Marijuana raid in metro Detroit sparks lawsuit

Marijuana raid led by Southfield police using flash-bang grenades on an elderly couple that netted a few crumbs of the drug leads to a federal lawsuit.

The Freep.com reported May 19th, 2010 that because of the tactics used in the December 2004 bust, Leonid and Arlene Marmelshtein are suing the "...Southfield Police Department and 10 officers who took part in the raid, alleging use of excessive force in storming their house and terrorizing them."

"After battering down their front door, the cops tossed in two flash-bang grenades and knocked Leonid Marmelshtein, a 69-year-old Russian immigrant, to the ground," cited Freep,com.

A flash-bang grenade was used in the recent raid of a home on Lillibridge in Detroit where police were tipped off on the wherabouts of a murder suspect. A 7 year old girl was shot and killed allegedly by a police officer. An investigation is pending, and at this point it doesn't look good for the police.

But does anyone actually believe the police officer intended to shoot Ayiana, and doesn't feel extremely distraught about it?

Noted attorney Jeffry Feiger is representing the family of the slain girl in a lawsuit alleging various claims about the girls death, police procedure, and warnings from a family member that their were children in the home.

The 2004 case against the Marmelshtein's involved allegations of marijuana sales taking place in their home bassed upon high traffic coming and going from the home. After police were tipped off by the neighbors, officers searched their garbage cans outisde and found small traces of marijuana.

After that stunning find, police obtained a warrant to search the home.

Lobbing in 2 flash-bang grenades, 10 police officers stormed the home, served the search warrant wild west style apparently, and eventually found some tiny crumbs of marijuana in an adult son's sock.

Flash bang grenade

Needless to say, the Marmelshteins filed suit. One of the claims is that Southfield police use these explosive decives without training. In fedral court lawyers for police said that the use of these flash-bang grenades was appropriate in this case. However, "...a federal judge disagreed," stating:

"No reasonable law enforcement officer would have considered a confused elderly couple to be capable of producing the kind of tense and rapidly evolving uncertain situation which would require 10 police officers to make split-second decisions, including the use of two flash-bang devices," U.S. District Judge Julian Cook said in September in refusing Southfield's request to dismiss the suit," cited Freep.com.

The ruling was appealed by the attorney representing the police department.

However, Marmelshtein pled guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct, and the plea was taken under advisement eventually leading to the dismissal of the case of the pot crumb bust, after a tremendouos amount of resources were wasted for this whole affair.

If any one hasn't noticed lately, both police and citizens are becoming more, and more violent. And bust for marijuana are a waste of time, if officers are only after that substance. But Detroit, and its suburbs seem to be on a mission to clean up the marijuana as well.

Michigan legislators are already writing laws to imprison medical marijuana users if they grow their own pot. And communites in Michigan are putting up obstacles for opening up marijuana dispensaries. Marijuana has been shown to fight brain tumors, and a host of other medical conditions, but there is this tenacity by authorities that just won't let go.

With all the violence going on in Detroit, and suburbs, police should be focusing on more pressing concerns like hard drugs, gangs, and illegal weapons floating all over the place. And they are making some progress. However, mistakes have been costly.

The death of Detroit police officer Brian Huff, 42, is another tragic event that may have been preventable.

As long as these raids in metro Detroit, and elsewhere continue while using either faulty intelligence, or ignoring warnings, innocent people will keep getting hurt, and even killed, and that simply is not acceptable. The death of Aiyana Jones, and the Marmelshtein's case underscores some of the problems that can occur in these situations.

This article wasn't meant to BBQ the police because they do have a very difficult job, especially in Detroit, but something has to change in order to stop all this senseless violence, accidents, and outright negligence by both citizens, and police.

In the flow...

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If you or a loved one needs help with any type of drug abuse/addiction problem, contact these sites depending on where you live. SEMCA (Wayne County residents), CARE (Macomb County residents), PACE (Oakland County residents), Drug Free Detroit (City of Detroit residents). For those residing outside the State of Michigan, contact SAMHSA for assistance. For assistance with medical marijuana contact The Michigan Medical Marijuana Association, or Michigan Medical Marijuana Certification Center.

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