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This story was corrected on June 23, 2009. An explanation of the correction is at the end of the story.
Eleven months after a Prince George's County SWAT unit raided the home of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo, he filed a lawsuit Monday to hold Prince George's County accountable and prevent future incidents.
"I am tired of being embarrassed by Prince George's County government. Our communities are tired of being embarrassed by this county's failed leadership. Prince George's County deserves better. Every citizen, every resident of this county deserves better," Calvo said at a press conference held at his house on Monday.
The lawsuit was filed Monday in the Circuit Court in Prince George's County by Calvo, his wife Trinity Tomsic and Tomsic's mother, Georgia Porter against Prince George's County Sheriff Michael Jackson, Prince George's County Police Detective Shawn Scarlata, the State of Maryland, Prince George's County, and two "John Doe" deputy sheriffs, whose names have yet to be released to Calvo. Jackson is the highest elected law enforcement official in the county. Calvo is seeking unspecified damages and a court order, which would cause the county to change how warrants are executed.
Prince George's County press spokesman James P. Keary said he could not comment at this time.
"We stand behind our findings," said Prince George's County Sheriff's department spokesman Mario Ellis, who could not comment further because of the pending lawsuit.
On July 29, 2008, the red brick house on the corner of Edmonston Road and Osage Street was raided by a sheriff department SWAT unit after mistakenly believing that the home was linked to an illegal marijuana shipping racket. During the raid, Calvo and Tomsic's Labrador retrievers Payton and Chase, were shot and killed. Calvo has filed complaints that police and deputies needlessly shot the dogs when they raided his house.
Calvo and Tomsic were cleared of any involvement in drug activity, and police linked the 32-pound package of marijuana listed for delivery at their home to a Fed-Ex courier and arrested him.
Calvo's lawsuit comes after a June 19 statement from Jackson commending his deputies who he said, "did their job to the fullest extent of their abilities" and "acted in a professional and acceptable manner" when they shot the dogs.
"Fortunately for us all, in our system of government, Sheriff Jackson is not the final arbiter of justice, and we have the right to appeal this matter to higher authorities," Calvo said.
Tomsic said Jackson incorrectly blamed her mother for the dogs being shot.
"What should her response have been? Should she have waved to them?" she asked.
In a June 19 statement released by Jackson, he said that less lethal ways of containing the dogs, such as closing them in a room, would have been implemented; however, Porter was heard yelling the word "SWAT" and the team decided that "an immediate entry was deemed necessary [and] unfortunately the occupants had no opportunity to put the dogs away."
To date, Calvo said he has not been given an incident report, any physical evidence such as the photos of Payton and Chase, the names of the deputies who fired the shots or the name of the Fed-Ex driver or his accomplice who were arrested for the crime. The family is also still waiting for the investigatory report.
Calvo said that he is deeply troubled that Prince George's County deploys its SWAT team 700 times a year and that the county police initially stated that they had a "no-knock" warrant, which was later proven false.
Calvo said another reason he and his family are filing a lawsuit now is because of a letter they received in May from the police internal affairs division commander stating that the complaint they filed last August will not be completed until the week of July 29, 2009—exactly one year after the incident.
"This means that, because the Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights imposes a one-year statute of limitations on administrative actions against officers, even if this report finds wrong-doing, any police officer so found will be protected against adverse action," Calvo said.
Calvo was instrumental in enacting the nation's first statewide bill to oversee SWAT team deployments in May. The SWAT bill requires police from each city and county to submit reports every six months on activities by their armed special tactical units, including how many times they were deployed and if guns were fired.
E-mail Jordan Attebury at jattebury@gazette.net.
Correction: Mario Ellis was incorrectly identified as a county police spokesman. It was a sheriff department SWAT unit, not county unit.
