Drug Busted
At five in the morning of Tuesday, December 6, 2011 a special crime squad conducted raids on houses on 41st, 48th and 49th streets, as well as Mayflower Avenue on the Old Dominion University campus. A total of ten arrests were made, nine of whom are reportedly students at the University. The ERSOU (Eastern Regional Special Operations Unit) are a special crime squad formed in July 2010 to take on serious and organized crime in the Hampton Roads area.
A side of the story not usually seen, what follows is a firsthand account of one of the raids carried out by the Virginia State Police. As they prefer to remain anonymous, the names in the following account have been changed.
Old Dominion student Kevin fell asleep Monday night with no idea he would be woken up at 5 am by a sharp pain in the face. Only aware of the pain and blood, he assumed his house was being robbed. In his own words, Kevin “sprang up” but was hit immediately with a Taser in his right leg. He “smacked it away and started swinging,” unaware that his assailants were the Virginia State Police and his house the object of a drug raid. Spurred on by Kevin’s frantic struggles, the officers hit him again with the Taser, and then again. When he was no longer able to move, they told him to get up and get dressed.
In an upstairs bedroom, J.D. had just finished a term paper but something was bothering him. A diesel engine had been idling outside for at least five minutes. He crossed the room to look out the window and heard a man’s voice shout “Contact!” followed by “State Police!” He threw his hands up and waited for the law.
Zeke too, was awake at that early hour. Watching television from his bed, he heard the call “State Police” from the front of the house, and then two booms sounded from the back door near his room. Wondering if the boys in the fraternity were playing a prank, he got up to investigate. When he was only a few steps away the door was forced open, slicing a gash into his toe. Two men in riot gear entered the room, one pointing a gun at him. They turned Zeke around and strapped him in flex-cuffs.
All three were led outside to the yard, along with the other three inhabitants of the house. Half dressed in boxers and basketball shorts, the boys were forced to lie face down in their yard. When he was brought out the other boys were astonished to see Kevin’s face, bloodied and bruised as he protested his extreme reaction to cold weather. “I get hives,” he explained during our interview. “Sometimes I go into shock, but they wouldn't listen.” The boys estimate the temperature to have been thirty degrees.
The officers called the students obscene names and jeered at them lying in the dirt. All six roommates report being called “dumbfucks” and “dirty dopers,” although searches turned up nothing illicit in most of their rooms. The boys also report the officers laughing about Kevin’s injuries. They lined the students up along the front of the house and asked them questions before allowing them back inside. The search continued and most of the flex-cuffs were removed.
Zeke was called to the kitchen to receive a misdemeanor ticket while J.D. listened to glass breaking in his bedroom and watched the police medic’s arrival. They wiped the blood from Kevin’s face, and told him he would not need stitches. Having been tasered three or four times as well as assaulted, Kevin later ended up receiving several stitches from a different medical professional.
He was interviewed by the Police, and reports being misquoted on several issues. Despite his explanation that he believed his house had been broken into, the officer insisted that Kevin had heard them announce their presence. Kevin recalls an officer telling him how “lenient” they had been with him, and that he was lucky to have avoided a ticket for resisting arrest.
One ounce of marijuana was discovered in the house, one arrest was made. All of the doors had been broken, and one had been split in two. All the bedrooms were trashed with clothing and personal items (including an entire upended bag of dry dog food), and Kevin’s sheets were covered with blood. The boys have accepted there will be no financial compensation for the destroyed property, and Don has been evicted.
Zeke received a misdemeanor for a small amount of marijuana in his room. Although he understands that the State Police were entering an unknown situation, Zeke feels that the events of the night were “ridiculous.” He states that the officers were behaving unprofessionally as well as exhibiting a “blatant abuse of authority.”
J.D. did not receive any charges but resents the midnight intrusion. He remembers an officer talking about how he had almost pulled the trigger on Kevin, referring to him as a “dumb motherfucker” for fighting back. Neither received any tickets during the evening, and Kevin is pressing charges for the physical trauma inflicted during the raid.
Six of the ten arrested on campus were charged with selling marijuana to undercover officers, and four for selling on or near the campus. A list of the ten arrested can be found on Wavy.com. On the Norfolk Constabulary website the ERSOU statement reads: “We are sending a clear message to the residents that dealing in drugs will not be tolerated and we will continue to tackle it robustly.”
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