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Georgia Drug Bust Gone Bad: Elderly Woman Hospitalized
An elderly woman is in a Georgia hospital after suffering a heart attack during a mistaken drug raid at her house -- a house police had under surveillance for two years. This incident comes on the heels of a highly publicized Missouri drug-bust-gone-bad that was captured on video and ended with a dead dog.
Helen Pruett, 76, was home alone in her trailer Tuesday morning, when Polk County policed officers and DEA agents went to her house -- with guns drawn -- to serve an arrest warrant.
"It was not a search warrant," Polk County police Chief Kenny Dodd told WSB Radio. "She came to the door, opened it and talked with us on the steps. The house was never breached."
After speaking with Pruett at the front door, officers "realized that the subject we were looking for was not there," Dodd said.
However, the woman's daughter tells a slightly different story. Machelle Holt says officers swarmed the house.
"She was at home and a bang came on the back door and she went to the door and by the time she got to the back door, someone was banging on the front door and then they were banging on her kitchen window saying 'police, police,'" Holl told WSB.
Holl says the house was surrounded and she was scared to open the door. When Dodd finally convinced her she was safe, she let them in.
Dodd said at some point, Pruett started feeling ill. "She made us aware that she was having chest pains and we got her medical attention. I stayed with her and kept her calm and talked with her, monitored her vital signs until the ambulance arrived," said Dodd.
Doctors confirm Pruett had a heart attack. Holl says her mother has had three previous heart attacks but had been doing better the past couple of years.
"She was traumatized. Even the doctor said this is what happens when something traumatic happens. He said it's usually like a death in the family or something like that just absolutely scares them half to death, and that is what has happened," said Holl.
The chief defended the decision to approach the house with guns drawn. "These were considered high-risk warrants," Dodd said. "These individuals are known drug dealers and they were looking at a lot of time in federal prison so, obviously, when we serve those types of warrants, we usually go in with guns drawn just to protect ourselves."
Police and the DEA are investigating how they could have possibly had the wrong house under surveillance for two years. Holl said it's an unforgivable error.
"They have totally made a really bad mistake. You would think that with the officers and the SWAT team and the DEA they would make sure that all of their I's are dotted, all of their T's are crossed before they go bursting into someone's home like that," said Holl.
Dodd says he has gone to the hospital to check on Pruett and apologize to the family for what has happened.
Police did end up making seven drug arrests relating to the two-year investigation.
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Comments
career
There’s so much talk about protecting our planet, Earth. So, let’s see some energy saving tips. It’s always better to use fans rather than air conditioners. Usage of compact fluorescent lights, help save a lot of energy.
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Pharmacy News
Brownshirt cops!!
Sadly, this is another of myriad reports on the aggressive nature of American police . I think its time your nation did more to teach police how to solve problems without gratuitous violence . If our RCMP acted aggressively as your cops do, there'd be a civil inquiry. In fact, there was an inquiry called by the government when RCMP officers tasered and killed a man in Vancouver Airport, and rightly so!
Do police in America have ANY government regulation? I for one will not visit your country because your border guards and your cops are like the SS and I fear for my safety!
Yeah, and...
If American courts allowed evidence obtained through illegal searches, like your courts do, there would be a Fourth Amendment firestorm. But American courts throw out illegally obtained evidence, thus checking police power.
Funny you should raise the question of government regulation when your own government allows your cops to violate the rights of your citizens.
Brownshirt justice system!!
The Democratic National Committee approves of this website.
Not exactly a model example
Obviously things go wrong and the cops look silly in some of these attempted drug busts. Do they deserve criticism? Sure. Should better steps be taken to ensure proper locations of raids ? Sure.
However, every response here is talking about the police like they are bumbling idiots and criminals. The police do the best job they can, and they have no intent on hurting innocent civilians. They have a very dangerous job, and I'd suggest you look deeper into what they come across on a daily basis before you make judgement on them. Most people here wouldn't even have the balls to do what they do.
There are a LOT MORE victims
caused by dumb k s kops. Two years they investigate & get the wrong house . Gimmie a BREAK!!!
Check this list out. Look up the one for Drug War Rant & find their 'victims of the drug war ' list. Most people have no clue how deadly the ' war on drugs ' has become to innocent citizens.
http://tinyurl.com/2dz72nf
Then there are all those who have died in Mexico because of cartel violence that is spilling over our southern border into the USA. .
The USA would be well served to end the war on civil liberties & just legalize all drugs . They could be given out out dispensaries.
Just doing that would save lives because OD deaths would be almost totally eliminated. States should each take this up & keep Fed intervention to a minimum. Purity would be stable & regulated. Prices should be low enough to make it a low profit venture for cartels.
I do NOT advocate using most drugs . They can be killers & live wrecking substances. But since enough people ALREADY use them, let it be legal . Thus we could take the $$ motive away from the cartels. That would also end a lot of drug payola, so we would see a LOT of resistance to the idea.
Legalized 'street drugs' should also be tied to Consequence Of Use education . Also using dispensaries could have people on staff who can give counsel & aid to those who want to quit.
Regarding cannabis : Cannabis should be out right RE-legalized. It is much less harmful than alcohol & kills no one via OD.- One can make beer & wine at home but try growing a cannabis plant or two...
Rx drugs kill thousands every year. But no out cry for prohibiting them, so we know the 'drug war' is not about saving lives. IMO cannabis prohibition IS about protecting the Rx industries HUGE $$ profits. Then there is the synthetic cloth industries & cotton growers.
Lotta current & former LEO's say the same thing.
http://www.leap.cc/cms/index.php
Why was cannabis prohibited? Hint, it was NOT because it was a truly dangerous drug.
http://tinyurl.com/2dvcb29
General info about cannabis & hemp :
http://www.jackherer.com/chapter04.html
SamFox
A couple of questions.
IMO cannabis prohibition IS about protecting the Rx industries HUGE $$ profits. Then there is the synthetic cloth industries & cotton growers.
Medically, there isn't a lot cannabis is good for. A mild pain reliever really.
And if it offered such high returns that the cotton and and and synthetic fabric industries were afraid of it, why didn't they start growing and using it themselves. Get in on that little bit of pie.
I mean, they already have the infrastructure to do it.
Really, I think it was a bunch of idiot feel good politicians trying to look good for their constituents by getting "Drugs" off the streets. Much like the gun debate. They don't care or really even know what they're banning. But it sounds scary to the voters so its good enough for them.
Cedartown cops corrupt
Unfortunately, I am a resident of Cedartown, Ga. There are no checks and balances in this city and there never will be with the corrupt police and corrupt city officials here. There have been many corrupt police related crimes here, the latest, most publicized local story was several cops and locals operating a chop shop, stealing cars from Cedartown's citizens and then altering the cars serial numbers and reselling them. Feds came in to investigate. Feds arrested and convicted these cops. However, I know for a fact that the corruption doesn't stop here. I know local cops here are confiscating weapons and never turning them into the department for evidence. They steal the guns and sell them to other locals here.
I can tell you with certainty that the recent case in Columbia, Missouri PALES in comparison to what these local cops do during drug raids here, and unlike Columbia, Cedartown will NOT use a camera on their SWAT infiltrations. Cedartown cops recently went into a home of a suspected drug dealer... no drugs found by the way, but the department paid off the resident. The resident had two cocker spaniels and a Siamese kitten. Three of the cops entered into this home and shot the cocker spaniels and found the kitten behind a laundry hamper and one of the cops picked up the hamper while another cop stuck the pistol up to the kittens head and pulled the trigger. Then the cop bragged to his partner "cat brains must fill the entire skull, because that's a lot of brains!".
The cops here use brutal force and don't look back. This is a small town and they have been given ultimate power by city officials to handle matters how they see fit, whether in scope of civil rights or not. This old lady wasn't a small statistic here. Polk County Georgia hires rejects with military backgrounds, who in most cases have been dishonorably discharged and cannot obtain other jobs . Only qualification to get a job in Cedartown... you must have no moral restraints.
But this time
This time they pulled the DEA in with them on a raid that hit the wrong house ,then went next door and scared another old woman half to death . That was after 2 years of investigation .
It is just such episodes of Keystone Kops like this that will remove their funding and have them joining the unemployed.
With stories like this and the video of the dog shooting in MO posted last week,plus stories like the AP put out about the failed war on (some) drugs , legislators are looking at the ONDCP's 15.5 billion dollar budget like a ripe plum,waiting for the picking.