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.

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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:

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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.

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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.

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: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:

Thanks for sharing that Boaz! :jointsmile:

^ thank you for all the great threads on here. :greenthumb: keep up the great work.

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Originally Posted by boaz

^ thank you for all the great threads on here. :greenthumb: keep up the great work.

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Your welcome Boaz and I think that you might find this very interesting as well as everyone else that is concerned about this incident..
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Columbia Missouri Police Chief Favors Alternatives To Marijuana Prohibition

Fri, 21 May 2010 21:35:32 By: Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director

From Missouri NORML:

Missouri NORMLâ??s and local attorney Dan Viets spoke with Columbia Police Chief Ken Burton yesterday about the need to reform cannabis laws in Missouri and to stop violent home raids (Columbia is where two dogs were recently shot in a marijuana raid that was captured on video, causing great public revulsion and concern nationwideâ??not only in Missouri).

In the past Chief Burton has alluded to the need for alternative policies to straight out prohibition. The exchange yesterday between Viets and Burtonâ??where Chief Burton acknowledges the importance of NORMLâ??s advocacy workâ??was recorded and transcribed below .

Columbia Police Chief Kenneth Burton Quote:

â??If I had a chance to catch someone breaking into a warehouse and someone with marijuana (Dan and Chief crosstalk) I applaud your effort, I mean, if we could get out of the business I am sure there would be a lot of officers happy to do that.

Unfortunately, it is still a matter of law. The shooting that happened right after, â?¦ this came to the forefront was over marijuana. And crimes of violence do occur b/c of marijuana.

You may make the argument that it is because it is illegal, and hey, you may be right.

I donâ??t have anything against it except it is against the law.

And as a police officer I have sworn to uphold the law. So prioritizing, when we can, you are absolutely right. We should concentrate on meth or something more serious, but we come across marijuana it is still against the law.

I am with you on the fight, and I hope you are successful at some point and we will see how that goes.â?�

Thanks to MO NORML and Chief Burton!

Also, more good news from MO: Mayor Francis Slay of St. Louis, who announced yesterday that another member of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen is working on a marijuana decriminalization ordinance, and Slay seems to like the idea!

Heâ??s currently doing a poll on legalization, and reformers are winning big time!

Please make sure youâ??re working with your local chapter of NORML in MO or nationwide to reform our countryâ??s antiquated cannabis laws.

http://www.norml.org

here is the link to the O'Reilly segment. Warning, this has the actual police footage of the raid where they gun down the dogs in front of the kids. :(

I grew up in a small Missouri town, population 42, so I take it personal when I see this kind of sh*t take place there. Especially in Columbia, who's voters have spoken very loudly on this issue. this is an attack on democracy, as well as an attack on our basic human rights.

As I read on another web site, this was not a "botched raid". This is exactly by the plan. This is their strategy. To terrorize decent families in their own home over cannabis. :wtf: I really hope we can see some justice there.


[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8R4yU7UG3yE[/YOUTUBE]

Thanks again for the information and the video Boaz! :thumbsup:

From watching that video I just realized something that hasn't been explained accurately nor do I think anyone else has noticed this.

Norml stated in their first article "If you notice toward the end of the video you can see what appears to be a small bong on the coffee table." Now the video that they are referring too is the main video that the police used during this raid which is the only video.

In the same article that Norml has posted they included this.. (Columbia Daily-Tribune) "Police discovered a grinder, a pipe and a small amount of marijuana"

Again in the second article that Norml had posted referring to this raid they stated "Police ultimately seized a small amount of marijuana residue and associated paraphernalia"

Then in the video that Boaz posted Mr. O'Reilly says "What did the police find? A small bag of pot.."

So let's recap. The police found a bong according to Norml.

The Columbia Daily-Tribune stated that the police found a grinder, a pipe, and a small amount of Marijuana.

Norml states in their second article in regards to their first one that the police seized a small amount of Marijuana residue and associated paraphernalia.

Last but not least Mr. O'Reilly says that the police found a small bag of pot.

Now is all very so clear that the police found an amount of Marijuana in the families house. These other articles and the media are stating that there was just more then Marijuana correct? I really hope you all see where I'm getting at. Either everyone has only included what they felt was important in their description or maybe the police are trying to make it seem bigger then what it actually is and make the father look more like a druggie. On top of all of that, by doing this unconstitutionally I can see the police trying to add more to the story to get this father in more trouble. Do you all see what I see here?

All I know is if I was that father and anyone else in the family, I would want the story accurately correct because we really don't know if the man had a pipe, bong, grinder or residue just sitting around the house. But none the less I think that the police are trying to make the father look more like a criminal by adding all this extra information to the whole story. What do you think?

I just thought that I would point this out in hope that everyone else realizes this because this whole story is really mixed up if you couldn't tell.

Thank you, Kyle. I did notice that, too. The first time I read about this my understanding was that the "officers" found some sort of pipe that may have had some sort of residue that they believed may have been cannabis related. From that it becomes "a bag of pot" on Fox News. :wtf: fair and balanced? ;)

Also, my biggest complaint about the O'Reilly clip, and tv in general, is that immediately make the jump to hard drugs. I believe O'Reilly said something to the effect of "but the broader question is ..." or something. I don't care about the broader question. I care that people of Columbia pass a law and become victims of terrorism because of it. :twocents:

oh, yeah, and O'Reilly also, I believe, refered to this man as a "drug dealer". Is that not slander? :wtf: I hope they have a really good attorney.

This really sickens and scares mi.. I've been a victim of a "pseudo raid" before, police were looking for any reason to poke around Ras's house and they found one. Sitting on phone talking with my mother, next thing I know house being stormed by police and I got 9s stuck in my face, one of my kids was home too.. I guess thank god I had no dog at the time? My mother nearly had a heart attack in the middle of the store she had been in while we were chatting on the phone.

I'm sorry if this is getting off topic and I meant to mention this earlier but anyone else notice how clever fox news played this in this interview. I'm not saying they have an agenda or anything but note how at minute 2:00 O'reilly (seeming playing cannabis advocate here) say's look we ended alcohol prohibition and sky didn't fall in, yes a number of people abuse alcohol but adults already use soft drugs, like marijuana, why not legalize it. At which Mr. Krauthammer replies, that is a false arguement, it is not like we are choosing between one or the other, they will be additive, like alcohol and cocaine (quick cut to people smoking crack and snorting lines).

from a prohib perspective this is genious! his answer has absolutely nothing to do with the question, but the use of the alcohol with cocaine is not only sexy and attention grabbing, the two have a very salient association with each other (anyone who has ever tried coke can tell you the two go together like cookies and milk). Thus the mind automatically accepts what he is saying about people combining hard drugs with alcohol, missing that he completely dodged the question. brilliant. hats off, fox. ;)

I don't know if fox has really has an agenda or not, and like I said I thought O'reilly was very fair, I normally agree with most of what Charles says, too, but I think historically, from the Hearsts Newspapers to now the old media seems to have vested interest in cannabis prohibition and this clip is further evidence. :twocents:

anyways, sorry to get so far off topic. Best of luck to this dad, hope you can get a good attorney and try to keep the media honest. good luck.