Published on: Wednesday, June 24, 2009

By Graham Moomaw, Special to The Sentinel

The mayor of Berwyn Heights, Cheye Calvo, filed a lawsuit against the Prince George’s County Police Department on Monday, saying that authorities had “utterly failed” to conduct a thorough review of a botched drug raid at his home last summer during which police shot and killed his two dogs.

The announcement follows a police statement released on June 19, in which Prince George’s County Sheriff Michael Jackson announced that an internal review of the incident found police had acted appropriately, saying the raid was done “in a professional and acceptable manner.”

The lawsuit was filed against the state of Maryland, Prince George’s County, Sheriff Jackson, detective Shawn Scarlata, and two “John Doe” deputies whose names were not released to Calvo. The lawsuit claims the raid was unlawful under the conditions of the search warrant and the amount of force used was unjustifiable because police failed to adequately investigate Calvo and his family before deploying the SWAT team. Calvo is seeking unspecified monetary damages and an injunction against the defendants that would prevent the police from carrying out similar raids in the future.

Calvo explained his decision to sue by saying the law enforcement agencies involved were incapable of changing themselves voluntarily and required outside forces to compel them to change.

“Our communities are tired of being embarrassed by this county’s failed leadership,” said Calvo. “Prince George’s County deserves better. Every citizen, every resident of this county deserves better.”

In July 2008, a Prince George’s County SWAT unit raided Calvo’s home after authorities intercepted a 32-pound package of marijuana addressed to his wife, Trinity Tomsic. The couple’s two Labrador retrievers, Payton and Chase, were shot and killed during the raid. Calvo and his mother-in-law, Georgia Porter, were handcuffed and forced to sit on the floor for hours while police searched the home.

Calvo and his family were cleared of any wrongdoing after police discovered the drugs were part of a trafficking scheme in which packages were addressed to unsuspecting victims in order to avoid detection. Two people were arrested shortly after the raid, including a FedEx delivery driver.

The incident drew national attention and eventually led to the passage of a state law this spring that requires Maryland law enforcement agencies to provide detailed incident reports after each SWAT team deployment.

Despite the public outrage over the incident, Sheriff Jackson has persistently defended his deputies, saying last week that they “did their job to the fullest extent of their abilities.”

But, Calvo still rejects Sheriff Jackson’s claims the dogs had threatened the officers and Calvo’s mother-in-law’s scream after seeing armed men on the lawn gave a reason to forcefully enter the home and use deadly force against the dogs.

Tomsic also voiced her dismay. “I felt that it was really important for me to say to Sheriff Jackson how deeply, deeply offended I am that he would blame my mother for the execution of Payton and Chase,” she said.

In response to speculation that Sheriff Jackson might be thinking of running for a higher position in county leadership, Calvo said he would do everything in his power to prevent Jackson from holding another public office.

“The consequences of failure are much greater in a line of work where individuals are given a badge, a gun and a special trust,” Calvo said.