Internal Investigation: Slaughter of Mayor's Dogs During Botched Drug Raid Justified

In a decision that shouldn't surprise anyone, an internal investigation by the Prince George's County, Maryland Sheriff's Department has determined that raiding officers acted entirely appropriately when they shot and killed two pet labradors during a mistaken drug raid at the home of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo.

Neither Calvo nor his mother-in-law—both in the house as the raid transpired—were interviewed for the investigation.  Calvo says one of the dogs was shot as it was running away, an assertion supported by a veterinary examination showing an entry wound to the back of one of the dog's legs.

Prior posts on the Calvo raid here.  I'll be speaking on a panel with Calvo and Peter Christ of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition on Thursday, September 11 at the Cato Institute.

Comments

[sage]

I’m surprised the investigation did not recommmend the purchase of a tank with a 50 cal on it to enhance teh safety of the raiding jackboots.

[R C Dean]

This is as bad as the KGB and the “accidental” shooting of that guy in the head while he was in the car with their goons.

The sneering contempt of conducting an investigation without interviewing major witnesses just makes me want to puke.

[Episiarch]

Come on, these reports are on pre-printed forms that say “JUSTIFIED”. They just photocopy one and then sit on it for a few weeks while they “investigate”.

[NeonCat]

That dog wasn’t running away, it was regrouping! Maybe even calling other dogs – they have gangs, you know, known as “packs”. And, and, there was a child in it’s path! The dog, no doubt driven into a frenzy from all the drugs, would have torn out the child’s throat, maybe even had sex with it!

So, really, it was perfectly justified.

[Jon]

Fucking cops.

[Episiarch]

The investigation revealed that the dog was, in fact, a werewolf, which also justifies their purchasing of silver bullets. Everything’s justified! Even the typing in the report was left-justified.

[rana]

Muthaf%*&rs… how can they say it was justified with a straight face?
I know, I know, I shouldn’t be SHOCKED, but still, I am indignant at the whole situation.

[Mister DNA]

Damn… you’d think that the feds would step in and start prosecuting this crap.

Oh, wait… the feds are too busy keeping us safe from pornography.

[sebz]

a pig is a pig is a pig. it does not matter if its a cop, a state trooper, or a fed. they will always stick up for each other.

[Elemenope]

This is when you sue.

[Karl]

When does it become appropriate to fight back? I know Radley and many here don’t like talk like that, but it’s a genuine question. I don’t want to Goodwin the thread, so I’ll just mention a time frame, say 75 years ago or so in a nondescript European country. When would it have been appropriate to fight back then? In hind sight we can say ‘man, if I was there, I’d have fought back!’. When do we know if we are at that point? I’m not entirely rational on this as I have a tendency to imagine myself in a situation where my two little mutts were done in by a f&*%ing…. calm down… OK! 🙂

Investigations don’t seem to work very well as we’ve seen several times. No matter who we elect, little seems to change in regard to the expansion of police powers. When do we know? Or will our descendants look back from their armchairs in 70 years and say ‘well, *I* would have fought back!”?

-K

[Jon]

There’s a great running thread on Fark.com over the Washington Post coverage of this.
http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=3851373&togglehtml=1&ok=2108688628&sc=1

People are pissed and rightly so. The Police Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) states that they can damage property, detain the wrong person, kill pets “if they feel threatened”, and then fucking walk away. What the hell is wrong with our country?!

[Naga Sadow]

Toecutter: Take your hat off.
Station Master: Anything you say.
Toecutter: Anything I say. What a wonderful philosophy you have. Take him away.

[Jon]

Karl that is “Godwin”; you Godwin a thread.

Obligatory Godwin:
All cops are nazis.

[B]

If the cops shoot my dog, they’d better go ahead and shoot my wife and I as well.

[Jon]

Oppose police brutality … shoot back.

/am I allowed to say that?
//Looks around for the FBI to come get me.

[Elemenope]

Karl makes a reasonable point. At what point does it become not just morally but also practically justified to shoot back?

I’ll be normally the first to say “we’re not there yet” because I abhor bloodshed (even guilty blood), but I can’t help but imagine that similar people in similar situations said to themselves much the same thing, while the point of no return for them slipped quietly by.

[JW]

This is as bad as the KGB and the “accidental” shooting of that guy in the head while he was in the car with their goons.

C’mon RC, I’m sure you saw Pulp Fiction, so it’s easy to imagine how that could have happened. One minute your explaining the ways of the world to the guy in the back seat and then BLAM, hilarity ensues.

Just like the hijinks in this case. Besides, they’re PG County cops. They have to shoot something or it’s just not a proper police activity.

[Other Matt]

Oppose police brutality … shoot back.

Just don’t live in Chespeake when you do it…

[J sub D]

Neither Calvo nor his mother-in-law-both in the house as the raid transpired-were interviewed for the investigation.

Why would the investigators waste their time talking to “little people”? This is a cover your ass operation and interviewing witnesses who aren’t on the same team would just make the job more difficult.

[Episiarch]

because I abhor bloodshed (even guilty blood)

I don’t. Believe me, if there was any chance of surviving I’d say shoot back, but they will overwhelm you with numbers (they’re brave!) and kill you, and if by some miracle they don’t kill you they will pwn your ass as hard as possible in court. They make it so that your best possible move is to lie there and take it. It sucks some pretty severe ass.

[JW]

At what point does it become not just morally but also practically justified to shoot back?

I’d say the better question is when did we pass that point? I’d say that was about 10 or 15 years ago. Now, we’re just too fat and happy as a nation to want to screw things up too much.

I see the attitudes in too many of the people around me: if you would shoot back then you are obviously a criminal. Why else would you need a gun? Those things are just too dangerous.

I think we’ve reached the stage of the tasteless suggestion of how you are supposed to survive being raped.

[Tim Doyle]

I am PRAYING that 60 Minutes does a story on this case and the rise in these ridiculous raids.

[Naga Sadow]

I’ve never tried it but I own a 24 inch expandable police baton. I’ve had to pull it out on two occasisions. The best way to use it is to say to whomever is involved, “Do I need to get my fucking gun and badge out as well?”. Works like a charm.

[JW]

am PRAYING that 60 Minutes does a story on this case and the rise in these ridiculous raids.

Or an article in Parade magazine. You’ll hit the same demographic and it’ll have the same gravitas.

[Tim]

I guess you’re not a fan of 60 Minutes. How ’bout we knit you a Bayeux tapestry of the incident then? Gravitas…fuck me.

i want this story out there in front of a mass audience. You should too.

[H.Walters]

Let us pray the the FBI and Justice Department and Maryland Attorney General investigations will be more professional and actually interview the innocent witnesses.And then of course the jury of citizens that hear the lawsuit may just add a few million dollars in punitive damages out of anger that the police not only murdered innocent harmless dogs, but lied under oath multiple times.

[JW]

You should too.

Oh, I do, and it is, but not on 60 fucking Minutes. It lost what little credibility it had about 20 years ago. There’s a reason their “correspondents” never get any younger: neither does their audience.

This story had wheels for about 10 days, and they were good days. If people didn’t wake up from their perpetual sleepwalk then, if this didn’t drill into their thick, conventional-wisdom-enriched heads the futility of the drug war, it isn’t going to happen now.

It’ll take the cops wiping out an entire family to make any difference and even then it probably won’t.

[TrickyVic]

I think this says it all

“Police cleared Calvo and Tomsic of wrongdoing, saying they were victims of a drug smuggling scheme in which drug-filled packages addressed to unsuspecting recipients were intercepted by a FedEx deliveryman.”

They were victims of a drug smuggling scheme. Not any type of police brutality or mistakes on LEOs part. Blame it all on the other guy.

[libertarianjim]

Just another typical day within the Tyrannical States over America.

[thoreau]

I’m shocked by this, to be honest. I assumed that screwing with a mayor, one of the Important People, would necessitate firing “a few bad apples” for appearances. Apparently the system is so corrupt even that sort of show isn’t possible.

[R C Dean]

TrickyVic, I agree that its a masterstroke by Our Masters to paint the thugs who kicked down the door and gunned down the dogs as “victims.”

“Sneering contempt” is the only way to describe their attitude toward us. We aren’t even worth wasting a decent coverup or an apology on.

[Invisible Finger]

an internal investigation by the Prince George’s County, Maryland Sheriff’s Department has determined that raiding officers acted entirely appropriately

Why does anyone trust INTERNAL inveastigations? Where’s Patrick Fitzgerlad when you need him?

[Francisco Torres]

“Conclusion: Shooting of pet dogs was entirely justified since they showed the police officers the finger, while they were running away. Police officers are never going to stand over that. Such policy has our full support. Sieg Heil.”

[Francisco Torres]

I’m shocked by this, to be honest. I assumed that screwing with a mayor, one of the Important People, would necessitate firing “a few bad apples” for appearance

That’s because he’s only a part time mayor, making him a 99% non-entity… still, he is more than the rest of us taxpaying morons, who are 100% non-entities before the goons-with-guns.

[dampfer]

How about the recent case where it was reported that a man used a burgler’s own weapon to shoot and kill him? Then they reported that it was probable that no charges would be filed against the homeowner? Man, I had to read that twice.
Can a person defend himself??!?? It’s like you have domestic assault on two fronts at once: the criminals and the man.

[Anvilwyrm]

I demand a plausible lie!

[TrickyVic]

damfer, when it’s citizen vs. citizen the law usually does the right thing. Throw in the color blue and the citizen is always at fault.

[JB]

This type of crap is going to get more cops shot.

[jc]

if these were my dogs id be in jail now for killing the cops who shot them
I think its time for people to rise up and say enough is enough to the loss of our rights do to overzealous cops and politicans

[Jennifer Hill]

Of course they release the report right during the height of the Palin euphoria sweeping the country, and I bet not too much publicity is generated due to the timing of this report. And they didnt even interview the civilian eyewitnesses and I bet they didnt get a transcript of the medical examiner. In short, they did a cover up, as expected. Well, when their budget is cut drastically due to the mother of all lawsuits, then maybe they will finally get it.

[Another Cynic]

The cops said the dogs looked like they were reaching toward their waists for guns.

[TB]

Does this mayor have a police force of his own? any power? Can’t he just seize any PG property or personnel that cross his border until something is done? Put out warrants on any and all of the folks involved in the raid? Pass an ordinance making their homes into parking lots (finally, a good use of eminent domain)?

[JMR]

I’m with Anvilwyrm — I want a plausible lie, dammit!

[King Groovy]

An early, erroneous press account of the report stated the Prince George’s County Sheriff had implicated Ryan Frederick in the premeditated shooting of the dogs.

Acting on the erroneous press report, the Special Prosecutor in Frederick’s case amended his motion for Change of venue to specify Prince George’s County for the trial.

[Lost in Paradise]

Its times like this I am glad to have left the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. The lack of accountability/oversight of these Public Servants is beyond belief.

[johnl]

Why don’t EMT’s shoot dogs? Lots of procedures look like violence, especially CPR. That’s bound to distress a dog, yet seem to manage this without routinely killing dogs.

[Occam\'s toothbrush]

Where’s Patrick Fitzgerlad when you need him?

Yes, because what this case needs is for the people who actually committed the crime to be let off, and a mailroom clerk who lies to investigators to be vigorously prosecuted.

[anonymous]

Those of us who are law enforcement professionals are appalled at the negligence and unprofessionalism of the public servants in the calvo case. This was a cluster**** from top to bottom. Poor research, poor planning,no communication, disproportionate use of force, lying about the no knock warrant, shooting a harmless dog in the back, then compounding the atrocity by refusing to man up and accept blame for the disaster. Internal affairs will eventually get these incompetent officers jobs where they aren’t allowed to carry weapons. Or supervise officers who carry weapons!!!

[Neon]

“Internal Investigation: Slaughter of Mayor’s Dogs During Botched Drug Raid Justified”

Slaughter of the cops who Slaughtered the dog also justified then