FBI Probe into Police Killing of Mayor’s Two Dogs
Description
Pet Pulse Staff Reports
August 9, 2008
BERWYN HEIGHTS, Md. -- The FBI is investigating why Prince George’s County police raided a suburban mayor’s home last week, handcuffing him and his mother and shooting his two Labrador retrievers, mistakenly suspecting his involvement in a scheme to ship marijuana to his home.
"Our dogs were our children," said Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo, 37.
Calvo and his wife, Trinity Tomsic, addressed the media gathered outside his two-story, red-brick house in this middle-class Washington suburb of about 3,000 people.
“They were the reason we bought this house, because it had a big yard for them to run in,” Calvo said.
Two suspects are under arrest in the case, including a Federal Express deliveryman, police say. No charges were brought against Calvo or Tomsic, who came home in the middle of the raid.
Special Agent Richard Wolf, an FBI spokesperson in Baltimore, told the AP the agency has opened a civil rights investigation at the request of Calvo. The investigation will monitor the internal probe by the Prince George's County Police Department into police conduct during their raid.
An internal police review of the incident is common in cases where force is used "to make sure everything was done correctly,” Cpl. Stephen Pacheco, a county police spokesman, told the AP. "It's all under review.”
Pet Pulse was unable to reach Calvo or someone from the Prince George’s Police Department.
Upon arriving home from work, Calvo saw a package addressed to his wife on the front porch and brought it inside, putting it on a table. Police with guns drawn suddenly kicked in the door and stormed in, shooting to death the couple's two dogs and seizing the unopened package.
The package contained 32 pounds of marijuana that did not belong to the couple, it was later discovered by police. The couple seem to be innocent victims of a scheme by two men to smuggle millions of dollars worth of marijuana, by having it delivered to about a half-dozen unsuspecting recipients, police say.
Police arrested two men Wednesday suspected in a plot to smuggle 417 pounds of marijuana, and seized a total of $3.6 million in pot. The package that arrived on Calvo's porch came from Los Angeles via FedEx, and they had been tracking it ever since it drew the attention of a drug-sniffing dog in Arizona, police say.
Police intercepted the package in Maryland, and an undercover detective posing as a deliveryman took it to the Calvo home. The deliveryman would drop off a package outside a home, and the other man would come by a short time later and pick it up, police say.
A furious Calvo told the media on Thursday that he and Tomsic had asked the government to investigate.
"Trinity was an innocent victim and random victim," Calvo said. "We were harmed by the very people who took an oath to protect us."
The couple's two black Labs were gentle creatures, Calvo insisted. Police apparently killed them "for sport," he said, gunning down one of them as it was running away.
The mayor, who says he was changing his clothes when police burst in, also complained that he was handcuffed in his boxer shorts for about two hours along with his mother-in-law. The officers didn't even believe him when he told them he was the mayor, Calvo says.
Prince George's County Police Chief Melvin High told the AP Wednesday that Calvo and his family were "most likely … innocent victims," but he would not rule out their involvement, and he defended the way the raid was conducted. He and other officials did not apologize for killing the dogs, saying the officers felt threatened.
The FBI will determine how effective, fair and professional the law enforcement agency's conduct was during the incident, Wolf says. A police spokesman declined comment Thursday on the FBI investigation.
Calvo's defenders include the Berwyn Heights police chief, who said his department should have been alerted ahead of time. Police had no right to enter the home without knocking, he says.
Prince Georges police officials insisted, however, that they acted within the law. They say the operation was compromised when Calvo's mother-in-law saw officers approaching the house and screamed. That could have given someone time to grab a gun or destroy evidence, authorities say.
Calvo supporters gathered on a ball field Sunday night to pay tribute to the family and the dogs. A banner on the wooden fence around Calvo's yard read, “Cheye and Trinity, We support you, Friends and Citizens of Berwyn Heights."
Around the banner were dozens of handwritten messages from supporters. In addition to being the part-time mayor, Calvo works at a nonprofit foundation that runs boarding schools. His wife is a state finance officer.
"When all of this happened I was flabbergasted,” next-door neighbor Edward Alexander said. "I was completely stunned because those dogs didn't hurt anybody. They barely bark."
The case is the latest embarrassment for Prince George's County officials. A former police officer was sentenced in May to 45 years in prison for shooting two furniture deliverymen at his home last year, one of them fatally. He claimed that they attacked him. In June, a suspect jailed in the death of a police officer was found strangled in his cell.
Calvo says he was astonished that police have not only failed to apologize, but declined to clear the couple's names. His wife spoke through tears as she described an encounter with a girl who used to see the couple walking their dogs.
"She gave me a big hug and she 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."
The Associated Press and Baltimore Sun contributed to this story.
August 9, 2008
BERWYN HEIGHTS, Md. -- The FBI is investigating why Prince George’s County police raided a suburban mayor’s home last week, handcuffing him and his mother and shooting his two Labrador retrievers, mistakenly suspecting his involvement in a scheme to ship marijuana to his home.
"Our dogs were our children," said Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo, 37.
Calvo and his wife, Trinity Tomsic, addressed the media gathered outside his two-story, red-brick house in this middle-class Washington suburb of about 3,000 people.
“They were the reason we bought this house, because it had a big yard for them to run in,” Calvo said.
Two suspects are under arrest in the case, including a Federal Express deliveryman, police say. No charges were brought against Calvo or Tomsic, who came home in the middle of the raid.
Special Agent Richard Wolf, an FBI spokesperson in Baltimore, told the AP the agency has opened a civil rights investigation at the request of Calvo. The investigation will monitor the internal probe by the Prince George's County Police Department into police conduct during their raid.
An internal police review of the incident is common in cases where force is used "to make sure everything was done correctly,” Cpl. Stephen Pacheco, a county police spokesman, told the AP. "It's all under review.”
Pet Pulse was unable to reach Calvo or someone from the Prince George’s Police Department.
Upon arriving home from work, Calvo saw a package addressed to his wife on the front porch and brought it inside, putting it on a table. Police with guns drawn suddenly kicked in the door and stormed in, shooting to death the couple's two dogs and seizing the unopened package.
The package contained 32 pounds of marijuana that did not belong to the couple, it was later discovered by police. The couple seem to be innocent victims of a scheme by two men to smuggle millions of dollars worth of marijuana, by having it delivered to about a half-dozen unsuspecting recipients, police say.
Police arrested two men Wednesday suspected in a plot to smuggle 417 pounds of marijuana, and seized a total of $3.6 million in pot. The package that arrived on Calvo's porch came from Los Angeles via FedEx, and they had been tracking it ever since it drew the attention of a drug-sniffing dog in Arizona, police say.
Police intercepted the package in Maryland, and an undercover detective posing as a deliveryman took it to the Calvo home. The deliveryman would drop off a package outside a home, and the other man would come by a short time later and pick it up, police say.
A furious Calvo told the media on Thursday that he and Tomsic had asked the government to investigate.
"Trinity was an innocent victim and random victim," Calvo said. "We were harmed by the very people who took an oath to protect us."
The couple's two black Labs were gentle creatures, Calvo insisted. Police apparently killed them "for sport," he said, gunning down one of them as it was running away.
The mayor, who says he was changing his clothes when police burst in, also complained that he was handcuffed in his boxer shorts for about two hours along with his mother-in-law. The officers didn't even believe him when he told them he was the mayor, Calvo says.
Prince George's County Police Chief Melvin High told the AP Wednesday that Calvo and his family were "most likely … innocent victims," but he would not rule out their involvement, and he defended the way the raid was conducted. He and other officials did not apologize for killing the dogs, saying the officers felt threatened.
The FBI will determine how effective, fair and professional the law enforcement agency's conduct was during the incident, Wolf says. A police spokesman declined comment Thursday on the FBI investigation.
Calvo's defenders include the Berwyn Heights police chief, who said his department should have been alerted ahead of time. Police had no right to enter the home without knocking, he says.
Prince Georges police officials insisted, however, that they acted within the law. They say the operation was compromised when Calvo's mother-in-law saw officers approaching the house and screamed. That could have given someone time to grab a gun or destroy evidence, authorities say.
Calvo supporters gathered on a ball field Sunday night to pay tribute to the family and the dogs. A banner on the wooden fence around Calvo's yard read, “Cheye and Trinity, We support you, Friends and Citizens of Berwyn Heights."
Around the banner were dozens of handwritten messages from supporters. In addition to being the part-time mayor, Calvo works at a nonprofit foundation that runs boarding schools. His wife is a state finance officer.
"When all of this happened I was flabbergasted,” next-door neighbor Edward Alexander said. "I was completely stunned because those dogs didn't hurt anybody. They barely bark."
The case is the latest embarrassment for Prince George's County officials. A former police officer was sentenced in May to 45 years in prison for shooting two furniture deliverymen at his home last year, one of them fatally. He claimed that they attacked him. In June, a suspect jailed in the death of a police officer was found strangled in his cell.
Calvo says he was astonished that police have not only failed to apologize, but declined to clear the couple's names. His wife spoke through tears as she described an encounter with a girl who used to see the couple walking their dogs.
"She gave me a big hug and she 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."
The Associated Press and Baltimore Sun contributed to this story.
