Police raid Md. mayor's home and kill his dogs By BRETT ZONGKER, AP:
Mayor Cheye Calvo got home from work, saw a package addressed to his wife on the front porch and brought it inside, putting it on the table. Suddenly, police with guns drawn kicked in the door and stormed in, shooting to death the couple's two dogs and seizing the package.
In it was 32 pounds of marijuana, but it didn't belong to the couple. Police say the couple are apparently innocent victims of a scheme by two men to smuggle millions of dollars worth of marijuana by having it delivered to a half-dozen unsuspecting recipients.
One of the men under arrest is the FedEx deliveryman. The plan was for him to drop the package on the porch, and the other man would come by a short time later and pick it up.
A furious Calvo and his wife are demanding that the U.S. Justice Department investigate the raid. Says Calvo: "We were harmed by the very people who took an oath to protect us!" Calvo insists the two black Labradors were gentle creatures who were gunned down for "sport" as one of them tried to escape. "Our dogs were our children. They were the reason we bought this house because it had a big yard for them to run around in."
The mayor, who was changing his clothes when police burst in, was handcuffed in his boxer short for two hours along with his mother in-law, and police would not believe him when he said he was the mayor. No charges were brought against Calvo or his wife, who came home in the middle of the raid.
Prince George's County police chief Melvin High and other officials refuse to apologize for murdering the dogs, and insist the officers "felt threatened". In addition, he doesn't rule out the involvement of the mayor and his wife.
Calvo's defenders include the Berwyn Heights police chief, who says his department should have been alerted ahead of time, and says police had no right to enter without knocking. The officials' excuse? Their operation was compromised when Calvo's mother in-law saw them coming and screamed. According to them, someone could've had time to grab a gun or destroy evidence!
Neighbors have rallied around the couple. Supporters have gathered on a ballfield to pay tribute to the couple and their dogs. One neighbor was stunned because the dogs never hurt anybody. Calvo is astonished that police not only failed to apologize, but declined to clear the couple's names.
His wife, Tomsic, spoke through tears as she described an encounter with a girl who used to see the couple walk their dogs.
"She gave me a big hug and said, 'If the police shot your dogs dead and did this to you, how can I trust them?'" Tomsic said, "I don't want people to feel like that. I just want them to be proud of our police and proud to live in Prince George's County."
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