The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: Ichiban on February 01, 2012, 02:20:07 PM
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This would not have ended well if that had been my door. >:(
At least they didn't kill the dog.
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/01/31/fbi-uses-chainsaw-in-raid-on-wrong-fitchburg-apartment/ (http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/01/31/fbi-uses-chainsaw-in-raid-on-wrong-fitchburg-apartment/)
At 6:04 last Thursday morning, just before Sanchez’ alarm was set to go off, she heard a pounding outside her second floor apartment.
“I just happened to glance over and saw this huge chainsaw ripping down the side of my door,” she explains. “And I was freaking out. I didn’t know what was going on.”
Within moments, the chainsaw had cut through most of her door, and someone on the FBI’s arrest team kicked the rest of it in.
“That’s when I heard the clicking of a gun and I heard ‘FBI, get down!’, so I laid right on down.
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Another noteworthy story that's about ten minutes from where I'm sitting.
My wife was born in that town! It's a toilet for the most part not that it matters for the story! This was one of those three story, six family homes that litter the northeast. Cute dog, cute kid, Moms a bit pissed...but she's OK and they did get the BG after stepping on their crank and paying for a new door!
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Sanchez can’t believe that a two-year long federal investigation ended at the wrong door.
This is the same government they want running our health care system?
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This is the same government they want running our health care system lives?
FIFY
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Probably a good thing the State of MA. is a gun hating state because this incident could have ended very badly for both the Feds and the apt. dweller. I can see it now (in a gun friendly state) - feds attempt drug raid, apt dweller shoots & kills unknown nut with chainsaw breaking and entering, feds shoot & kill apt. dweller. When things go bad they go very bad very fast.
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Got to love the "War on Drugs".
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Probably a good thing the State of MA. is a gun hating state because this incident could have ended very badly for both the Feds and the apt. dweller. I can see it now (in a gun friendly state) - feds attempt drug raid, apt dweller shoots & kills unknown nut with chainsaw breaking and entering, feds shoot & kill apt. dweller. When things go bad they go very bad very fast.
FBI wouldn't have tried this in TX, UT, VT, WY or CO because of their position on guns. This ought to be a wake up call for those living in states were their 2A rights are infringed but the sheeple graze on.
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If any state has a shit hole like Fitchburg, MA and we know they ALL do, the FBI would use the same tactics. It has nothing to do with infringement on gun rights. There are plenty of gun owners in MA, nearly 25% of the population owns some kind of firearm. The difference here is they're well vetted if they own them legally.
And no, I don't like the laws here! But it is what it is!
In the area this occurred, I won't go without a gun on me in fact, I have a revolver with me now 24/7. Central MA can be beautiful but the little towns are quite depressed. When GE moved out of Fitchburg back in the late 80's, the town went south quickly! It looks like a ghost town and the Mayor decided to turn off the street lights at night to save money! She's not real bright
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NOT OFFICER FRIENDLY!! SAY IT AIN'T SO!!
So what were they looking for? Did anybody, Sanchez, reporter, bother to ask?
I'm guessing they didn't bother to knock,maybe or ask anybody what their name was?.. There was a rash of this business under Clinton, too.
I know. I've had this discussion with too many Cops, too many times, but there are better, more civil ways to find out who the BGs are.. Maybe they should rely on something more than the GPS to find out where somebody lives, or maybe google the address before kicking (cutting) in the door.. No such leeway would have been afforded if this lady had gone through a wrong door looking for a kidnapped baby.. It's not okay...
Things have truly changed.. I don't know ONE mother when I was growing up who wouldn't at least tell the Cop to kiss her ass with the baby crying, under the circumstances..
I hope the saw was running on green energy..
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There has been nothing to follow the original reports here locally. Considering the neighborhood, it's probably drugs or gang related. We have been overrun by illegals in the time the current Governor has been in office. His admin doesn't recognize anyone as illegal nor do they prosecute! Liberalism at it's finest!
Where I live, we are in the minority as we don't speak Spanglish...I can't wait to get out of here...
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Woman: Apology is not enough from FBI after botched raid in Fitchburg
FBI raided apt. by mistake
By George Barnes TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
gbarnes@telegram.com
FITCHBURG — Judy Sanchez acknowledges the FBI apologized to her after using a chainsaw to break through her door and burst into her apartment.
But she thinks she should get more than a routine apology, after FBI agents terrorized her and her 3-year-old daughter when they mistakenly targeted her apartment while searching for a drug suspect.
“I don’t think it is good enough,” she said. “It is a start.”
After such a traumatic mistake, she said, the FBI should check in with the family to see how they are doing. Ms. Sanchez, 29, said she has not heard from the FBI since the incident.
As part of a series of raids by the FBI and other police forces, agents arrived at her door on Jan. 26 looking for her neighbor, Luis Vasquez. Mr. Vasquez, 41, was later arrested in a neighboring apartment and charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and other crimes.
In an interview at her apartment yesterday, Ms. Sanchez said that although it has been a week since the raid, she and her daughter find it hard to get it out of their minds. She sleeps with a baseball bat she got from her mother after the raid, and her daughter, Ji-anni, is traumatized. Whenever the child can, she avoids going near the door that was cut and broken into.
“Every time someone knocks, she runs and hides behind me,” she said. “And she says, ‘They’re going to knock the door down. They’re going to knock the door down.’ ”
Ms. Sanchez said she was awakened at 6:04 a.m. to sounds outside her second-floor apartment. She thought it was children from the building running around. She normally gets up at 6:15 to get ready for school, but got up to see what was going on.
“Then I heard a loud noise,” she said, demonstrating a chainsaw noise. “I didn’t know what it was. That’s when I saw the blade coming down my door.”
Her first reaction was to rush into Ji-anni’s room, grab the child, rush her into her bedroom and put her under the covers.
After her daughter was in her bedroom, the FBI broke into her front door from a hallway. Another officer was at her back door. She said they were shouting, “FBI. FBI.”
“I was screaming, ‘You have the wrong apartment.’ ”
Ms. Sanchez said she then heard the clicking sound of a gun and was ordered to get down. She said she threw herself on the floor while FBI agents entered the apartment. She was ordered to hold her 3-month-old puppy, Lexi, who urinated in fear.
“I lay there with my arm in it,” she said.
Ms. Sanchez said she remained on the floor for about 35 minutes before being allowed to get up and go to her daughter. A female assistant special agent in charge apologized and told her what she could do to get her door repaired. She said the response was cold and matter-of-fact.
She said she was treated more kindly by Fitchburg firefighters, who responded after the raid to ringing fire alarms. She said they told her how sorry they felt over what she went through.
“I was expecting at least a sit-down and an explanation. Hey, I would have liked a hug at the time,” she said.
The raid was part of Operation Red Wolf, according to Special Agent Greg Comcowich, media coordinator for the FBI’s Boston office. The raid resulted in the arrest that day of 16 people in the Fitchburg area for drug offenses. Reading from a prepared statement, Mr. Comcowich said that while attempting to make entry into a second-floor apartment at 391 Elm St., an FBI arrest team forcibly damaged a door to Ms. Sanchez’s apartment.
“The mistake was quickly apparent to the FBI agents,” he said.
Mr. Comcowich said an assistant special agent in charge spoke with Ms. Sanchez to reassure her and calm her. He said the assistant special agent also told her what the remedy was for repairing the damage, and gave her FBI contact information if she wished to speak to someone and seek additional information.
The FBI did not repair or replace the door. The landlord replaced the door and must also replace the door jam.
Operation Red Wolf was a two-year investigation into illegal firearm sales, drug trafficking and related gang activities in Fitchburg. Twenty people were indicted in the investigation, including the 16 arrested that day.
Although the FBI’s search for her neighbor was the reason she went through the trauma and terror that day, she does not think of him as a gang member and drug dealer. She said she did not know of any meetings of gang members at the apartment next door, where Mr. Vasquez lived. She said she knows him as one of the parents in the building who would hold cookouts with his children in the back yard.
“I didn’t see the bad guy everyone is talking about,” she said.
Ms. Sanchez said she wants people to know what happened to her in the hope that at least a better FBI policy will result from the publicity.
“I’m not doing this for 15 minutes of fame,” she said. “But this situation is not just a quick, ‘I’m sorry and good day.’ ”
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Well....it does give a whole new meaning to the term "buzz me in".......... :-\
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There has been nothing to follow the original reports here locally. Considering the neighborhood, it's probably drugs or gang related. We have been overrun by illegals in the time the current Governor has been in office. His admin doesn't recognize anyone as illegal nor do they prosecute! Liberalism at it's finest!
Where I live, we are in the minority as we don't speak Spanglish...I can't wait to get out of here...
Sounds like Central Washington, I escaped almost 9 years ago and from what I've heard it hasn't improved a bit.
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Sounds like Central Washington, I escaped almost 9 years ago and from what I've heard it hasn't improved a bit.
It's sad really! I'd would move back to my home town in a minute (Grand Rapids, MI) but my wife and I could never move back to hers. When we met in the early 80's, it was a vibrant little town and had a main street full of shops, business, offices, doctors, lawyers, some nice clubs and neighborhood pubs. We used to go to town on Fridays to dance and drink.
Today, it's vacant shops and gangbangers..
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Well....it does give a whole new meaning to the term "buzz me in".......... :-\
That gets 3 big grins ;D ;D ;D
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There has been nothing to follow the original reports here locally. Considering the neighborhood, it's probably drugs or gang related. We have been overrun by illegals in the time the current Governor has been in office. His admin doesn't recognize anyone as illegal nor do they prosecute! Liberalism at it's finest!
Where I live, we are in the minority as we don't speak Spanglish...I can't wait to get out of here...
Where I live, we are in the minority as we don't speak Spanglish...I can't wait to get out of here...
I don't usually say this because we are over populated now, ( Just reached 1 million). But Timothy! your welcome to move here to Montana. We could use a (FEW) ::) more good people.
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I don't usually say this because we are over populated now, ( Just reached 1 million). But Timothy! your welcome to move here to Montana. We could use a (FEW) ::) more good people.
Thanks for the offer! I've actually considered it too...it's one of the six states I've never visited. Sadly, my wife won't make a move.