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Only on 4: Video raises concerns about SWAT team's actions

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Updated: 10/01/2012 6:19 pm
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (KRNV & MyNews4.com) - A video obtained exclusively by News 4 is raising new questions about how law enforcement handled an investigation into the possible bribery of a South Lake Tahoe City Council member.

The home video from neighbors of bribery suspect Gino Dimatteo you can see at least 12 armed swat team members throwing a flash bang into his house while trying to execute a search warrant.

“If anybody would have been in the hallway approaching the door, it probably would have killed them,” defense attorney Ted Long said. “This is crazy. This is cowboy. This is wild west and citizens ought to be frightened.”

Long says officers knew the house was empty because his client was already detained at a separate search of another location. Long says he had the keys to the house and was offering to go unlock it.

“How are you going to justify this when you've got the suspect in custody and an attorney standing there with a key saying I’ll corporate with you. How do you justify this?” he said.

News 4 tried to get answers from the sheriff's office, but they have not yet returned our request for comment.

Long is asking the El Dorado County Grand Jury to look into how this case was handled.
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9 Comment(s)
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Here are the most recent story comments.View All

freethinker - 12/3/2012 5:46 PM
0 Votes
This is childs play compared to what they have in store for you and me. How do you think they will act in the coming crisis that is engineered by the Bilderberg group and the global elite? See Police State on infowars.com

meandthedog - 10/8/2012 8:50 AM
0 Votes
Paladin, COME ON!

NVWatch Dog - 10/7/2012 6:28 PM
1 Vote
Outrageous. Who pays for the damage? This is major retaliation against a good man. Why are the Government thugs and judges being investigated for bribery and having their homes destroyed by SWAT?

1renogirl - 10/5/2012 6:52 PM
1 Vote
Generally,the citizens with the most heartburn over law enforcement have had the most negative interaction with law enforcement. This holds true until the citizen NEEDS law enforcement then it becomes a different story.

Deadmeat99 - 10/4/2012 12:38 PM
1 Vote
Paladin, the problem with SWAT teams IS the tactics. Their SOP dictates that they use military style door-kicking tactics to deal with all situations, even when the threat is minimal. The nation is supplying police with miltary grade equipment and miltary grade training, so now we see military grade incidents perpetrated against US citizens. An uncaptioned picture of a SWAT team could be easily confused with a military unit busting "terrorists" overseas. Police are supposed to be "peace officers" not infantry squads.

Paladin - 10/4/2012 11:09 AM
1 Vote
WOW, so many cop haters. SO you just want that SWAT team to take the word of some slimely defense attorney that no one is on the house. They likely followed their protocol and used every means to lessen the potential threat to them before they went in the door. Sometimes lessening the threat involves "softening the target" by putting a flash bang in the area to stun the occupants and give the police an advantage when they burst through the door. That tactic is used all over the country as SOP.

Deadmeat99 - 10/3/2012 5:24 PM
0 Votes
When SWAT teams are trained like an infantry squad, expect paramilitary tactics to come to your neighborhood. We've turned "peace officers" into war fighters. Expect these abuses to get worse as law enforcement and military units become indistinguishable.

meandthedog - 10/3/2012 9:06 AM
0 Votes
South lake Tahoe sheriffs and there swat team are full of errors,I think that they have all the virtues we all dislike. The garbage that these pieces get off on and feel humbled about and punish citizens for is so ridiculous, while all the while there is so much heroin in south lake that its killing people left and right but hey let's get the people that have something, let's punish the petty cases and look the other way at real crime. This my friend is the way it works here in BEAUTIFUL TAHOE. Unfortunately these guys feel pretty good about themselves, but i say "your not that great!"

Jeff F - 10/2/2012 10:59 PM
1 Vote
Not all but theres a lot of cops and swat teams that are nothing but a bunch of jack booted thugs that get off on destroying property and hurting people. Some of the raids they do are totally uncalled for.
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