child would be away so he wouldnâ??t mind going down guns blazing to protect his lucrative marijuana empire? And if he had enough pot to have a lucrative marijuana empire worth shooting cops over, how exactly did he manage to get rid of it all in the few hours between daytime and that night?

No, folks, the justification is simple: shock and awe. These cops are taught that â??druggiesâ?� are dangerous armed hostile mentally deranged lunatics who all emulate Tony Montana from Scarface. Then they are taught how to dominate and intimidate and that one of the quickest ways you can do so is to show them you have the power of life and death. And they do this as a message to all the other â??druggiesâ?� out there that they are not safe and that they are serious about engaging the â??enemyâ?� and winning the â??warâ?�.

Radley Balko at Reasonâ??s Hit and Run (a top libertarian blog) has been following the story and promises an update from the victimâ??s mother, who was present at the raid. Jane Hamsher at FireDogLake (a top progressive blog which has recently begun a new campaign for legalization), Scott Morgan at Drug War Chronicle, and Pete Guither at DrugWarRant have also been following the story.

In the end the victim pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge of possession of drug paraphernalia in exchange for dropping the charges of misdemeanor marijuana possession and second-degree child endangerment. Yes, you read that right: the police burst into this manâ??s home, shooting weapons in his home and killing his dog with his seven-year-old sleeping in the next room and heâ??s the one who was endangering his child by smoking pot in his own home.

P.S. Youâ??d think the ASPCA or PETA would be all over this, wouldnâ??t you? I did, but found no reference to any police-shooting-dog stories on either of their websites. I once got in contact with people in their organizations but got no interest from them on addressing these clear cases of cruel and unethical treatment of animals. I even tried contacting Bill Maher, a high-profile PETA supporter and marijuana legalization supporter to spotlight the topic, but Iâ??ve never received any response. None of these animal rights supporters seem to think a family pet has a right to be protected from police brutality if the owner is thought to be a â??druggieâ?�.

P.P.S. Paul Armentano reminds me that in 2004, seven in ten Columbia, Missouri residents voted for the â??arrest, prosecution, punishment, or sanctionâ?� citizens for their medical use of marijuana, and six in ten voted for the decriminalization of marijuana for personal use. So the dog was murdered and the family terrorized over something only 30%-40% of residents believe is a crime.

They do this back in illinois alot.

what a sad story. thanks for posting this, it is important to get this kinda sh*t out. the "media" ignores this stuff. :wtf:

They can shoot your dog down in a raid but you can't defend yourself when one of their dogs bites ya during an arrest. "Time for change".....HELL YEAH!:mad:

Have a good one!:s4:

i would think the home owner would have a good lawsuit based on the fact that after the dog gets shot and is no longer a threat(which is quite clear in the audio) the officer decided to execute it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Psycho4Bud

They can shoot your dog down in a raid but you can't defend yourself when one of their dogs bites ya during an arrest. "Time for change".....HELL YEAH!:mad:

Have a good one!:s4:

---

RIGHT.......not to mention these animals are TRAINED to go for the human genitalia. Good point.

Here is some more information in regards to this article for those who haven't been keeping up on this topic..

Fox News Host Calls For Jailing Missouri SWAT Cops Over Botched Pot Raid

Tue, 11 May 2010 20:32:14 By: Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director

Judge Andrew Napolitano, host of Fox News.comâ??s Freedom Watch, has long been on the right side of the war on drugs, and his scathing critique of the deplorable police actions in Columbia, Missouri is no exception.

(To recap for those who have not yet seen the video: under the cover of darkness, a team of militarized SWAT agents enter a family home and immediately engage in gunfire â?? killing one of two family dogs and wounding the other â?? and likely inflicting lifelong trauma to the familyâ??s seven-year-old son. Police ultimately seized a small amount of marijuana residue and associated paraphernalia, which resulted in a misdemeanor charge and a $300 fine.)

In fact, Napolitanoâ??s very first question to befuddled Columbia Mayor Bob McDavid is: â??When are the cops who did this going to be arrested and put in jail where they belong?â?� Itâ??s a valid question that, not surprisingly, leaves the new mayor speechless.

YouTube - Fox News Freedom Watch's Judge Napolitano Shreds Columbia, MO SWAT Raid - 5/10/10

In less than a week nearly one-million people have watched the graphic and sickening footage from Columbia. It has, quite understandably, inspired public outrage and, apparently, some welcome changes in police procedure.

Yet as NORML Outreach Coordinator Russ Belville astutely points out on todayâ??s edition of the NORML Stash blog, none of these minor amendments to protocol in any way gets to the heart of the problem, and that is this: Police and politicians still â??accept the premise that this level of force is appropriate to keep people from using marijuana.â?� Ultimately, this societal mentality must change.

That is why, while on the one hand NORML (obviously) supports cannabis medicalization and decriminalization efforts, we also recognize that these efforts fall woefully short for many Americans. In short, the only way to fully protect all our citizens from these kinds of abhorrent events is through the legalization and regulation of marijuana for all adults. Help us make this a reality.

Stop the violence. Join NORML.

Stuff like this makes me sick. I had a similar incident take place where cops showed up at my house. first of all they treated my whole family as felons. I luckily had my 6 month old pitbull locked in my room. The cops were telling me while i was handcuffed that when they search my room that if the dog moves they will shoot it. I told them they would need to shoot me also. They took my family outside while they went to search my room. Of course I was freaking out my 4 year old son and 16 year old brother were freaking out. suddenly they came down stairs and advised me that they no longer need to search my house and sorry for the inconveniance wrong call. I told the officers all i wanted was for them to talk with my son and let him know they are sorry and that his dog not mine was fine. Needless to say they did say sorry and I have contacted my lawyer. I could care less about myself but my son is now the one who at 4 talks about how police are bad. I thought police were role models for young kids I'm sure they dont want the new generation growing up thinking they are the bad guys. Also fyi I have never been detained, arrested or even gotten a ticket.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by KyleIsNorml

Here is some more information in regards to this article for those who haven't been keeping up on this topic..

Fox News Host Calls For Jailing Missouri SWAT Cops Over Botched Pot Raid

Tue, 11 May 2010 20:32:14 By: Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director

Judge Andrew Napolitano, host of Fox News.comâ??s Freedom Watch, has long been on the right side of the war on drugs, and his scathing critique of the deplorable police actions in Columbia, Missouri is no exception.

...NORML.

---

:greenthumb: Thank you, Judge Napolitano! We do have some friends in the media afterall. I agree, why are these "officers" not behind bars right now? :wtf: heads need to roll in Columbia! From the police chief on down. Where is the federal charges for violation of their civil rights?? :wtf:

the reporter makes a good point at the end. "follow the money" . . our federal tax money is going to militarize our local police forces, bringing them in on the "war" on cannabis. all this in a little Missouri town that I think just recently voted to make the enforcement of cannabis laws the lowest priority. :wtf:

That is really disturbing hearing them gun down the family dog and hearing it yelp its last breaths in front of the kids. good god, is that we are as a nation? is this what we have become? thank god for the freedom of info act, so we can all witness it. if heads don't roll in Columbia Missouri over this then there is something seriously wrong there.

I just watched the O'Reilly Factor's coverage of this. I thought Bill was fair and balanced as always but Charles Krauthammer, man, what a mean old prohib. although, he did say he would support an experiment in a few states, like Cali, in ending cannabis prohib. might as well support it, its not like your gonna stop it. :p

But, how about an experiment in democracy in Columbia. In Nov. 2004 the voters of Columbia, Missouri passed this prop, despite the meddling of all the federal drug czar flunkies.

With about 60 percent support, voters last November approved a measure that prohibits Columbia police officers from arresting anyone for simple marijuana possession. That means anyone found with less than an ounce and a quarter of marijuana can only be given a summons to appear in the city's municipal court. Police officers no longer have the discretion to refer the case to the district attorney for prosecution by the state. Once in municipal court, the maximum fine that can be levied is $250, regardless of whether the defendant is a first-time offender or has been arrested multiple times.

And earlier this year, the Missouri Legislature in Jefferson City introduced this medical cannabis bill, following the example set in the other free states over the past 14 years.

Was any of these facts mentioned on Fox? hell no. instead its the usual stock footage of people shooting up coke and meth and shit. all of which has absolutely nothing to do with cannabis. again, I thought Bill was fair but the network has gotta do better than that to convince me they're not part of this ruse, known as cannabis prohibition. :twocents: