BSO DEPUTIES GREETED WITH TEAR GRENADE WHILE SEARCHING SUSPECTED DRUG
HOUSE

Pompano Beach -- Authorities evacuated residents in the Pompano Beach
Highlands neighborhood early Thursday after a military-grade tear gas
grenade detonated while deputies searched for two men in a suspected
drug house, Broward Sheriff's Office spokesman Elliot Cohen said.

When the smoke cleared after the 3 a.m. incident on the 1500 block of
Northeast 48th Street, investigators found some cocaine inside the
one-story house, said Sheriff's spokeswoman Keyla Concepcion. They
charged [Name redacted], 54, with aggravated battery and aggravated
assault on a law enforcement officer, possession of a destructive
device and battery, Concepcion said.

[Name redacted] admitted the gas canister was his, Concepcion said.
He is being held at the Broward County Jail.

A woman found inside was questioned and released.

Three deputies went to the house because Curt Pack, 45, of Pompano
Beach, told them two men beat him with a bat or ax handle when he
tried to get a woman out of the home, Cohen said.

Deputies searching for Pack's attackers opened the door to a bedroom
where [Name redacted] was holding a knife when they heard a "pop,"
Cohen said. The deputies saw sparks and smoke filled the room. The
officers were taken to the hospital and some residents were told to
leave the area as a precaution. The deputies were later released, and
the residents were allowed back into their homes.

Investigators did not know whether the grenade's detonation was
deliberate, but they did see some string and other devices inside
that could have been used to set it off, Cohen said.

Booby-trapped drug houses are common in South Florida, federal
authorities said.

"It's a common practice and it can be anywhere from a meth house to a
marijuana grow house, to an open grow field," said Jeannette Moran,
spokeswoman for the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Neighbors said people would go in and out of the white concrete
blockhouse with the overgrown grass and boarded-up windows at all
hours. Sometimes, the people flagged down passing vehicles and asked
passers-by if they wanted to 'party,' neighbors said.

"We all know that there's drugs there," resident Jennifer Hinkle, 37,
said. "If they bulldoze and just start all over again, it'd be nice.
. It bothers me to have a house that has the SWAT team coming out."

Concepcion said deputies responded to that address six times this
year, but none of the calls appears to be drug-related.

Bavosa has been convicted four times on drug possession and
distribution charges, according to Florida Department of Law
Enforcement records.

Authorities are still looking for the other man suspected of beating Pack.

Staff Writer Brian Haas and Staff Researcher Barbara Hijek
contributed to this report.