The complaint details an encounter on July 24th after they left their apartment to go grocery shopping. They say that their vehicle was pulled over by four officers with assault rifles, fatigues, and bulletproof vests. They say that an officer refused to tell them why they were stopped and simply said “you know what it is for mother fucker.” The police demanded to know where the guns and drugs were. Despite their denials and the lack of any drugs or guns found in the car, the police searched the couple, damaged their van by ripping out panels and carpeting, and took them in for interrogation. The couple said that the police threatened to take away their children — a threat that we have heard in other cases of questionable arrests and interrogations.
They were told that their apartment was raid while they were being interrogated. When they were eventually released and returned home, they say that they found a disaster area of torn and tossed furniture and missing items including a flat screen televisions, laptops, their children’s video games and even their $1,500 in money orders for Allen’s tax refund. The front door was busted in.
They say that police denied taking the property but that later they learned that Lake County MEG cashed in her $1,500 in money orders. They say that, when they brought the proof of the cashing in of the money order, the police told them that they wouldn’t give back the money until they hired a lawyer and could prove that the money orders didn’t come from drug proceeds. I recently wrote about similar cases around the country.
Timmons said that the trauma cost her her job and the couple was thrown out of their apartment as a result of the damage.
The MEG has been previously accused of such abuse.
Source: IBTimes
Kudos: Michael Blott