Submachine Guns Drawn, Seattle Police Break Down Door of Medical Marijuana Patient

[Newsjock]

Full original headline: Submachine Guns Drawn, Seattle Police Break Down Door of Medical Marijuana Patient, Push Him to the Floor, and Raid His Home—for Two Tiny Pot Plants
Source: The Stranger

... But last night provided evidence that Seattle police are willing to invest tremendous resources in the smallest of pot cases—even cases where the pot is legal—and the mayor’s office will remain silent.

Just before 9:00 p.m., officers at SPD’s East Precinct held a briefing about the complaint of marijuana at a four-unit apartment building in the Leschi neighborhood. One week earlier, officers applied for a search warrant from King County Superior Court, sent an officer with a K9 to sniff at the door, confirmed the scent of marijuana, and were in the process last night of planning a raid. “Once the briefing was completed, officers donned their raid equipment clearly marked ‘Police’ on all sides,” according to a draft incident report filed by police.

... “I was tying my robe,” says resident Will Laudanski, 50, who had just stepped out of the bathroom. “I said, ‘I am opening the door,’ but before I could get my hand to door, they busted it open and then rushed me. I was trying to comply. Then they pushed me down to the ground and just basically got me position in a corner of the kitchen with my face on the floor.”

... Police didn’t take the pot plants.

“Clearly, in this case, there was no law violation that was discovered,” says Seattle Police spokesman Sean Whitcomb.

Read more: http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2010/10/26/submachine-guns-drawn-seattle-police-break-down-door-of-medical-marijuana-patient-push-him-to-the-floor-and-raid-his-homefor-two-tin

[marmar]

1. Good F**king Grief......Insane Drug War Thuggery

Don't turn around, uh-oh
Der Kommissar's in town, uh-oh
You're in his eye
And you'll know why
The more you live
The faster you will die

[leftstreet]

2. Shh. We're busy being outraged at a Rand supporter for doing this

I wish I saw this same level of outrage here over police brutality

[tblue37]

8. We can be outraged at both kinds of brutality. Why shouldn't we be

appalled at what the Rand supporter did?

A lot of outrage against police brutality is posted on DU. That doesn't mean that we cannot also be outraged when fascist Teabaggers brutalize innocent people.

I am amazed at how many DU posters are actually complaining about our publicizing and expressing outrage over the actions of the Rand Paul supporter!

[TriMera]

3. He's lucky they didn't shoot him.

The police are a little trigger happy here. There will be an "internal investigation" and everyone will be cleared.

[FiveGoodMen]

4. Let me just take this opportunity, once again, to wish screaming death upon anyone who defends this

[tblue37]

5. Notice:

"Clearly, in this case, there was no law violation that was discovered," says Seattle Police spokesman Sean Whitcomb.

And yet a law-abiding citizen was brutalized in his own home.

[walldude]

6. Right? Sorry we broke down your door and almost shot you

our bad :crazy:

[glitch]

7. How incredibly brave and cost-effective of them. They are SO worth the money taxpayers spend on them

:sarcasm:

[truedelphi]

9. this happens all across the nation. The number of MS and cancer patients who are

Hauled off to prison for the crime of imbibing Marijuana as part of a needed therapy is beyond belief. Then the tax payer gets to subsidize them at a cost of between 18 K to 31 K a year... this is insanity.

[Odin2005]

10. Fascist PIGS!

[HCE SuiGeneris]

13. It's getting really ugly out there.

The Fascism stench is intolerable.

[Dawson Leery]

11. Might as well be a hooker if you are a cop.

Cops are defending the status quo. They are protecting the market for chemical pharmaceuticals. That is all they are doing. I have no respect for them for this reason.
This is why prescription drug abuse gets no attention.

[Tsiyu]

12. Insane

Why don't these people join the military?

Why do they insist on "playing Special Forces" over a GD plant, for FSM sake?

It's wasteful, pathetic posturing by grownups against the "least of these."



Sick

[FiveGoodMen]

16. "Why don't these people join the military?"

Because then their intended victims might be able to defend themselves.

What fun is that?

[Matariki]

14. Very weird. Seattle has a 'lowest priority' policy on pot.

[Shallah Kali]

15. I, for one, will sleep sounder tonight knowing police scaring the hell out of medical mj patients

puttering around their homes like this instead of using that same manpower and funding to arrest violent criminals

:sarcasm:

when are enough people going to wise up to legalizing mj if only to stop cops from wasting all the time & $ on crap like this and prison space & $ on the nonmedical users?