Unverified Abuse: A Crime Hump Vignette

The following story could not be verified and common themes emerge that may leave more questions than answers. Because this is only a blog, I’ve decided to publish this story anyways and let the public decide.

Two search warrants were executed on two homes in Smiths Falls, simultaneously. Six arrests are claimed to have been made, though no street value to items seized are publicized. I’ve been able to interview two of the parties, prompted by a loud conversation I over heard in the waiting area just outside the courtroom, by a third party. The third party declined to be interviewed.

The first party I interview is done in person. We had been small talking in the court house when he mentions his charges. I ask if he was part of the raid that was just in the newspaper. He confirms that he was. I ask him about the troubling story I over heard earlier that month. He was in the other house so the details he gives are all hearsay. He does inform me that a very small quantity of drugs was seized, but that the party had a prescription for it.  I thank him for his time.

I track down the second party through social media. He is open to talking about it with me. I tell him my intentions of publishing the story, his story. He is open to this as well. I ask him to tell me what happened. The following is an excerpt from that phone interview.

Second party: Well basically we got raided and accused of selling drugs and a gun was pulled on me in front of the kids. I was thrown around the house and I was treated like someone with a violent record and I don’t have a violent record. Other than that, I don’t really know what happened. It happened pretty quick. In court, they said it was a taser and it definitely wasn’t a taser. It was a hand gun.

Me: So they lied?

Second party: Yes. They’re lying about all kinds of stuff.

Me: So tell me more about the gun. Why did they pull a gun on you?

Second party: Because I appeared to be resisting, but I was trying to put a cigarette out and light another.

Me: So you already had the other smoke out? Or were you still trying to put one out?

Second party: I already had the smoke out and was trying to light it.

Me: What did the police say to you?

Second party: I can’t quite remember what he said to me. It was officer (redacted). I remember what I said. I said, “I’d give you a f***ing reason to act like that.”

Me: Is that when he pulled the gun?

Second party: That’s when three of them decided to wrestle me on the table, putting me face first in the table. It was after I started pushing away from the table that the gun came out.

Me: So they were wrestling you. You were on the table and officer (redacted) just pulled a gun.

Second party: Ya. He took it to my head. It was pointed at my head.

Me: So it was pointed at your head. What did you do? What was the first thing you did?

Second party: First thing I did was notice it was a gun. I looked and seen the ten-year-old child. When I made eye contact with him, I stopped right away.

Me: What did you stop doing?

Second party: I stopped trying to pull away from them. I was still trying to light my cigarette.

Me: Do you think they could tell you were just trying to light the cigarette?

Second party: Yes. It was obvious.

Me: So was there any reason for them to think you were about to pull a gun, or knife or…

Second party: No reason at all.

Me: So it sounds like you’re saying they put a gun to your head to make you compliant?

Second party: Ya, pretty much. That’s exactly what they did.

Me: Were they trying to get your hands behind your back?

Second party: Ya. They were doing that.

Me: Were you fighting back?

Second party: I was pulling away, ya. I was trying to sit up. They had me bent over the table, but after I made eye contact with the child, I stopped. They kept me bent over for 30 or 40 seconds.

Me: How long was the gun pointed at your head?

Second party: I don’t know. Maybe 10 or 15 seconds.

Me: Can you tell me what the gun looked like?

Second party: A 9mm Glock, a police issue hand gun.

Me: What did the child look like?

Second party: He was struggling too. He was fighting. When I stopped, he stopped. Him and the other child, an eight-year-old were out of it. We weren’t allowed to see them. They weren’t allowed to be comforted. They wouldn’t let us hold them. Nothing. The officers were there five or six hours before they called anyone for the children, while they searched the house.

Me: How long was it into this incident, before the gun was pulled?

Second party: Not even a minute. He had the gun out, like Dirty Harry. It’s his best friend.

Me: Did anyone else see the gun at your head?

Second party: Yes. The whole room full of people did. The kids were terrified. They were f***ing terrified.

I try contacting the other party that may have some verifying information. I receive no reply. I start researching the local law enforcement. I find the annual report of the Smiths Falls Police Service. They did switch to the same gun described by the second party recently and the officer responsible for training the other officers on it, is the same one alleged to have held one to the second party’s head. In reviewing my notes, the story has almost as many discrepancies as consistencies. Bad boys? You decide.            

Kelley Denham