War on Elderly Women Begins

AUTiger73 · October 17, 2002, 04:00 PM

War on Drugs has progressed on War on Elderly

http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/...al/4243257.htm

SWAT Team Invades Elderly Widow's Home

It's 10 a.m. on a quiet Sunday morning in Oxford Circle. The coffee's making, the birds are chirping.

An elderly widow is in her bathroom, toweling off after a shower.

A four-member Philadelphia Police Department SWAT team arrives clutching a search warrant for guns and drugs - and pounds on her Sylvester Street door.

A neighbor hollers to the cops they've got the wrong house . They tell her to shut up and go back inside.

With the pounding unanswered, the 4 foot - 8, 85 year old grandmother doesn't know the sound is coming from her own door - the SWAT team pulls out a battering ram to break down the front door.

It doesn't yield because, for safety's sake, the widow's son had it reinforced some years back.

Undeterred, the SWAT team places an explosive charge on the door just as the widow, Sandy Cohen, is walking down the stairs from the second floor to the living room.

"They blew off her front door with an explosive device and entered in full gear with lasers pointed toward her chest," said her son, Steve Cohen, who lives on the West Coast but rushed home to Philly after the incident.

Sandy Cohen raised her arms defensively and told the cops they were in the wrong house, according to her son.

"That's what everyone says," one officer scoffed, according to the 55-year-old Cohen, a journalist who was general manager of WCAU-TV from 1983 - 1990.

His mother, who has heart problems, was standing in the middle of a smoke-filled room, coughing.

After a quick inspection, the cops lowered their weapons and lifted the visors.

"It looks like we got the wrong hours," Cohen quotes one of them as saying.

"The SWAT team acted appropriately, once they realized what they did," said Cohen. "We are not anti-cop here."

But a horrible - and almost tragic - mistake was made and Cohen wants some answers. To get them, he hired attorney Gilbert Scutti, who sent letters to city solicitor Nelson Diaz and Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson on Oct 1.

Scutti termed the actions of the police "indefensible; it creates a grotesquerie of police work ... it is only throught the greatest good fortune that the price she paid was not the ultimate one: the same abject ineptitude that drove this cast of incompetents to make violent entry into her home could have resulted in her being fatally wounded."

Scutti intends to file a civil rights and personal injury lawsuit in federal court in 30 days, he said in the letter, to "plumb the depths of the incompetence of all responsible parties." The letter told both Johnson and Diaz that Scutti was available to discuss the incident prior to filing suit.

As of yesterday, Scutti has not been contacted either by police or the city solicitor.
.........
While seemingly livid in his letter, Scutti can't be characterized as anti-cop. From 1972 to 1978, he was the chief of the criminal division of the U.S. Attorney's office in Philadelphia.

For my part, I would like to here about the procedures that resulted in the raid on Sandy Cohen's house. The cops had a warrant based on information from an informer, who was either mistaken or lying.

One question that hangs in the air is whether the cops performed any surveillance or investigation before bursting into a widow's home, guns drawn, scaring her nearly half to death.

Something is wrong here in addition to the address on the search warrant.

************** End Article

Comment: If I'm sitting on the potty does this mean I should leave my door unlocked in case the cops get the wrong house?

Certainly would be bad to be caught with my pants down, but you never know when the WoD will get the wrong house. It would save them from replacing my door (or would they do that?).

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/771017/posts

spacemanspiff · October 17, 2002, 04:03 PM

at the very least disarm the booby traps and set out some coffee and doughnuts for the boys doing their darndest to do a good job.

seeker_two · October 17, 2002, 04:07 PM

The worst thing about cases like this is that, even when the police are BLATANTLY wrong, they do not issue an apology or offer restitution for the mistake. They hold out until the victim, city, and courts end up spending thousands of dollars in court to finally see justice done.

What happened to the days when they were called "peace officers" and were here to "protect & serve"?

Guy B. Meredith · October 17, 2002, 04:12 PM

seeker_two,

When are you going to get it straight--the police protect society, not the individual. And remember that the police are allowed to act only after one or more individuals have been sacrificed to create a criminal situation.

bastiat · October 17, 2002, 04:52 PM

I am so going to get a demilled missle base for my dream home. Try doing a no-knock on one of those, my Jack-Booted friend!

KSFreeman · October 17, 2002, 05:13 PM

Finally! I've wondered when we were going to crack down on elderly women. I volunteer as SWAT trainer!

"Freeze, grandma! Give me back my Socialist Security money and no one gets hurt!"

Torquemada · October 17, 2002, 05:17 PM

Quote:

"They blew off her front door with an explosive device and entered in full gear with LASERS pointed toward her chest," said her son, Steve Cohen, who lives on the West Coast but rushed home to Philly after the incident.

WOW! Philly SWAT ain't foolin' around no more!

jdthaddeus · October 17, 2002, 06:00 PM

I think we should take this kind of thing far more seriously and demand legal ramifications for kicking down the wrong door.

In other words, if they kick down the wrong door, the offending officers should be arrested and charged for a crime. Cops are not above the law. In fact, they should answer more strongly to the law.

If they kick down the wrong door and point guns at someone, they should be treated by the law as any other home invader. Maybe once that happens, they will be a 'little' more respectful and careful about getting it right.

another okie · October 17, 2002, 06:04 PM

This is partly the fault of lazy judges. When the application for the warrant is made the judge needs to question the source of the information and method of carrying out the warrant. That's what they get paid for.

Hardtarget · October 17, 2002, 09:55 PM

About two years ago, here in middle Tenn., the police pulled a similar "entry"...killed the home owner. He thought it was a home invasion,(and it was!), so he shot at the invaders.Things went from bad to worse quickly...I don't think it lasted 20 seconds. Makes you ponder your actions if an "invasion" happens to you. If you hesitate the B.G. kills you, but if you act...and its the cops in the wrong door...the cops kill you. It becomes a lose/lose situation.
Mark.

Halo · October 17, 2002, 10:48 PM

Another victory for the war on some drugs. She's lucky she wasn't killed. Others haven't been so lucky.

Jesse H · October 18, 2002, 12:37 AM

wow. to think if this happened in one of your typical TFL member's home, it could get really ugly.

Any one of us here would reach for a gun if our house was unexpectedly rushed. By the time we identify that they're just swat, we've already got gun in hand....God I can only hope that I'm able to drop my gun before they identify me as a threat and open fire. eeks.

Rickstir · October 18, 2002, 10:54 AM

She got off REAL lucky. Remember a few years ago the Philly cops dropped a bomb from a helicopter on a house. That one burned two square blocks and cost the city millions of dollars.

Police should be prosecuted, along with the informer that fed the wrong information. Doing both may (but not likely) influence future actions.

Thank God this one turned out okay.....for now.

AndrewWalkowiak · October 18, 2002, 11:06 AM

A double screwup if you think about it.

If the "right" house was on that street, they have certainly relocated thier operations by now...

Seeker · October 18, 2002, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Remember a few years ago the Philly cops dropped a bomb from a helicopter on a house.

They did WHAT?

Drjones · October 18, 2002, 12:42 PM

In all seriousness guys, those old ladies can be trouble! I mean, with all those knitting needles? COME ON! That's a hijacking waiting to happen!!!

Seriously, that's awful and I'm glad she didn't have a heart attack! Poor thing...

If they did that to my house, I'd MAKE them give me one of their SWAT uniforms and a couple MP5's!!!

That'll teach 'em!

Joe Demko · October 18, 2002, 12:59 PM

Quote:

They did WHAT?

That was back in 1985. They dropped a bomb (actually more of an incindiary device) on a building in an effort to drive out the members of MOVE. They did millions of dollars in damage and burnt several buildings to the ground.

See this article for starters.

lgm_rambone · October 18, 2002, 01:16 PM

Quote:

They dropped a bomb (actually more of an incindiary device)

I think it was closer to 2 lbs. of C-4.

Quote:

SWAT Team Invades Elderly Widow's Home

This crap has been going on for 20-30 years, I'm suprised people still get upset over it.

DAVID NANCARROW · October 18, 2002, 01:23 PM

Wonder if G-ma passed the NICS (National Institute of Crocheting and Sewing) check for those assault hooks?

lgm_rambone · October 18, 2002, 03:00 PM

http://rwor.org/a/v22/1052-059/1057/move.htm

lgm_rambone · October 18, 2002, 03:10 PM

Correction, it was 4 1/2 lbs. of C-4

http://www.newsmax.com/articles/?a=1999/9/22/85323

AUTiger73 · October 18, 2002, 04:49 PM

FBI Targets Elderly Women As "Persons Of Interest" In Sniper Investigation

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/771678/posts

http://toogoodreports.com/column/gen...021020-fss.htm

Here another case !!!

What is it with these cops and elderly women?

Articles above cover various activities of the anti-gun fascist. Skipping on down you will find the following:

Edna Mae Frankline, a nearsighted grandmother of 10, says she hopes the Police find the shooter, but she wishes they didn't have to frisk her to find him. "I had just left the pharmacy and was turning on to Main Street when the Police pulled me over," she said. "I thought I had forgotten to use my turn signal again, but when the officer pulled his gun and ordered me to get out of the car, I knew something bad was about to happen."

Ms. Franklin was ordered to lie facedown on the sidewalk as her 1983 Lincoln Continental was searched for weapons. Although no guns were found, bomb-sniffing dogs did fine a suspicious white powder, which, after ANALysis, turned out to be powdered sugar from a pie Edna Mae had recently delivered to a sick friend.

"I know they were just doing their jobs," Edna Mae said. "But I just don't see why they didn't pull over the white Econovan in front of me. Those two Arab men inside looked a little suspicious, if you ask me."

AUTiger73 · October 18, 2002, 05:28 PM

Must have been the deadly white powder from Grandma's pie that attracted their attention.

Still trying to visualize Grandma face down on the ground.

Grandma makes one helluva pie to attract that kind of attention ...

glockgirl · October 18, 2002, 05:58 PM

Note to self: Put knitting needles and confectioner's sugar in gun safe. Leave front door unlocked while showering. Check Better Homes & Gardens for hostessing tips for SWAT teams.

C.R.Sam · October 18, 2002, 10:00 PM

Long odds but...
Still, a very real problem for those who are hearing impaired and/or don't walk very fast untill they get their legs on and adjusted.

Seems to me that the OinC of the Philly fiasco later became L.A. Chief.

Sam

October 17, 2002, 04:00 PM	#1
AUTiger73 Senior Member Join Date: January 13, 2000 Posts: 375	War on Elderly Women Begins War on Drugs has progressed on War on Elderly http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/...al/4243257.htm SWAT Team Invades Elderly Widow's Home It's 10 a.m. on a quiet Sunday morning in Oxford Circle. The coffee's making, the birds are chirping. An elderly widow is in her bathroom, toweling off after a shower. A four-member Philadelphia Police Department SWAT team arrives clutching a search warrant for guns and drugs - and pounds on her Sylvester Street door. A neighbor hollers to the cops they've got the wrong house . They tell her to shut up and go back inside. With the pounding unanswered, the 4 foot - 8, 85 year old grandmother doesn't know the sound is coming from her own door - the SWAT team pulls out a battering ram to break down the front door. It doesn't yield because, for safety's sake, the widow's son had it reinforced some years back. Undeterred, the SWAT team places an explosive charge on the door just as the widow, Sandy Cohen, is walking down the stairs from the second floor to the living room. "They blew off her front door with an explosive device and entered in full gear with lasers pointed toward her chest," said her son, Steve Cohen, who lives on the West Coast but rushed home to Philly after the incident. Sandy Cohen raised her arms defensively and told the cops they were in the wrong house, according to her son. "That's what everyone says," one officer scoffed, according to the 55-year-old Cohen, a journalist who was general manager of WCAU-TV from 1983 - 1990. His mother, who has heart problems, was standing in the middle of a smoke-filled room, coughing. After a quick inspection, the cops lowered their weapons and lifted the visors. "It looks like we got the wrong hours," Cohen quotes one of them as saying. "The SWAT team acted appropriately, once they realized what they did," said Cohen. "We are not anti-cop here." But a horrible - and almost tragic - mistake was made and Cohen wants some answers. To get them, he hired attorney Gilbert Scutti, who sent letters to city solicitor Nelson Diaz and Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson on Oct 1. Scutti termed the actions of the police "indefensible; it creates a grotesquerie of police work ... it is only throught the greatest good fortune that the price she paid was not the ultimate one: the same abject ineptitude that drove this cast of incompetents to make violent entry into her home could have resulted in her being fatally wounded." Scutti intends to file a civil rights and personal injury lawsuit in federal court in 30 days, he said in the letter, to "plumb the depths of the incompetence of all responsible parties." The letter told both Johnson and Diaz that Scutti was available to discuss the incident prior to filing suit. As of yesterday, Scutti has not been contacted either by police or the city solicitor. ......... While seemingly livid in his letter, Scutti can't be characterized as anti-cop. From 1972 to 1978, he was the chief of the criminal division of the U.S. Attorney's office in Philadelphia. For my part, I would like to here about the procedures that resulted in the raid on Sandy Cohen's house. The cops had a warrant based on information from an informer, who was either mistaken or lying. One question that hangs in the air is whether the cops performed any surveillance or investigation before bursting into a widow's home, guns drawn, scaring her nearly half to death. Something is wrong here in addition to the address on the search warrant. ************** End Article Comment: If I'm sitting on the potty does this mean I should leave my door unlocked in case the cops get the wrong house? Certainly would be bad to be caught with my pants down, but you never know when the WoD will get the wrong house. It would save them from replacing my door (or would they do that?). http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/771017/posts __________________ Always Condition Yellow

October 17, 2002, 04:03 PM	#2
spacemanspiff Senior Member Join Date: January 16, 2002 Location: alaska Posts: 3,498	at the very least disarm the booby traps and set out some coffee and doughnuts for the boys doing their darndest to do a good job. __________________ "Every man alone is sincere; at the entrance of a second person hypocrisy begins." - Ralph Waldo Emerson "People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use." - Soren Kierkegaard

October 17, 2002, 04:07 PM	#3
seeker_two Senior Member Join Date: August 31, 2002 Location: Deep in the Heart of the Lone Star State (TX) Posts: 2,169	The worst thing about cases like this is that, even when the police are BLATANTLY wrong, they do not issue an apology or offer restitution for the mistake. They hold out until the victim, city, and courts end up spending thousands of dollars in court to finally see justice done. What happened to the days when they were called "peace officers" and were here to "protect & serve"? __________________ Proud member of Gun Culture 2.0......

October 17, 2002, 04:52 PM	#5
bastiat Senior Member Join Date: February 14, 2001 Posts: 1,771	I am so going to get a demilled missle base for my dream home. Try doing a no-knock on one of those, my Jack-Booted friend! __________________ Flashbunny.org - Pro-Freedom Propaganda Politically Incorrect & Pro-Gun Stuff To Buy

October 17, 2002, 05:13 PM	#6
KSFreeman Senior Member Join Date: June 9, 2001 Location: Lafayette, Indiana--American-occupied America Posts: 5,418	Finally! I've wondered when we were going to crack down on elderly women. I volunteer as SWAT trainer! "Freeze, grandma! Give me back my Socialist Security money and no one gets hurt!" __________________ "Arguments of policy must give way to a constitutional command." Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 602 (1980).

October 17, 2002, 04:12 PM	#4
Guy B. Meredith Senior Member Join Date: August 29, 1999 Location: Salem, Oregon Posts: 1,581	seeker_two, When are you going to get it straight--the police protect society, not the individual. And remember that the police are allowed to act only after one or more individuals have been sacrificed to create a criminal situation.

October 17, 2002, 06:00 PM	#8
jdthaddeus Senior Member Join Date: November 20, 1999 Location: Az Posts: 470	I think we should take this kind of thing far more seriously and demand legal ramifications for kicking down the wrong door. In other words, if they kick down the wrong door, the offending officers should be arrested and charged for a crime. Cops are not above the law. In fact, they should answer more strongly to the law. If they kick down the wrong door and point guns at someone, they should be treated by the law as any other home invader. Maybe once that happens, they will be a 'little' more respectful and careful about getting it right.

October 17, 2002, 06:04 PM	#9
another okie Senior Member Join Date: November 11, 2001 Posts: 273	This is partly the fault of lazy judges. When the application for the warrant is made the judge needs to question the source of the information and method of carrying out the warrant. That's what they get paid for.

October 17, 2002, 09:55 PM	#10
Hardtarget Senior Member Join Date: May 3, 2001 Location: Nashville, Tn. Posts: 683	About two years ago, here in middle Tenn., the police pulled a similar "entry"...killed the home owner. He thought it was a home invasion,(and it was!), so he shot at the invaders.Things went from bad to worse quickly...I don't think it lasted 20 seconds. Makes you ponder your actions if an "invasion" happens to you. If you hesitate the B.G. kills you, but if you act...and its the cops in the wrong door...the cops kill you. It becomes a lose/lose situation. Mark. __________________ ...even a blind hog finds an acorn every once in a while.

October 17, 2002, 10:48 PM	#11
Halo Senior Member Join Date: June 12, 2000 Location: Charlotte, NC Posts: 408	Another victory for the war on some drugs. She's lucky she wasn't killed. Others haven't been so lucky.

October 18, 2002, 12:37 AM	#12
Jesse H Senior Member Join Date: January 10, 2001 Location: Sugar Land, TX Posts: 573	wow. to think if this happened in one of your typical TFL member's home, it could get really ugly. Any one of us here would reach for a gun if our house was unexpectedly rushed. By the time we identify that they're just swat, we've already got gun in hand....God I can only hope that I'm able to drop my gun before they identify me as a threat and open fire. eeks. __________________ Jesse "We’ll raise up our glasses against evil forces Singing whiskey for my men, beer for my horses" -Toby Keith

October 18, 2002, 10:54 AM	#13
Rickstir Senior Member Join Date: May 7, 2002 Location: Close on the Elk Fork of the Salt River Posts: 166	She got off REAL lucky. Remember a few years ago the Philly cops dropped a bomb from a helicopter on a house. That one burned two square blocks and cost the city millions of dollars. Police should be prosecuted, along with the informer that fed the wrong information. Doing both may (but not likely) influence future actions. Thank God this one turned out okay.....for now. __________________ When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling. Live your life so at the end, you're the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.

October 18, 2002, 11:06 AM	#14
AndrewWalkowiak Senior Member Join Date: August 3, 2001 Location: WI Posts: 191	A double screwup if you think about it. If the "right" house was on that street, they have certainly relocated thier operations by now...

October 18, 2002, 12:42 PM	#16
Drjones Senior Member Join Date: July 16, 2002 Posts: 1,239	In all seriousness guys, those old ladies can be trouble! I mean, with all those knitting needles? COME ON! That's a hijacking waiting to happen!!! Seriously, that's awful and I'm glad she didn't have a heart attack! Poor thing... If they did that to my house, I'd MAKE them give me one of their SWAT uniforms and a couple MP5's!!! That'll teach 'em!

October 18, 2002, 01:23 PM	#19
DAVID NANCARROW Senior Member Join Date: November 5, 2000 Location: Wyoming Posts: 1,761	Wonder if G-ma passed the NICS (National Institute of Crocheting and Sewing) check for those assault hooks?

October 18, 2002, 03:00 PM	#20
lgm_rambone Senior Member Join Date: October 7, 2002 Posts: 109	http://rwor.org/a/v22/1052-059/1057/move.htm

October 18, 2002, 03:10 PM	#21
lgm_rambone Senior Member Join Date: October 7, 2002 Posts: 109	Correction, it was 4 1/2 lbs. of C-4 http://www.newsmax.com/articles/?a=1999/9/22/85323

October 18, 2002, 04:49 PM	#22
AUTiger73 Senior Member Join Date: January 13, 2000 Posts: 375	FBI Targets Elderly Women As "Persons Of Interest" In Sniper Investigation http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/771678/posts http://toogoodreports.com/column/gen...021020-fss.htm Here another case !!! What is it with these cops and elderly women? Articles above cover various activities of the anti-gun fascist. Skipping on down you will find the following: Edna Mae Frankline, a nearsighted grandmother of 10, says she hopes the Police find the shooter, but she wishes they didn't have to frisk her to find him. "I had just left the pharmacy and was turning on to Main Street when the Police pulled me over," she said. "I thought I had forgotten to use my turn signal again, but when the officer pulled his gun and ordered me to get out of the car, I knew something bad was about to happen." Ms. Franklin was ordered to lie facedown on the sidewalk as her 1983 Lincoln Continental was searched for weapons. Although no guns were found, bomb-sniffing dogs did fine a suspicious white powder, which, after ANALysis, turned out to be powdered sugar from a pie Edna Mae had recently delivered to a sick friend. "I know they were just doing their jobs," Edna Mae said. "But I just don't see why they didn't pull over the white Econovan in front of me. Those two Arab men inside looked a little suspicious, if you ask me." __________________ Always Condition Yellow

October 18, 2002, 05:28 PM	#23
AUTiger73 Senior Member Join Date: January 13, 2000 Posts: 375	Must have been the deadly white powder from Grandma's pie that attracted their attention. Still trying to visualize Grandma face down on the ground. Grandma makes one helluva pie to attract that kind of attention ... __________________ Always Condition Yellow

October 18, 2002, 05:58 PM	#24
glockgirl Member Join Date: October 14, 2002 Location: Bellevue, WA Posts: 72	Note to self: Put knitting needles and confectioner's sugar in gun safe. Leave front door unlocked while showering. Check Better Homes & Gardens for hostessing tips for SWAT teams.

October 18, 2002, 10:00 PM	#25
C.R.Sam Senior Member Join Date: October 29, 1999 Location: Dewey, AZ Posts: 12,858	Long odds but... Still, a very real problem for those who are hearing impaired and/or don't walk very fast untill they get their legs on and adjusted. Seems to me that the OinC of the Philly fiasco later became L.A. Chief. Sam