MEN FILE COMPLAINT AFTER RCMP USE DOG TO STORM WRONG HOME

VANCOUVER -- Emad Hovaizavi felt "pure terror" when the police dog
clamped its mighty jaws on his leg. He felt the animal's teeth crunch
through bone before it dragged him out of his apartment. Out in the
corridor, police kicked him in the head and ribs as he lay face down
on the floor. Men in black masks and bulletproof vests pointed their
guns at Mr. Hovaizavi.

He tried to tell the officers they had the wrong people. He and two
men were just drinking tea at his place after work, he told them.
Police swore at him and told him to shut up.

"I was in pure terror," Mr. Hovaizavi said in an affidavit released
yesterday by his lawyer, Craig Costantino. Mr. Hovaizavi and the two
other men have complained to the RCMP Commission for Public Complaints
about the police raid at Mr. Hovaizavi's Surrey, B.C., apartment on
Nov. 7, 2008.

They want to know why police burst into Mr. Hovaizavi's unit and sent
a vicious dog inside to drag two of the men out.

"I didn't know what was happening; I just felt the crunch of my bone
as the dog bit into my right shin just above my ankle and began to
drag me out of my apartment," Mr. Hovaizavi said in the written
statement. "I screamed. I did not understand what was happening."

Mr. Costantino described the police raid as "shocking, negligent and
incredibly reckless."

The RCMP yesterday called the incident "regrettable" and said a police
team went to the wrong door that night. Surrey Mounties, backed by
members of the Emergency Response Team, arrived at the building with
search warrants for other units, but went to Mr. Hovaizavi's apartment
by mistake.

"The Surrey RCMP has acknowledged the error and has made every effort
to mitigate this situation, working directly with [the] individuals to
support them," Corporal Peter Thiessen said yesterday in a statement.
The officer added that police apologized to all three men and offered
them support from their victims' services department.

Cpl. Thiessen noted that police found weapons and drugs in other units
in the building, including a Ruger handgun, cocaine, heroin, a taser,
machete and battle axe.

An internal RCMP investigation on the raid was ordered, Cpl. Thiessen
said. It's been completed and some recommendations will be
implemented, but he didn't have the results.

However, the men are demanding a public hearing. "They were just in
pure terror," Mr. Costantino said. "They had no idea." None of the men
would give interviews. Mr. Costantino said they prefer to wait until
their complaint is completed.

According to their statements, the three men were handcuffed and
loaded into a police wagon, but released shortly afterwards. They went
to hospital later that night and were treated for their dog-bite
wounds. But they were never told why the raid occurred, or why a dog
was used.

Mr. Costantino said the police showed no search warrants, the men had
no police records and no previous dealings with police, Mr. Costantino
said.

"Is this a policy, to send in a dog into an apartment, having no idea
who is in there?" the lawyer asked. Despite the police apology, his
clients want the issue probed publicly.

"This is a case where it really could be anybody," he said. "It's
still just stunning that ... they broke down the door."

Two of the men are from Iran, one of whom was making a refugee claim.
The third man had fled Somalia years earlier.

The November police raid was described in detail in three separate
affidavits. The men still suffer from "anxiety, nightmares and loss of
sleep," over the raid, Mr. Costantino said.

Mr. Hovaizavi said the raid "reawakened the experiences that I
suffered at the hands of security police in Iran."

In their affidavits, Mohammed Bosir and Seyedmorteza Ghadiriasli said
they were invited to Mr. Hovaizavi's house after work that November
night.

Not long after they arrived, they said they heard a loud bang and the
door was pushed open. Mr. Hovaizavi heard someone yell: "This is the
police." The voice ordered the occupants of Unit 206 to come out. The
men were in Unit 205. Another voice ordered them to lie down on the
floor.

They complied, but soon a dog came running into the apartment. "He was
gigantic with a head like a lion," Mr. Bosir's statement said.

The dog grabbed Mr. Hovaizavi by the shin and dragged him outside. The
animal returned for Mr. Bosir. "The dog bit me in the leg," he said.
"The pain was excruciating."

The third man, Mr. Ghadiriasli, said he was bitten once in the
arm.

At the hospital later that night, Mr. Ghadiriasli said an RCMP officer
approached and said the raid was a mistake. "He told me that there had
been a report of crime in the building but that there had been a
mistake. He said that as an RCMP officer, he was not responsible for
what had happened."

The RCMP said they will co-operate with the Commission for Public
Complaints.