PUEBLO FAMILY SUES DRUG RAIDERS IN FEDERAL COURT

DENVER - A Pueblo family filed suit on Wednesday against black-masked law
officers for allegedly terrorizing them at gun point in a no-knock drug raid
in which no charges were filed.

Daniel and Rosa Unis and their sons, David and Marcos, sued a Colorado
Bureau of Investigation agent, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent
and three officers known only as John Does.

The Unis family is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union
Foundation of Colorado. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court.

The lawsuit alleges the officers conspired to violate the Unises'
constitutional rights, searched their home without any legal authority and
illegally held the sons in jail for two days without filing charges.

The Aug. 19, 2000, raid was conducted by the Southern Colorado Drug Task
Force, which includes the Pueblo police and sheriff's departments, the CBI
and the DEA, according to the ACLU's executive director, Mark Silverstein of
Denver.

CBI agent Pat A. Crouch of Pueblo and DEA agent David Saunders of Colorado
Springs are being sued as individuals rather than in their official
capacities. They did not respond to requests for comment.

The lawsuit says the family has been unable to learn the identify of the
three John Does "despite writing numerous letters and requests for
information" to Pueblo police, the CBI and the DEA.

"Black-masked, black-helmeted men brandishing automatic weapons and wearing
all-black uniforms with no insignias suddenly burst into the house . . .
ordered the entire family to 'get on the (expletive) floor' (and) held them
at gunpoint," according to the lawsuit.

It describes Daniel Unis as a social worker employed by Pueblo County, Mrs.
Unis as a McClelland School teacher and the two sons as students at the
University of Southern Colorado.

"Defendants had no arrest warrant, no search warrant, nor any other legal
authority for any of their actions (and) found no drugs, illegal weapons or
any other contraband," according to the lawsuit.

One officer allegedly aimed a M-16 assault-type rifle at the family, while
two others put guns to the heads of the sons, the family alleges.

"All members of the Unis family complied with the defendants' unexplained
orders," according to the lawsuit.

The sons were never taken to appear before a judge and had no opportunity to
post bail, the family claimed. They received no explanation or apology,
according to the lawsuit.

The family members seek unspecified damages to compensate them for the
damages they allegedly incurred and to punish the law officers.

The agent in charge of the CBI's Pueblo office, Leroy Roybal, said Crouch
would not be able to comment on the allegations against him because of CBI
policy. Roybal said he has not seen the lawsuit.

"Once again, the war on drugs misses the target and instead scores a direct
hit on the Constitution," Silverstein said in a written statement.