Pubdate: Sat, 2 Jan 1999
Source: Edmonton Sun (Canada)
Copyright: 1999, Canoe Limited Partnership.
Contact:  http://www.canoe.ca/EdmontonSun/
Forum: http://www.canoe.ca/Chat/home.html
Author: Kim Bradley

RESIDENTS ANGRY AFTER DRUG RAID

A pair of seniors claim they were victimized by police who smashed
their way into the couple's inner-city rooming house yesterday to
arrest two other tenants.

Cops say they believed a drug operation was being run from inside the
house and that the search warrant they obtained on that notion was
executed by the book.

Ron Davies, 65, says he is planning to file a complaint against the
police after his handicapped common-law wife, Julia Johnson, 64, was
handcuffed during a drug raid in the rooming house at 10710 103 St.
around 3 a.m. yesterday.

Johnson said the handcuffs caused a hand to swell and she may have to
see a doctor. "She's in shock right now," said Davies of his
common-law wife of 29 years. "She can't even move her fingers. They
should never have tied her up."

Davies is asking that the police be held accountable for the damages
they caused to the house when they smashed the front window and the
door to get inside.

The pensioner claims his landlord has threatened to evict him if he
doesn't come up with the money to fix the damage. According to Sgt.
Garet Bonn, cops went to the house after they heard from several
sources that two men living there may be selling drugs. They also had
information to suggest they were armed and a possible threat to
police, he said.

"These people live in a building where this type of activity was going
on," Bonn said. "We have to go with the information we have at the
time."

It is routine for tactical cops to detain everyone found in a home
when doing a search of this nature to protect the investigation and
the officers doing the search, he added.

There was evidence of drug use found in the house, but not enough to
warrant any charges, Bonn said.
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