POLICE ENDANGERED KIDS, MAN SAYS

Officers Shot Pit Bull During DrugRaid

A Hamilton man charged in a drug raid says police broke down his door
and shot his pit bull while two children were only several feet away.

Carlsin Cromwell, 26, said he will file a formal complaint with
Hamilton police today claiming members of their elite drugs and vice
unit endangered his children's lives. Cromwell said police fired up to
seven times at Zeus, his 12-year-old pit bull.

Police yesterday said they could not comment on the shooting because
an investigation is under way.

Cromwell said he received the shock of his life Tuesday evening when
police smashed open the door of his 18th-floor apartment while he was
putting his six-year-old daughter to bed.

"I ran up the hall and saw a blue flash, and I heard the dog yelp," he
said. He saw men in black clothes and balaclavas standing in the
doorway firing into the apartment.

Yesterday, in his small two-bedroom apartment in Parliament Tower on
John Street North, he pointed out four bullet holes in the small
unit's floor, less than three metres from where he said his
14-year-old niece was watching TV.

"I screamed at my six-year-old to stay in her room."

He said he grabbed the bleeding dog after Zeus had already been shot
twice when police fired again from the doorway.

"I saw his chest open up, right on his little white patch on his
chest, and blood splattered all over me."

He said his screaming daughter came out of her bedroom toward the
apartment door and saw what happened.

"She asked me today, 'Daddy, what were those blue flashes, what were
those blue flashing lights?'"

The events have left both children traumatized, he
said.

His niece, also spattered with the dog's blood, "was thrown down on
the ground, with a knee on her back," he said. "They put her in handcuffs."

Cromwell said he can't understand how police could fire into the
apartment. "Why come in shooting if you know there are children in the
home?" he said.

"Both children are listed on my lease."

At the time, police said the dog lunged at officers several times, and
that they had tried to contain the dog before shooting it. They also
said counselling would be available to officers involved in the shooting.

Cromwell has been charged with drug possession after police found six
grams of marijuana, three narcotic pills and 10 grams of cocaine. He
was also charged with proceeds of crime.

Hamilton police say a staff sergeant has been assigned to investigate
the shooting, a standard procedure when police are forced to kill a
dog during an operation.

"Early next week we should have results," said Inspector Rick Wills,
head of investigative services. "It will be reviewed by command staff."

Wills said he was not sure how many officers were involved in the drug
search.

"If (Cromwell) feels undue force was used, he can bring that forward
to the police service," the inspector said.