Copfuks need to die.
April 2, 2014
LEAWOOD, KS — An innocent family was terrorized by a paramilitary SWAT raid on their home that lasted 2.5 hours; yielding nothing. It took the family 2 years and $25,000 to discover the real reason their house was targeted: discarded tea leaves in their garbage and the purchase of indoor gardening equipment.
‘You’re in the wrong house!’
Robert and Adlynn Harte discovered how easily an innocent family can become the targets of state-sanctioned violence when a SWAT team showed up at their home looking for contraband. The terrifying experience took place at 7:30 a.m. on April 20, 2012.
The Harte home was surrounded by paramilitary police. There was a sudden pounding at the door, which Robert quickly answered. If he had delayed opening the door, a man carrying a battering ram was prepared to breach the front door.
Robert was pushed to the floor and made to clasp his hands behind his head as strange men poured into his home. Rifle-toting, armored troopers stood over him with rifles screaming, “Where are the children in the home?”
The Hartes’ 7-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son had both been sleeping in their bedrooms, and were “shocked and frightened” as they were shuffled into the living room and made to watch as the invaders snooped through their belongings.
“We just kept saying ‘You’re in the wrong house!’”
Johnson County Sheriff’s deputies and police canines tore through the family’s living space for 2.5 hours. They took interest with the Hartes’ indoor garden, which was a family project to grow vegetables such as tomatoes, squashes, and melons in the basement.
The Hartes said that the deputies “made rude comments” and implied their son was using marijuana. Yet the deputies left empty handed. A receipt was left, saying “no items taken.”
‘Operation Constant Gardener’
The Hartes had no idea why they had been targeted. They were not involved in any illegal activities and had impeccable records — good enough to pass the rigorous background checks to get clearance with the Department of Defense.
The department would not give them any answers about the raid, only that they were looking for narcotics. No records were provided willingly.
“We were chosen more or less at random for this drug raid and we were like ‘what do you mean we can’t get the records? They raided our house,” Addie explained.
The family was forced to sue the department to get any answers about the incident — a year later. Documents later showed that their hydroponics equipment that had played a role in attracting the attention of SWAT. The police believed they were growing the forbidden cannabis plant inside their home using grow lights and hydroponics.
The couple discovered that the raid even had a name. It had been a part of “Operation Constant Gardener” — a drug sweep conducted by multiple police agencies in the region.
“With little or no other evidence of any illegal activity, law enforcement officers make the assumption that shoppers at the store are potential marijuana growers, even though the stores are most commonly frequented by backyard gardeners who grow organically or start seedlings indoors,” the couple stated in a lawsuit.
‘This isn’t a communist country’
It took an additional year and $25,000 to get the rest of the story.
It turned out that the police had first seen Bob Harte at a local hydroponics shop called The Green Circle in August 2011. Harte exited the store with a small bag, prompting police a surveillance effort. For months, cops began snooping through the family’s trash.
The shopkeeper of the hydroponics store, Bennie Palmentere, said he was disturbed that government spies were sorting through his customers’ trash. “This isn’t a communist country,” he said to KSHB.
The 5:00 a.m. garbage searches yielded some plant-like materials which they assumed to be marijuana. Using an unreliable field-testing kit, the plant material created a false-positive for marijuana, and a search warrant was acquired.
“We cannot understand how the low level of police work, which included using an unreliable field test, could have permitted a SWAT-style raid on our home,” the Hartes said in a public statement.
The plant material was never taken to a lab to pursue more definitive results. The warrant was handed out with little effort or evidence on the part of the police.
Bob knew instantly what the “plant-like materials” were: his wife’s discarded tea leaves from her daily hot beverages.
“If this can happen to us and we are educated and have reasonable resources, how does somebody who maybe hasn’t led a perfect life supposed to be free in this country?” said Addie Harte to the AP.
The fact that it took 2 years and $25,000 to get the complete details about how their home was targeted a the source of contention for the family.
“This not what justice in the United States is supposed to be,” Addie Harte said. “You shouldn’t have to have $25,000, even $5,000. You shouldn’t have to have that kind of money to find out why people came raiding your house like some sort of police state.”
The Hartes’ experience sheds some valuable light on a dilemma that is faced all over the country. Their family is fortunate to have the resources and patience necessary to fight through expensive lawsuits required to provide answers about the investigation in which they were involved. Exposure is the best way to push back on the police state. However, most people would not have the resources to to do the same. The majority of the time, clandestine police raids are allowed to remain shrouded in secrecy.
The plant material was never taken to a lab to pursue more definitive results. The warrant was handed out with little effort or evidence on the part of the police.
Bob knew instantly what the “plant-like materials” were: his wife’s discarded tea leaves from her daily hot beverages.
“If this can happen to us and we are educated and have reasonable resources, how does somebody who maybe hasn’t led a perfect life supposed to be free in this country?” said Addie Harte to the AP.
The fact that it took 2 years and $25,000 to get the complete details about how their home was targeted a the source of contention for the family.
“This not what justice in the United States is supposed to be,” Addie Harte said. “You shouldn’t have to have $25,000, even $5,000. You shouldn’t have to have that kind of money to find out why people came raiding your house like some sort of police state.”
The Hartes’ experience sheds some valuable light on a dilemma that is faced all over the country. Their family is fortunate to have the resources and patience necessary to fight through expensive lawsuits required to provide answers about the investigation in which they were involved. Exposure is the best way to push back on the police state. However, most people would not have the resources to to do the same. The majority of the time, clandestine police raids are allowed to remain shrouded in secrecy.
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http://www.policestateusa.com/2014/harte-family-raid/
Couldnt agree more is there a % greater than 100%?
Solution is simple, end the drug war and disarm the police (turn them into bobbies).
bb comment in ….. 3, 2, 1
The drug war is a war on people and an excuse for abuse of power.
If it was like “Zero Dark Thirty”, all the SWAT team would’ve died in a mysterious accident, the president would’ve gotten on TV to say they caught a guy that died about 10 yrs before, & they would’ve dumped the bodies in the ocean before anyone could ID the bodies.
Unreal, absolutely unreal. I hope this family wins a truckload of cash.
The cash should come out of the pocket of the judge who signed the warrant, and the copfuks that invaded. Fat fucking chance of that.
Bend over sensetti, we have to take it up the ass for the cop fucks and judge fucks.
Harry ,I never said cops didn’t make mistakes but oveall they do a pretty good job considering how dangerous their jobs can be.Think about it .
bb,
“mistakes” are made, but then the mistakes need tobe treated the same as the mistakes made by the rest of us.
here is a portion of my comment i just put on another copfuk thread started by T4C:
cops need to be held accountable, when “mistakes” are made, the mistakes are treated the same as the mistakes made by citizens. the idea of them being above the law of given special consideration needs to come to an abrupt end.
some examples:
wrongful arrest = kidnapping, assault
serving warrant to wrong address = B&E
cavity search without probable cause = sexual assault
If that was enacted and truly put into practice my guess is a lot of the “mistakes” would magically disappear.
i am not going to argue with you, you choose to see things the way you want regardless of the evidence. you very well may be surrounded by honorable peace officers but they are not the norm, they are the exception.
I guess it’s a good thing that my tea leaves go into the earthworm bin, in my vegetable garden. I had no idea you could get into so much trouble for putting them in the garbage! This sort of thing does not happen in Colorado any more, I wish North Carolina would take a hint.