Last edited Fri Dec 27, 2013, 10:55 PM - Edit history (1)
Early last night my daughter and her roommates were startled when someone started kicking on their door. When it didn't open they decided to turn the knob on the unlocked door and the people declared "police" and ordered everybody to raise their hands then ordered the male that was there to exit the unit backwards and they immediately cuffed him -- so tight the marks were still visible on his wrists 3 hours later. It seems there was a robbery several blocks away and this was some kind of police dragnet. After several minutes the person robbed said "absolutely not" concerning the cuffed male but that did not stop the police. They wanted to know if any children lived there but the 16 month old (not my granddaughter) was at her grandma's so they now were concerned with hazardous materials (Drano, bleach, stuff like that). Since they were unsecured under the sink the police then threatened to bring in child protective services to remove the child. They also went through every room in the unit looking for drugs and weapons (none were there) and ranted about the place not being tidy enough for their tastes, clearly threatening further action. No search warrant, guns were drawn though not pointed at anybody. The police indicated that they would be back to file a report. Oh, my daughter's roommates are black and that is likely why their unit was targeted and of course the police officers were all white. My daughter is bi-polar and suffers from anxiety problems and was so distraught that she had breathing problems for awhile. No attention was paid to that, not when the Drano wasn't locked up, but a roommate was allowed to try and console her and she is fine now.
As for the original robbery, the suspect they had a lead on was thought to be holed up in a 3rd floor unit on 172nd Street and my daughter lives in a 1st floor unit on 127th Street. I guess this is close enough for police work. And instead of an apology there are threats of unrelated charges and placing a child in protective services. All stemming from a botched police raid where the response is to double down. Update: The police did not return and since they only took the name of the person they cuffed and did not inquire as to the owner of the unit so there may not even be a police report on this raid that broke about every rule in the book.
So when I see Tom Tomorrow's cartoon I am not laughing because it is far too real to be a laughing matter. All the more so when one of the parties is black.
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