[Rick James]

What the christ.

It was past 7 p.m., but late sun still streamed through the large kitchen window as Georgia stood at the stove stirring her simmering tomato-artichoke sauce. Georgia turned, catching a glimpse of something out the window that sent a jolt of fear through her. Hooded, armed men, dressed in black, were fanning across the back yard. Still more men, crouching low, moved around the side of the house. Georgia's mind raced to make sense of the strange tableau. Was someone playing an elaborate practical joke?

One of the men spotted Georgia gaping out the window. He lifted his high-powered assault rifle and pointed it directly at her, she recalled. Georgia -- still clutching her wooden spoon -- threw both hands up in the air and screamed. "Cheye, I think it's SWAT!"

Cheye was sitting on the edge of his bed in his boxers. He was just about to put on his black dress socks, when he heard Georgia scream something that made absolutely no sense. He looked out a bedroom window to see armed, masked men running. He was still wondering if they were home invaders when he heard his front door shatter.

In the kitchen, Georgia spun to face the sound of the splintering door. Men in black burst through the front door and into the living room.

Georgia stood trembling in front of the kitchen stove. Payton, who had been stretched out in a corner of the living room farthest from the front door, his head resting near the threshold to the kitchen "turned toward the front door when I turned," Georgia recalled. "He didn't have time to do anything else." Almost instantly, men in black ran forward and shot Payton in the face, Georgia said. "They kept shooting," she recalled. "I didn't know how many times they shot Payton because there was so much gunfire."

"Down on the ground!" Georgia recalled someone screaming at her. She was too terrified to move.

Chase, always timid even when there was nothing to fear, did what he did best -- he ran. He ran away from the men in black, zipped past Georgia at the stove, Georgia recalled. The screaming, running men followed Chase, shooting as he tried escaping into the dining room, Georgia said. She watched in horror as men in black rushed the dining room from all directions. "I could hear Chase whimpering," Georgia said. Then she heard someone shoot at Chase again, she said.

Men kept yelling at Georgia to get down, but she couldn't budge. "Somebody pushed me on the ground, and they put a gun to my head," she said. Face down on the kitchen floor, Georgia felt someone yank her hands behind her, rip the spoon away and secure her hands. When she lifted her eyes, she could just see Payton's big head resting near the kitchen threshold. He wasn't moving.

"Where are they?" one of the men screamed at Georgia. "Where are they?"

She had no idea what he was talking about. Georgia says she felt the barrel of an assault rifle against her left ear. "Where are they?" a man demanded.

"In the basement?" Georgia remembers saying. Some of the men thundered down the basement steps.

"It was a question, 'In the basement?' Because, if somebody puts a gun to your head and asks you a question, you better come up with an answer. Then I shut my eyes. Oh, God, I thought they were going to shoot me next."

Upstairs, Cheye fell to the bedroom floor at the sound of gunfire. He heard: bang, bang, bang, bang, undecipherable shouts, bang, bang.

"Downstairs!" Cheye heard men call to each other as they began to search the house. Then, more ominously, they yelled: "Upstairs! Upstairs!"

"I'm up here," Cheye recalled calling out. "Please don't shoot. Please don't shoot."

Somebody ordered Cheye to come down. He stood gingerly and peered down the stairwell. "I remember turning and seeing the barrels of two shotguns pointed at me," he said. "I don't know what kind. I'm not a gun person."

"Turn around and walk down the stairs backwards," someone demanded.

So, he did. Clad only in his boxer shorts, the mayor of Berwyn Heights walked slowly down his staircase backwards, his open hands held high. Ever so slowly, he felt for each tread before lowering his weight. "Somewhere around the bottom half of the stairs, someone came to get me," he recalled. "They led me down, pulled my hands down behind my back, bound me with those plastic cuffs very tightly, then pulled me across the living room."

Cheye turned his head and saw Georgia facedown on the kitchen floor. She must be alive, he reasoned, because there was a man holding a gun to her head.

Screw it, I'm starting to lose faith in law enforcement.

[BloodEagle]

Old news. Still disturbing. 

[Goober5000]

Another article like it, from 2004...
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2004-08-05/news/dog-day-afternoon

[iamzack]

How about the one where some plain-clothed police officers in an unmarked van beat a 12 year old girl for resisting when they decided she's a prostitute and try to drag her out of her yard?

And then arrest her three weeks later for assaulting a public servant.

They still say they didn't do anything wrong.

[redsniper]

Frickin' Galveston...

[Galemp]

I'm looking forward to some real reform in this department by Obama's administration. Sadly we have bigger problems to work with at the moment (The economy, Iraq.) If we ever reverse those horrible issues to where we were in, say, 1998, then we can work on resolving issues that were important issues in 1998. Like the War on Drugs.

[MP-Ryan]

Reading that just makes me ill - and glad I live in Canada, where it seems police departments try to take a more measure, rational approach.  What I can't believe is that there were no consequences for the detectives who botched that.

Controlled deliveries are dicey affairs, but they should be doing their homework before rushing in, guns blazing, with no thought that ANYONE can mail virtually ANYTHING to ANYWHERE.

[Dilmah G]

Reading that just makes me ill - and glad I live in Canada, where it seems police departments try to take a more measure, rational approach.  What I can't believe is that there were no consequences for the detectives who botched that.

Controlled deliveries are dicey affairs, but they should be doing their homework before rushing in, guns blazing, with no thought that ANYONE can mail virtually ANYTHING to ANYWHERE.

Reading that makes me angry as well. I want to slap the person who authorized that across the face with an M4A1 and see how he likes that. I had the utmost respect for Law Enforcement until I read that article.

[TrashMan]

t's terrible. Such people give the police a bad name.

But don't  forget these are isolated incidents. The media love bad news.

The more you restrict the police, the less effective it becomes. I know what I'm talking about.

I live in a country where the police used to have a whole LOT of freedom. The criminals were scared ****less of the police, people respected them.

Now they have no power whatsoever. They can't as much look at anyone the wrong way. They became impotent - a laughing stock. There are more jokes about policemen going around than there are blonde jokes. And in those jokes the blondes end up smarter than your average cop.

[Dilmah G]

t's terrible. Such people give the police a bad name.

But don't  forget these are isolated incidents. The media love bad news.

The more you restrict the police, the less effective it becomes. I know what I'm talking about.

I live in a country where the police used to have a whole LOT of freedom. The criminals were scared ****less of the police, people respected them.

Now they have no power whatsoever. They can't as much look at anyone the wrong way. They became impotent - a laughing stock. There are more jokes about policemen going around than there are blonde jokes. And in those jokes the blondes end up smarter than your average cop.

Too true.

I also agree with the rest of your point there, catching criminals isn't so effective when anything remotely helpful is barred by a wall of paperwork. I do still have respect for law enforcement, but those instances where the Police miss something obvious, like the house of the Mayor, just drives me insane. I suppose the time a guy got shot dead in the Londonunderground after the 7/7 bombings (Was that the proper date?), I mean, you never know when someone's going to pull a gun, and in those circumstances I don't know if I would've acted differently. And today's cops are pretty well trained, but high-level cock-ups do nothing to help the reputation of the police, especially shooting dead a dog AND giving false testimony about the dog. I know we don't know for sure about who was telling the truth, but still. 

[iamzack]

But don't  forget these are isolated incidents. The media love bad news.

Isolated compared to what?

Over a nine-year period, 298 Milwaukee police officers shot 434 dogs.

Here's some in Ohio shooting a mother and her infant.

You can say "isolated," but there is no end to these links.

Police misconduct is not rare.

[Nuke]

they just need to leegalize drugs

[Goober5000]

they just need to leegalize drugs

For once I agree with Nuke.

It's just Prohibition all over again.

[Rick James]

they just need to leegalize drugs

For once I agree with Nuke.

It's just Prohibition all over again.

Is it? If drugs are legalized, it would only mean people acquiring their stuff from a legitimate outlet, which would likely mean individuals needing to meet certain standards before getting their high. Illegal sellers would try to undercut the market and, when demanded to stop, would simply say "No" and continue to operate as normal. Nothing will have changed.

And this is not Prohibition all over again. Prohibition was stupid, yes, and the stupidity of that ban was eventually realized. It was stupid because we know the effects of alcohol--and, no matter what drink one orders, it's still alcohol, and we have a better understanding of it now than we did decades ago--and for the police and rehab groups, knowing what abuse of alcohol does to a person makes their respective jobs a lot easier.

But if drugs are granted blanket legalization, we will be giving tacit permission for the unwary, the underexperienced, the curious and the drug lords to create and consume new and different breeds of chemicals that could could come with long-term effects far worse than those of alcoholism or even heroin addiction. We could very well end up with addiction disorders the likes of which the world has never seen--or should ever see.

There are, of course, the possible scientific benefits from such free experimentation, but the potential for harm to be wrought before a positive discovery is made is, in my mind, simply too great. Science that harms is not science.

[karajorma]

Legalise wireheading!

[Turambar]

Who was saying legalize all drugs?

Just make it so i can smoke the reefah and chillax and play soul calibur without anyone breaking down the door and shooting my dog  (dog is for effect, i really have a kitty, and i would be really sad if they shot her).

[iamzack]

Better train kitty not to charge at the po-po, Fluffy.

Legalize all drugs. Explain the risks, but don't arrest people for making bad decisions. There are bigger things to worry about!

[The E]

But if drugs are granted blanket legalization, we will be giving tacit permission for the unwary, the underexperienced, the curious and the drug lords to create and consume new and different breeds of chemicals that could could come with long-term effects far worse than those of alcoholism or even heroin addiction. We could very well end up with addiction disorders the likes of which the world has never seen--or should ever see.

Hmmm. As someone who has been around alcohol addicts most of his life, i wonder how the "heavier" drugs could POSSIBLY be worse if legalized.

[IceFire]

Reading that just makes me ill - and glad I live in Canada, where it seems police departments try to take a more measure, rational approach.  What I can't believe is that there were no consequences for the detectives who botched that.

Controlled deliveries are dicey affairs, but they should be doing their homework before rushing in, guns blazing, with no thought that ANYONE can mail virtually ANYTHING to ANYWHERE.

I do have to agree that our law enforcement is usually pretty good.  Sometimes it does mean they do have to sit back and not do something when I sometimes think they should.  The last round of native protests got a bit out of hand but the RCMP was incredibly restrained...I wonder how that would have gone down in the US.

But thats not to say that we don't have some of these sorts of things going on as well.

Sounds like this one particular incident went totally out of control.  None of those people were armed from the story (minus a spoon!)...and yet shots were fired? That seems totally out of line!  Where are the rules of engagement there?

[iamzack]

Even if 10% of our cops are involved in misconduct, that's still a lot of dead puppies.