Southern-style justice captured on camera shows police in North Carolina raiding a family home and arresting four people after they allegedly smelled cannabis.
In a now-deleted Facebook post, Vera McGriff detailed how eight police officers “bum rushed” her home in Durham city on April 8, after she denied them entry for failing to produce a search warrant, which is a Constitutionally-protected right.
— Vera McGriff (@vera_mcgriff) April 16, 2016
https://twitter.com/Alby/status/465845891711373314
The video, which has since gone viral, shows what happened next when police raided her home.
Lots of screaming can be heard and one man is seen limping after police hit him with a baton, which they admit in their own report.
Police then walk around the house searching for the drugs they supposedly had smelled.
The 48-year-old mother told the local Durham newspaper Indy Week that they were “subject to physical assault and terrorizing actions from a gang of police officers that included assaults with batons, an officer’s gun, Tasing, and over four hours of handcuffed detainment.”
violent & horrifying @CityofDurhamNC police raid on family's home for "smelling weed." tg amazing mom took video: https://t.co/JYdHlWYNsq
— Sandra Korn (@sandraylk) April 12, 2016
Police can be heard shouting at the men in the house as they arrest them, with some of the men on the ground being handcuffed. The recording cut off shortly after.
“Everybody was [T]ased, one officer hit my son in the face with his Glock 9, we were choked, kicked, thrown down on the floor, this is harassment,” McGriff wrote in the original post. “It felt like I was surrounded by an unruly gang that meant me and my family nothing but harm.”
“The terror, by these officers, did not stop when my 11 year old son, recently home from the hospital, began to vomit and seize,” added McGriff. “Nor did they stop when my 10-year-old daughter screamed and called out to her mommy in fear. They did not care about any of us as human beings. We all sat in handcuffs for 4-5 hours while they waited for the search warrant.”
When police initially entered the house at 10:30p.m., they did not have a warrant and only received one at 12:50a.m., after they had already arrested and detained everybody in the house, the News & Observer reported.
Durham Police said they were conducting a follow-up investigation on one of the residents, Khadir Cherry, who had been arrested on April 4 for allegedly selling marijuana, something that’s now legal in a number of other US states.
When McGriff opened the front door, police claimed there was “a strong odor of marijuana” inside.
Police also say the video doesn’t show two officers being assaulted by the residents, with one of the police struck in the shoulder, although a local mainstream media outlet did report that more prominently than McGriff’s video.
Officers accuse Cherry of trying to grab one of their weapons and refusing to obey so-called lawful orders during the incident. He now faces a number of charges including intent to sell and distribute, assault on a government official, resisting a public officer, and possession of marijuana paraphernalia.
One of the other men in the house, Raynell Hall, was charged with assault on a government officer and resisting a public officer, while Jahmon Cedeno was charged with assaulting a government official.
The Durham Police Department is now “investigating all matters concerning this incident including the use of force,”which it says is “standard protocol.”
The US Supreme Court unanimously ruled in 2013 that authorities could use dogs to sniff out illegal drugs, but in a number of states since then, judges have ruled that such a mechanism should not be relied on solely for prosecution as it is flawed.
Police dog alerts to drugs in an apartment.
Oops. Not the "targeted apartment."
But got it on the second try. pic.twitter.com/FHdRexRFvN— Brad Heath (@bradheath) April 12, 2016
Judges have also repeatedly ruled that police need more evidence than merely smelling marijuana to raid a house.
Arizona Judge Peter Eckerstrom wrote last year that since people may use medical marijuana, which is not yet legal in North Carolina, “scent alone does not disclose whether a crime has occurred.”
Similarly, in 2014, Justice Barbara Lenk of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court wrote: “The odor of burnt marijuana alone cannot support probable cause to search.”
http://countercurrentnews.com/2014/11/what-else-smells-like-marijuana-heres-why-the-police-smell-test-is-invalid/
http://gawker.com/5545802/cops-400-pot-plants-turn-out-to-be-horsemint
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1092230/How-garden-moss-smells-like-cannabis-attracted-police-raid-pensioners–local-drug-gang.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2078726/Police-swoop-stunned-couple-sniffer-dog-mistakes-legal-garden-plant-cannabis.html
If they want to lay claim to any smelling capability they need to be tested like this guy below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayemv0XMfxw
With the above links in mind certain “farmers” might consider using some types of plants like these ;).
There is NEVER any probable cause or reasonable suspicion that would justify a raid on me or my house, or for a judge to issue a warrant.
That means any stinking pig bastard that comes near my house is a criminal, trying to rob or kill me, and there are a hundred news articles that provide me with legitimate reason to believe I’m in immediate danger of death or serious bodily harm if they enter my house at all.
Exactly,
Any involvement with police is a dangerous situation that needs to be seen and handled as such. That being said more people need to be aware of this danger, this will set accordingly non sentencing and or jury nullification in cases were someone attempts to or does kill a cop since it is self defense with nearly all situations like you noted. We all know they lie and if I remember correctly from my family and friends lying is a very bad thing unless you work for government. The facts stand true since it is only money incarceration or death that the gov wants from people.
The more involvement you have with government the less free you are.
Am with these sentiments entirely!! Will protect home at all cost. I’ve my own home-land security system.
https://ammosquared.com/ will be of use, fer shure!