One of the issues with the officer reports is that there seem to be various stories as to how many pit bulls there were (at least one officer claims that there were 2 pit bulls at the door), how many shots were fired, and how much of a threat the dog was. One of them mentions that when he got to the kitchen, the dog was seriously injured and then he shot it.
This is not exactly true.
- Only one officers report mentioned two pit bulls. This is apparently a mistake as he simply stated that two pit bulls were in the doorway when it was one pit bull and one non-pit bull. I chalk this up to impercise writing.
- There were seven shots fired. One at the door which missed the pit bull and struck the other dog (which was obviously also in the door). One in the kitchen when an officer was confronted by the pit bull. This bullet struck the animal, but did not limit it's mobility. Another officer fired a two-round burst from his MP5 while the OIC fired two rounds from his handgun as the now wounded and angry pit bull advanced on the officer. All seven shell casings were recoved by crime scene personnel in the locations described in the officers' reports.
- Several officers reported that the dog was aggressive in the doorway. Multiple officer reports state that the lead officer in the stack fired 'at it'. No one reported the animal injured at that point. It was merely reported that it left the doorway, so they entered.
The first officer to enter the kitchen reported encountering the dog postured in an aggressive manner and that he felt that the dog was about to attack him. He fired one round and reported that it did hit the dog, which yelped and ran to a different part of the kitchen. That officer did not persue and followed his prescribed route to the garage.
Another officer and the OIC entered the kitchen from the other side. The officer with the MP5 reported that the dog was wounded. He further stated that it was barking and advancing on him. He fired at the dog with the intention of preventing the dog from biting him. The OIC stated that the dog was 'still in a mobile state and acting aggressive' and that it was 'moving towards officers rather than retreating away'. He fired at approximately the same time as the other officer.
The perceived threat of the pit bull is consistent throughout the officers' reports.
... As for the trash pull, would a big time drug dealer really not know better than to throw out his stuff in the regular garbage? I would think they would burn it in a fireplace or go throw it in the woods or something that couldn't be easily traced back.
Unlike what we see on TV, criminals are often dumb.
Also, if you burn your doobage in the fireplace, the police actually come sooner.
Also, being that it was in the garbage, it can be argued that what was found does not belong to the defendant as the police had not performed surveilance to deem if it was actually his garbage. Also, there are no available records for the alleged trash pull so we don't know what was or wasn't found in it.
According to the affidavit, mail addressed to the family was also found in the trash.
The duffel bags, I have two sitting in my shed right now. It's luggage and so far there is no other mention about them except for one report.
If the DA were going for higher charges, it would make sense to test those duffles to see if they were used to transport ganja. Given that he didn't present those charges, I doubt that it happened.
How would someone who would normally have mounds of pot around the house only end up with "personal consumption" amounts?
That's really the problem with waiting several days to raid the house. He may have gotten a huge shipment of the stuff three weeks ago and sold completely out day before yesterday. If you don't raid the house until today, you miss it.
Of course, the informants' information didn't indicate when shipments were made, so making the raid on any specific day would be just as likely to catch the guy with a huge amount or none at all. Which is the argument that the police should be using as to why waiting to raid wasn't a big deal.
I will say, however, that I don't care if the guy was Pablo Escobar, without full on surveilance and investigation that found out there were guns galore in the house and people who were actively ready to use them at any moment, the SWAT team should not have been sent in. I still think that there are countless better ways to have handled this situation.
Obviously, you don't believe that SWAT teams should exist. However, I think that this instance, with the evidence that the police had going in, was the perfect example of proper use of a SWAT team.
I don't hold much stock in confidential informants either and apparently neither should the Columbus police department considering they were wrong on this case.
According to the affidavit, the informants had provided good info in previous cases. Also, it should be noted that there is no evidence to believe that their information was bad this time, either. Just because there were wasn't large amounts of drugs found when the search was made does not mean that the individual doesn't often sell drugs. It only means that he didn'e have drugs to sell at that moment.
There are a ton of things they should have done differently, but I don't think the swat team, the chief of police and some other people will ever think that. Apparently it is fine and dandy to do these commando raids for penny anny crap like this.
My goodness, you would have thought they found Bin Laden with the way they stormed that house.
That's an easy position to take on Monday morning. However, when you are the police officer that has to knock on the drug dealer's door, I suspect that you think differently.
And let's not forget they found..... a bowl with residue. Superb police work! **applause** His $300 fine didn't even pay for the SWAT team that night.
You realize that the SWAT team gets paid whether they are knocking down doors or writing parking tickets, right? Beyond the cost of the seven rounds fired (about five dollars retail, they pay less) and the opportunity cost of tickets not written, their was no cost related to this arrest.
You can say whatever you want about why swat raids happen, in this case (and many many others) it is extremely shoddy police work.
I disagree.
The warrant was issued based on appropriate police work with seemingly good evidence.
Given the evidence at hand, their was no good reason to rush the raid.
It was appropriate for the raid to be managed by the SWAT team. The individual in question had a list of priors including resisting arrest and drug sales and distribution. There was no telling how ugly that raid would become. It's better to be prepared than dead.
I can find no fault whatsoever with how the raid was managed. The team appears to have been well practiced and disciplined.
It's sad that the dog had to die, but that doesn't mean that the police were wrong.
