More evidence casting doubt on the wisdom of late-night paramilitary raids to execute routine search warrants. This happened just a year ago in Washington, D.C.:

On the stand, Labowitz calmly and methodically provided a detailed account of how he and his family were terrorized by three men in black fatigues, two wearing masks, beginning at 11:20 p.m. Dec. 7.

The civil lawyer said he was in bed watching the news when his son came in and told him that federal agents were in the house. Labowitz said he walked into his living room to find the three men, all wearing holstered pistols and one wielding a rifle, “and the tall one said I was under arrest for attempted $7,500 bribery of a federal agent.”

Labowitz said one man handcuffed him, and another said, “You really made a mistake this time, Mr. Labowitz.”

[...]

The lawyer ran a short distance before falling, breaking two ribs and a collarbone. He said the men picked him up, then thumped him with a flashlight and shocked him repeatedly with the stun gun.

He said the trio tried to lead him up a hill toward a fresh pile of dirt. “David said he wanted to show me what he had prepared for me. It was my grave,” Labowitz said of Kluttz.

Labowitz resisted. Kluttz then told Baruday to kill Labowitz. Baruday pulled a knife, but Labowitz said he kicked Baruday in the knee. At that point, he said, Berryman ran away.

Kluttz then pulled his handgun, Labowitz said, and placed it across the lawyer’s nose. The gunman told Labowitz he knew where Labowitz lived and could kill him at any time.

You have no criminal record. Armed men in black come to your door late at night claiming to be police. You’ve done nothing wrong. What do you do? Let them in? Call 911? Defend your home?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 20th, 2005 at 9:07 am by Radley Balko and is filed under Police Militarization. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.