© WSBTVDwane Perry
The early-morning raid occurred on October 1st, 2014, at the home of Dwane Perry. The first thing he remembers hearing was the whirring of the copter blades and strange men banging on his door.
"I was scared actually, at first, because I didn't know what was happening," said Mr. Perry to WSB-TV.
Agents from the Governor's Task Force for drug suppression had apparently been trolling the skies over the area and observed plants on his property that they deemed suspicious. Based on that intel, a team of Broward County deputies trespassed on Mr. Perry's land to harass and potentially arrest the retiree because of the contents of his garden.
After confronting Mr. Perry, deputies sheepishly realized that the tree-growing plant was actually okra - not cannabis. It has five leaves instead of seven, and produces a vegetable that is popular in southern cooking.
"Here I am, at home and retired and, you know, I do the right thing," Mr. Perry explained. "Then they come to my house strapped with weapons for no reason. It ain't right."
"The more I thought about it, what could have happened?" Mr. Perry wondered, sensing the danger of having armed cops violating his privacy and property. "Anything could have happened."
The danger was indeed real, as this website has documented numerous instances of innocent people maimed and killed by police for the most mundane of offenses; drug prohibition being chief among them. Gardeners have endured specifically harassment from drug warriors, as evidenced by notable cases in Illinois and Kansas.
See Mr. Perry's reaction to the raid viaWSB-TV:
Too many stories like this one have a tragic ending. Thankfully, the retiree is still living.
It is a good thing he didn't reach for a gun, or something when the pounding on his door began.
Why can't the police just call someone on the phone ahead of time, and tell them they need to see, or visit his property?
Or better yet, just ask them what the owner has growing on his/her land? Raids like this one rarely end good.
Dogs get shot and killed, etc. And you can bet this person has a much more negative view of the police in the area
due to their heavy handed methods.
And people wonder why the police keep getting negative "reviews", or that people trust them less and less.
Pravdaseeker