TheAgitator.com
Customs Officer Sues After Wrong-Door Immigration Raid on His Home
Tuesday, April 14th, 2009James and Sheila Slaughter said that when they answered the door of their home in San Luis, Ariz., on a July afternoon last year, they were surprised to find five armed Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers strapped into bulky bulletproof vests accusing them of harboring an illegal immigrant.
“Is this ‘Candid Camera’?” Mrs. Slaughter recalled asking.
That irritated the lead officer, her husband said Tuesday. “He said: ‘No, it isn’t “Candid Camera.” You need to step back into the middle of the room.’ ”
The couple said they complied, and the officers prepared to search their home. Mr. Slaughter, a six-foot, 285-pound former Marine, said he then told them, “Look fellas, do you guys realize that I’m a U.S. Customs K-9 officer at the San Luis land port?”
“The lead officer’s eyes got about as big and round as silver dollars, and the three guys who were standing just inside the door went straight outside,” said Mr. Slaughter, 51, who with a Labrador retriever, Whitey, searches cars at the Mexican border for narcotics. “They left without saying a word. They knew they messed up.”…
Mr. Slaughter, whose family lives on East 26th Street, said he learned later that the illegal immigrant sought by the officers lived on East 26th Place. He recognized the immigrant’s name from junk mail that accidentally came to the Slaughter home.
The officers, Mr. Slaughter said, should have checked the name on property records, “or they could have watched me walk out of my house every day wearing my uniform.”
“They bullied their way into my house — the same organization that I work for, doing 16-hour shifts,” Mr. Slaughter said. “I bleed red, white and blue. I serve my country, and then they do this to me?”
The Slaughters are suing each of the five officers for $500,000.
“They bullied their way into my house — the same organization that I work for, doing 16-hour shifts,” Mr. Slaughter said. “I bleed red, white and blue. I serve my country, and then they do this to me?”
You work for the government so it’s wrong for them to do that to you. So it’s ok if they do it to the rest of us?
Actually they are suing for $2.5 million.
I hope he wins: and then we can apply the same principle to the other wrong door raids
His border patrolling dog is named Whitey. SRSLY?
I mean, c’mon.
I agree with you JS. I have the same reaction when talk turns to the Maryland mayor and his dead dogs. Why doesn’t anyone care when it isn’t a government employee/official?
But then that’s the reality. Until this starts happening, as it has, to “normal” Americans, the public will continue to believe that if this does happen to you you must have done SOMETHING wrong. After all you do live in THAT neighborhood and someone in your house did have a joint or a bong under his bed, so you might not have done THIS crime, but I’ll bet you’ve done something.
I recognize the hypocrisy and double standard, but I’ll take any loose brick in the wall that presents itself.
He’s lucky they didn’t shoot the dog right off the bat.
The article didn’t mention the dog’s color. Most ‘yellow’ Labs look white to me.
Hmm…wonder how that would have gone down if he had his K-9 “officer” at home. Could have been messy . . .
I think the guy has every right to sue, regardless of who he works for. But, I can’t help but think he is trying to collect two paychecks from the same government agency…
I think it is kind of funny. These are the same people that would cover up for each other. When one thinks he can cash it, its turn-coat city….
Hold on a second. This guy who conducts warrantless, suspicionless searches for a living is upset about an illegal search of his own house? Excuse me for not feeling too bad about this one.
Yep, holy irony Batman…I agree that it would be nice if these things happening to this kind of person would lead to real change, but note his objections weren’t “this is wrong” but simply “they were idiots,” and I tend to think that’s a common mode of thought (as it always is with pragmatism, really).
Sooo, yeah, I’m gonna go with those who are pretty unsympathetic to the guy – talk about failing to see the big picture here. #10 nails it, thusly – “This guy who conducts warrantless, suspicionless searches for a living is upset about an illegal search of his own house?”
I’m pretty much with everyone else. I have no sympathy for Sgt. Slaughter. But I do wonder what kind of retaliation he will experience from his felow customs agents and law enforcement.
Adolphus, this happens to “normal” Americans every day. It only gets a lot of attention when it happens to “do-you-know-who-I-am?” Americans.
“They bullied their way into my house — the same organization that I work for, doing 16-hour shifts,” Mr. Slaughter said. “I bleed red, white and blue. I serve my country, and then they do this to me?”
Kind makes big ol’ alligator tears well up in my eyes to think that a patriotic self-sacrificing government law enforcement professional who bleeds red, white, and blue would be carelessly subjected to the same clumsy government ineptitude and arrogance as a mere ordinary citizen. What is the world coming to, anyway.
He’s lucky they didn’t shoot the dog right off the bat.
I’d say THEY’RE lucky they didn’t shoot the dog. Shooting a police dog is a first degree murder charge IIRC. The same as shooting a cop.
Don’t complain about it just yet. If he is successful in his suit, then that opens up precedent for all the other people who are victims of wrong-door raids. Maybe if he wins this the cops will be more careful when they come out to someone’s house knowing that it might cost the department plenty of cash (and thus look bad on the officers, maybe even get them fired).
Also, at least they knocked. It could’ve been ugly if they had just busted in and he had fired upon the officers. An innocent dog could’ve died in that scenario.
Screw this bag of dicks. If they had mistakenly raided his innocent next door neighbor’s house this guy would never have cared.
He doesn’t care about the ridiculous policy. Just that they busted in on a fellow cop. And the paycheck.
You guys are all so negative! :(
At least people here are being held accountable!! Maybe next time they will double check their sources. We should all be happy at least SOMETHING is happening.
Its like getting picked on by the bully in the schoolyard. No one may believe you for a while, but if you punch the kid really hard one day, he’ll be hesitant to come back…
I love irony!
The problem is, this just isn’t a terrible case. They were stupid, sure. But when they realized their mistake, they left. No killed pets, upturned houses, ruined lives, none of that. I mean, maybe Radley’s just making me get too used to reading this stuff, but this guy got off easy.
I think the cops should pay (not the government – the idiots who showed up at his door). But not $500K. They should lose their jobs. I just have trouble getting too upset about it.
I agree with others, too, that his attitude of “I work for the government, why you doin’ this to me?” reeks of the same crap we read about all the time. That is *not* my basis for the rest of this post, just pointing it out.
Judas: I agree and meant that to be semi-sarcastic, hence the scare quotes. When I said “normal” I meant what people who can affect real change view as “normal.”
Never underestimate the power of people to demonize victims of oppression. “Victims” (note the scare quotes) like this officer and the mayor in Maryland expose the lie made every day that somehow the people on the shitty end of a wrong door raid or no knock entry somehow deserve it. Look how hard most Americans work to deny that innocent people are in Guantanamo or were tortured by the US. Sometimes they believe internally contradictory things.
I predict as police and other officers with badges get more and more blatant, feel more and more invincible and self-righteous, more and more untouchable, they will become more and more incompetent and careless and we will see more and more brazen mistakes like this being made. And only when those incidents make news will people see what their law enforcement has become. If it is only poor brown people and white trash in trailer parks on the smoking barrel of police brutality few people will care enough to advocate for change. It’s sad, but that is the reality.
And as much as I too think this guy is a hypocritical douche bag, I still have to root for him on the merits. He wont be the first person I have rooted for while disliking personally and he won’t be the last. I don’t have to like a person to believe they should be secure in their home, person, and life. Kind of like advocating a murderer shouldn’t be put to death.
It’s all about the money. There is no “Honour Among Thieves.”
If this keeps up, cops will soon have little stickers for their houses like they have for their cars that tell other cops that they are off limits. Cops don’t bust other cops (not on purpose, anyway).
Chris at 17. I wish I could give you more than +1 for using the phrase “bag of dicks”
So who pays again if a lawsuit like this one is successful? The officers or the tax-paying “civilians.” If it’s tax money, they’ve got a nice little scam going.
I am familiar with the San Luis area. He is lucky his name wasn’t ramirez or nunez, chances are this may have ended badly. But I wonder if mr. bleeds red white and blue gave a rats ass about the way the government has hijacked the constitution before they came to his door.
I was a big fan of Sgt. Slaughter when he took on Hulk Hogan. And yes, he actually did bleed red, white, and blue when the Hulkster bent a table over his head.
I wish I could use the line “Do you guys realize I work for a software development firm!” and have them all back out of my house without saying another word.
Boyd, you can. You just need to look like Bill Gates.
The ‘do you know who I am’ line worked for the rich and famous well before it started working for our deserving law enforcement personnel.
I wish I could use the line “Do you guys realize I read The Agitator?” and have them not take me behind the house for a beating without saying another word.
EPIC FAIL!!! :ROFL:
You know what? Reading all these comments-I really appreciate y’all. Thank God there are still some good people out there.
Now, now people. This guy works at a port of entry. He’s basically equivalent to a State Trooper or a DOT officer. I tend to consider those type of people my natural enemy since I hold a CDL but they don’t tend to come around my neighborhood knocking down doors. This guy didn’t even ask if they had a warrant to search his house before he pointed out he was “on the job”. He’s probably just clueless like the Calvos-until they came for him.
I’d say THEY’RE lucky they didn’t shoot the dog. Shooting a police dog is a first degree murder charge IIRC. The same as shooting a cop.
Not correct. Legally speaking, a police dog is property. (I know this because in a training scenario, an acquaintance shot a suspect who was stabbing a police dog; she failed because the dog wasn’t considered an officer. And this was LAPD.)
Wait…he said he was from Customs, and they left without a word? Didn’t check ID?
Sounds like I’ve got a winner strategy next time I get raided.
You might think that, something, except that falsely representing yourself as a law enforcement officer is a crime.
I think you have to go even farther into this matter. These officers had to get a warrant so what questions did the judge ask before the warrant was authorized? Important? You had better believe it. The judge stands between you and fascism of the worst kind. If the judge isn’t doing his/her duty then the system has broken down and is worst than useless. I think all screwed up situations such as this should be investigated all the way back to the request for a warrant and ven further and if errors or gross negligence is found then the parties at fault have to pay.