October 8, 2010
War On Drugs Department
They Should Have Rung the Bell
Here's yet another tragic story of an elderly couple terrorized by gangs of local thugs in Chicago.
They had a warrant for a 23 year old Hispanic male suspected of dealing coke and meth. What they found was an elderly Russian couple who had come to America to escape from the oppressive Soviet Union where people had to live in fear of their government. The Cook Country Sheriff's Police weren't sure if that was just a clever disguise, though, so instead of apologizing for their mistake they trashed the home anyway looking for the couple's stash of drugs. They found some aspirin.With her husband already asleep, 84-year-old Anna Jakymek was just turning out the lights when she heard loud noises at the back and front doors about 11:30 p.m.Her initial thought was that her 89-year old husband had fallen out of bed, but she realized something else was happening when she looked into the front room."I see maybe 20 guys come in and see the door knocked open," she said.The intruders were members of the Cook County sheriff's police gang crimes narcotics unit executing a search warrant at the home on the 5600 block of South Kilbourn Avenue.
After mouthing off to the cops like that I'm surprised she wasn't arrested for obstruction and resisting arrest. The police were understandably aggravated since the couple had no pets. With nothing left to break, and nothing to shoot at, the cops left."I didn't believe it was the police. They broke everything. I told them they should have rung the bell."
Cook County Sheriff, Tom Dart, is positioning himself to run for Mayor of Chicago. I wonder if he'll be commenting on this incident. I also wonder if his opponents will push for a comment, or if they will just fear being labelled "soft on crime"....the officer explained they had misinformation, but said his job was over, and he was leaving. They left a copy of the warrant, but he absolved himself of any responsibility for the raid or the damage...
UPDATE: The article has been modified and now mentions that the couple is Ukrainian, not Russian, and has added a picture of the couple. I wonder which one the police thought was the 23 year old Hispanic man they were looking for. The story also added a comment by a police spokesman:
But they still decided to trash the house anyway."As soon as we entered the home, we knew this couple was not involved in the activity alleged"
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