St. Louis SWAT Team Raids Home And Kills Family’s Dog–Their Crime: An Unpaid Utility Bill

[KamaAina]

http://www.liberalamerica.org/2015/06/08/st-louis-swat-team-raids-home-and-kills-familys-dog-their-crime-an-unpaid-utility-bill/

Imagine you’re sitting quietly in your home, just you, your family, and your trusted dog. All of a sudden a SWAT team busts through the door, aims semiautomatic rifles at you, shoots your dog dead, and then threatens to kill one of your children. Sounds like something out of a nightmare, doesn’t it? Well, it happened just last year in St. Louis, Missouri.

According to a lawsuit filed by Angela Zorich, St. Louis County officers showed up at her home on April 25, 2014 to shame the family for failure to pay a utility bill. Before leaving, the officers placed a “Problem Properties” sticker on the front window of the house....

The very next day, officers from the St Louis County Police Tactical Response Unit raided the Zorich home. The horror of that raid is told in great detail in the lawsuit Ms. Zorich filed:

“Zorich was at home with several family members and her pit bull, Kiya, when a St. Louis County Police Tactical Response Unit burst through the door without knocking. The unit had at least five officers with M-4 rifles, supported by at least eight uniformed officers. The officers entered so quickly that Kiya didn’t even have time to bark. A tactical officer fired three shots into the dog, and the dog’s ‘bladder and bowels released and she fell to the floor.’ The dog ‘was laying on the floor in her own waste and blood struggling to breathe. She had a gaping hole in her chest.’ At one point in the raid, Zorich alleges, an officer pointed his firearm at her son’s head and said, ‘One word, motherfucker, and I’ll put three in you.'”

St. Louis County again?!

[Matariki]

1. So, are DU's resident police apologists getting scarcer with every story like this?

[Matariki]

2. More details

http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2015/06/swat_dog_zorich_police_report.php

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2015/06/04/lawsuit-st-louis-county-sent-swat-team-killed-a-dog-over-code-violations/

[Matariki]

3. this >>

"There was a time when SWAT teams were used in America only for dire emergencies, such as hostage-takings, bank robberies or active shooters. The drug war made SWAT teams and tactical units the routine way to serve search warrants for drug crimes, allegedly because of the threat posed to police by drug dealers. It’s been a steady case of mission creep every since."