Berwyn Heights mayor victim of blitzkrieg drug raid

Posted on: Wed, 09/03/2008 - 16:14 By: Tom Swiss

In case you haven't heard about it yet, this Washington Post op-ed, by Vera Leone of the Drug Policy Alliance, lays out the story of Cheye Calvo. He's mayor of Berwyn Heights (where, BTW, I lived in 1989 when I was a student at UMCP ). A UPS package full of cannabis (part of a smuggling scheme that targets innocent customers) came to his door; when he brought it inside, SWAT thugs broke in, shot his dogs, held him in handcuffs for hours. Apologies from the county stormtroopers responsible? None.

Of course, the only reason this gets attention is because it was a white middle-class suburban guy with connections; if you're poor and black or brown, this is standard operating procedure in the "War on Drugs".