Letter to the Editor

Law enforcement was rude and too agressive

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Dear Editor:

I am writing to make the public aware of an incident which took place in Nevada on Saturday, Feb. 27 at my mother's house. We were having a birthday party for my 3-year-old granddaughter. Half way through the party the house was invaded by at least nine law enforcement officers of some agency or other. They were looking for my son who is on the run from the police.

Let me say, I'm not proud of this nor do I condone it, but I do not believe myself or my family and friends deserve to be treated the way we were that day.

My daughter, who was headed upstairs from the basement, opened the door and was grabbed by a female detective telling her to "get up here." The girl had to grab the rail to keep from falling. The girl was screaming, turned her head around to yell for me, and at that time, her shirt was ripped completely down the side; her flesh bared. At this time, the female officer pulled her to the hallway upstairs.

The grandmother heard the commotion, walked around the corner where the female officer and girl were. The officer still had a hold of the girl. Grandmother told the girl to go sit down in the living room, and the officer let her go.

All this time kids were at the bottom of the stairway watching, crying; some were asking to please go home. Down in the basement, two city officers were asking me questions. One officer said they were looking for my son. I told them he wasn't here. He proceeded, hatefully, to tell me they KNEW for a fact he was there, because he was driving one of the cars parked out back.

Months back they were told he was driving a black car, so now when the police see a black car, they think it is him if some law has been broken. If they don't catch the person breaking the law, they blame it on him. They searched the house for him, but he wasn't there. Instead of leaving, they stuck around and caused a commotion with adults and kids and wouldn't let the kids leave.

My mother's blood pressure soared up and stayed up and remained up until the next mid-morning. My mom is a law abiding Christian who doesn't deserve the disrespect she received that day, neither did anyone else, especially the kids. The police have been searching homes of family and friends since October. Everyone has always opened their door and let all other Nevada police officers in and they never treated us like the bad guys.

The reason they are looking for my son is he has no license, he was drinking and saw them and took off. They hunt him as though he committed murder. He knew he was wrong, has gotten ready to turn himself in and he got another charge for something he hasn't done. They, some police officers, have told us they have a shoot to kill order. Seems extreme to me. I'm sorry I got off the track. The initial reason for this letter was to alert the public to this situation, especially to the aggressive behavior of one of our finest.

My question is, should innocent people be treated like criminals if you have a child or grandchild outside the law? One female officer was rude and way too aggressive to a female, and the older male officer was just plain rude.

Thank you for your time.

Joy Moore