Texas cops raid farm commune when mistaking tomato plants for marijuana

[marble falls]

Last edited Mon Apr 27, 2020, 04:13 PM - Edit history (1)

Texas cops raid farm commune when mistaking tomato plants for marijuana
By Arturo Garcia
Wednesday, August 14, 2013 10:32 EDT
Texas cops criticized for botched drug raid on 'Garden of Eden' [KXAS-TV]

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Police in Arlington, Texas are being criticized for their tactics during a drug raid on a local farm that came up empty while allegedly damaging both the property and the crops.

“They can’t even tell the difference between tomato plants and a marijuana drug cartel,” farm resident Quinn Eaker told KXAS-TV. “That’s just really bad intel.”

Eaker said to KXAS that he and several residents at the “Garden of Eden” sustainability garden were handcuffed at gunpoint by officers during the Aug. 2 raid, which also involved a SWAT team, after an undercover officer and helicopter surveillance allegedly gave authorities probable cause to believe there was marijuana being grown on the premises.

“They came here under the guise that we were doing a drug trafficking, marijuana-growing operation,” owner Shellie Smith told WFAA-TV. “They destroyed everything.”




http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/14/texas-cops-raid-farm-commune-when-mistaking-tomato-plants-for-marijuana/

[newfie11]

1. DUH!

Maybe they better learn what pot looks like in the field.

[Garion_55]

2. 'the police stand by the fact they wasted thousands of

dollars of hard earned tax payer money for absolutely no reason at all and say they would do it again because cops dont give a fuck'

[enough]

3. Not to mention wasting all the work that went into that garden. I hope these folks get more

than an apology.

[magical thyme]

7. they should return what they stole and restore what they destroyed

The video shows a good 4-5 sheets of paper listing, front and back, the property they took. That's quite a bit of stuff they took on their so-called drug raid.

People targeted by the cops should consider putting game cameras up. They are 100% battery operated and camoflauged, so the police won't realize they're on film until it's too late for them to destroy the cameras.

(I'm not targeted by our cops, but I have bad neighbors so am installing game cameras to catch future trespassing and harassment of my animals on film.)

[hobbit709]

4. Any halfwit should be able to tell the difference-never mind, it was cops.

[yesphan]

5. "Typically we wouldn’t do that, but they were compliant.”

I'm sure they were really hoping they would resist a bit so they could use lethal force.

[MrScorpio]

6. This was nothing but pure harassment

They didn't like the hippies, so the cops trumped up the charges to go in there and intimidate them.

They should get a lawyer and sue the fuck out of those cops and the fucking DA

[Ganja Ninja]

8. Exactly

Communes are full of communists and it's always open season on them.

[RC]

9. Hey cops, here are some pictures.

The recognizable marijuana leaf with five to seven leaflets attached at a center point

[MrMickeysMom]

19. Plus, the tomatoes don't stay lit, officers!

[rocktivity]

10. If that's the police's idea of professionalism

they must be on drugs.

Restitution, anyone?


rocktivity

[KansDem]

11. Man, now I know why the tomato-plant leaves I smoked last night...

...didn't do a damn thing for me!

[Kingofalldems]

12. 'We're gonna git them dirty hippies!'

Just like the guy said, the cops were dying to arrest those people.

[blackspade]

13. So reason they took things from the farm was based on what?

If there was no grow operation, why did they confiscate (steal) anything?
Code violations? What violations exactly?
The video is some piss poor reporting.

[They_Live]

14. Yay Cops!

The best ever!


I hope they get sued for a tremendous amount of money, tomatoes are expensive!

[DeSwiss]

15. “That’s just really bad intel.”

- No, I'm afraid it's actually built that way.

K&R

[The Wizard]

16. Suspecting drugs

is not grounds to abuse law abiding citizens. But hey, this is police state America where worshiping uniforms is what we do.

[Scalded Nun]

17. Welcome to Texas, Welcome to America

This is the treatment everyone can start expecting in this country. It matters not if you are completely innocent, it only matters that 'they' (powers that be, and NOT just the police) can carry their intent on to completion, whatever their definition of completion may be (harassment, show of force, they do not like the way you look or talk, etc.).

Police no longer act with integrity and honor. Blanket statement, yes, but honor among police is getting to be the exception and no longer the rule. Texas is now a leader in this approach to law enforcement. Once other states see just how far Texas can go they will follow. It's a race to the bottom and you better not get in their way.

[MrMickeysMom]

18. Hey Ya'll... here's the Chief of Police's phone number...

817-459-5600

You'll probably get his secretary's voice mail, like I did. I told them, "everyone makes mistakes... even the police"... I gave them two suggestions:

1) Apologize to the persons owning that farm where you mis-identified tomato plants for marijuana plants.

2) Pay for the crops the police department destroyed because they can't tell the difference.

I was so nice, some of my Texas accent came back... and I only lived there for 3 years!

I THINK EVERYONE SHOULD GIVE THEM A CALL...

[iamthebandfanman]

20. sounds like they assumed

that hed have some pot somewhere they could find and charge him with..

they probably didn't even really mistake the tomatoes for pot...
just using that as an excuse to get onto his property and search him

[unhappycamper]

21. A Texas SWAT team took down the Garden of Eden.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/15/texas-swat-team-conducts-_n_3764951.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular