Police Invade Home Blow Dog's Head Off
10-29-2007
Ottawa Sun
A Vanier woman is claiming police brutality after tactical team officers with a warrant to search for drugs broke down her door Thursday, shot two of her dogs to death and terrified her teen daughters.
Joanne Charlebois said she was spending the evening packing for a move with the help of friends, and her daughters, aged 16 and 19, were studying with a pal, when men in helmets broke down the door of her McArthur Ave apartment.
Charlebois claims officers gave no warning before shooting the dogs, whom she says were gentle mutts who were running away in fear. They left bullet holes in the floor and a casing under the sofa.
"I heard bangs at the front door, they knocked the door in," a weeping Charlebois said. "I thought it was a joke for Halloween.
'THEY BLEW HER HEAD OFF'
"Then click, boom, boom. My dog (Daisy) was in the air, her legs shaking. Then my dog Maxine came running to me and they blew her head off right next to me.
"They came in and terrorized my household. They killed our dogs ... I'm traumatized, my daughters are traumatized."
The officers kept asking where the cocaine and guns were hidden and tore the place apart.
Charlebois says she had small quantities of pot and cocaine for personal use but showed documents indicating she faces three counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking and one count of possessing of the proceeds of crime.
Ottawa Police, who didn't tell the media about the raid, could not confirm what was found or what charges were laid.
Staff-Sgt. David Veinotte said officers arrested eight people.
"They were confronted by pit bull mixes inside the premises," Veinotte said.
A spokeswoman for the Ottawa Humane Society says the two dead dogs delivered to them by the police were pitbull or mastiff types and weighed about 85 lbs. each.
The shooting is under investigation by the professional standards section, which is normal procedure.
ALWAYS TWO SIDES
"There are always two sides to every story," Veinotte said of the incident.
Martina Charlebois, 19, says she was cuffed and thrown down as she reached for her dead pets to comfort them.
"They dragged me through the blood, " she said.
"He had his foot to the back of my head and a gun to my head. I just wanted to touch them."
The teen spent the night in jail, where she was strip-searched, before being released with her mother. Martina, who wasn't charged, said she hasn't been able to eat or sleep since.
"This is what they did to my family," Charlebois said, clutching photos of her dogs' bloodied bodies. "What they did is wrong."
10-29-2007
Ottawa Sun
A Vanier woman is claiming police brutality after tactical team officers with a warrant to search for drugs broke down her door Thursday, shot two of her dogs to death and terrified her teen daughters.
Joanne Charlebois said she was spending the evening packing for a move with the help of friends, and her daughters, aged 16 and 19, were studying with a pal, when men in helmets broke down the door of her McArthur Ave apartment.
Charlebois claims officers gave no warning before shooting the dogs, whom she says were gentle mutts who were running away in fear. They left bullet holes in the floor and a casing under the sofa.
"I heard bangs at the front door, they knocked the door in," a weeping Charlebois said. "I thought it was a joke for Halloween.
'THEY BLEW HER HEAD OFF'
"Then click, boom, boom. My dog (Daisy) was in the air, her legs shaking. Then my dog Maxine came running to me and they blew her head off right next to me.
"They came in and terrorized my household. They killed our dogs ... I'm traumatized, my daughters are traumatized."
The officers kept asking where the cocaine and guns were hidden and tore the place apart.
Charlebois says she had small quantities of pot and cocaine for personal use but showed documents indicating she faces three counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking and one count of possessing of the proceeds of crime.
Ottawa Police, who didn't tell the media about the raid, could not confirm what was found or what charges were laid.
Staff-Sgt. David Veinotte said officers arrested eight people.
"They were confronted by pit bull mixes inside the premises," Veinotte said.
A spokeswoman for the Ottawa Humane Society says the two dead dogs delivered to them by the police were pitbull or mastiff types and weighed about 85 lbs. each.
The shooting is under investigation by the professional standards section, which is normal procedure.
ALWAYS TWO SIDES
"There are always two sides to every story," Veinotte said of the incident.
Martina Charlebois, 19, says she was cuffed and thrown down as she reached for her dead pets to comfort them.
"They dragged me through the blood, " she said.
"He had his foot to the back of my head and a gun to my head. I just wanted to touch them."
The teen spent the night in jail, where she was strip-searched, before being released with her mother. Martina, who wasn't charged, said she hasn't been able to eat or sleep since.
"This is what they did to my family," Charlebois said, clutching photos of her dogs' bloodied bodies. "What they did is wrong."
