RAID A HOUSE, KICK A DOG, PLUG A SUSPECT

A family in Pueblo, Colo., is suing the DEA and the Colorado Bureau of
Investigations after a no-knock raid resulted in their two sons being
arrested and jailed despite the fact no drugs were found on the premises.

According to the suit, "black-masked, black-helmeted men brandishing
automatic weapons and wearing all-black uniforms with no insignias suddenly
burst into the house unannounced, kicked the family's dog across the floor,
ordered the entire family to 'get on the [expletive] floor,' held them at
gunpoint, searched the house, found no drugs or contraband, but
nevertheless carted off the family's two sons, Dave and Marcos, and
imprisoned them illegally and without charges."

The ACLU of Colorado filed the suit for the family, according to the Feb.
21 Rocky Mountain News. Court documents date the raid Aug. 19, 2000.

"The next thing we knew," said Dan Unis, the father of the family and a
Pueblo County social worker, "there were five or six police with masks and
automatic weapons and stuff yelling at us. It wasn't the nicest language in
the world. I see my dog go flying across the room because one of them
kicked it."

Unis said he asked them for a warrant, but "they couldn't produce one."

So far, neither the DEA nor the CBI have had anything to say about the
case. But Mark Silverstein, ACLU legal director, said this: "Once again the
war on drugs misses the target and instead scores a direct hit on the
Constitution. These government agents had no search warrant, no arrest
warrant and no lawful authority whatsoever. They carried out this armed
home invasion in flagrant disregard of the Fourth Amendment, which forbids
unreasonable searches and arrests without probable cause."

"I think it was a bunch of cowboys out having a good time," said Unis. "It
was totally unnecessary." And unconstitutional. Police cannot arrest and
jail people for days at a time without filing charges; it's called illegal
detention.

While being unconstitutional and unnecessary, many such raids are also
foolhardy and deadly.

Officers of the six-county Capital Area Narcotics Task Force, one of 49
federally funded, multijurisdictional narcotics teams operating in Texas,
"were accused of mistaking ragweed for marijuana in May when they raided a
Spicewood home and held residents at gunpoint as they ransacked the
property and [somebody call PETA] kicked the homeowner's dog," according to
a Feb. 4, Austin American-Statesman article. That version of the story,
taken from court documents, is denied by the taskforce overseer, but of
late CANTF hasn't had much luck in being safe.

Tony Martinez, 19 and unarmed, was killed by taskforce officers during a
raid on a mobile home in Del Valle, Texas, Dec. 2001. He wasn't even the
target of the raid.

Deputy Keith Ruiz was shot dead during a drug raid while breaking down the
door of a different Del Valle mobile home Feb. 15, 2001. Thinking there
were burglars outside, Edwin Delamore, 21, fired from inside and killed
Ruiz. He's now charged with capital murder.

When Jacqueline Paasch was stirred out of bed at 6:30 a.m., April 7, 2000,
by a commotion downstairs in her West Milwaukee home, she probably didn't
expect to be gunned down. But, as the Feb. 7 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
tells the story, based on an anonymous tip about "possible drug activity at
a home in the 1700 block of S. 54th St., and then finding marijuana seeds
in a garbage receptacle near the home," a tactical unit of the Milwaukee
County Sheriff's Department burst into Paasch's home and shot her.

Paasch, who was hit in the left leg, now has limited use of her toes and
needs a brace for walking long distances. The city denies any wrongdoing
but did recently agree to pay $700,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by Paasch.

The settlement, said Paasch's attorney, Mark Thomsen, "reflects the reality
that the county could not reasonably justify the shooting."

The same could be said about the settlement for the Sepulveda family of
Modesto, Calif., though it was dramatically smaller. Eleven-year-old
Alberto Sepulveda was shot dead during a Sept. 13, 2000, SWAT raid that
targeted the boy's father. An officer on the scene accidentally squeezed
off a shot, killing the boy instantly. Last month, the family settled a
federal lawsuit over the death.

The only question that remains: Can $450,000 replace Alberto?

If we didn't have so many unconstitutional and reckless drug raids, such a
question would never have to be answered.