Police Apologize For Shots Fired During Birthday Party

Abbotsford police have apologized for raiding an alleged drug house while 13 children were attending a birthday party Sunday.

As the children watched in horror, a police emergency response team member shot and killed a dog that attacked one of the officers.

A 31-year-old male tenant has been charged with drug offences. He was throwing a birthday party for his seven-year-old son in the house in the 2300-block of Centre Street in Abbotsford.

"We went in there not knowing there were 13 children in there, and we do apologize for the children being in there," media relations Constable Dale Cresswell said Monday.

He said police would never have raided the house had they known about the party.

But parents of the children expressed outrage Monday and threatened to file official complaints or take legal action against the municipal police department. The parents said officers should have known the house was filled with children if they had been doing their job properly.

"It was just a really violent and brutal affair and totally uncalled for," Jason Rowsom, who was attending the party with his four children, said Monday.

"They knew that there were children at the party. I mean, you could see the big 'Happy Birthday' banner from the street on the window. You could see the kids running around. There's no way they can get out of this."

Christy Homan, 21, was holding her infant at the time of the raid, and said the baby's blanket was splattered with blood when police shot the dog.

"I'm upset about the whole thing," she said. "This is a little kid's birthday party that they did this to.

"I'm feeling for the kids. It's the kids more than us. But we want something done about it."

Cresswell said an investigation is under way, as happens any time a police officer discharges a weapon.

He also said victims services people were called to the house immediately, and police are prepared to assist the children in any way possible.

"You have to apologize in the sense that they are traumatized. Any time a child is victimized like that and scared - the police aren't out there to scare the kids."

Cresswell said police set up surveillance two hours before the raid, which took place at 5 p.m.

"The surveillance did not indicate that there was a birthday party going on, did not indicate that there was 13 children in the house," Cresswell said.

"We obviously could not see totally in the whole house."

During the raid, two officers entered the living room where a dog that police described as a "pit bull terrier" attacked one of the officers, biting him on the upper left arm. The second officer fired two shots into the dog at close range.

Cresswell declined to say what type of weapon was used to kill the dog.

Rowsom, 28, disputed the police version of events. He said that eight or nine children had been playing street hockey in the carport beside the house a short time before the raid, and that any police surveillance team should have realized there was a children's party in progress.

By the time police arrived, Rowsom said everyone had gone inside the house for cake. He was sitting on the couch with his five-month-old child when officers in combat fatigues and carrying automatic weapons burst through the door, screaming at everyone to get down.

Ronny Raber, who lived in the house, has been charged with possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking, possession of heroin, and possession of psilocybin, also known as magic mushrooms.

Raber, who was out on bail on other charges at the time of the raid,

was also charged with breaching the conditions of his release. He appeared in court Monday and was held in custody.

Raber's lawyer, Dan Henderson, said his client alleges he was assaulted by police during the arrest. Henderson said Raber suffered a concussion and bruises to his eye, ribs and the back of his head.

"If any of these allegations are true, then it's a very serious matter," he said.

Cresswell said any allegations of police misconduct will be investigated.

Police raided the same residence on Nov. 26, and said they were confronted by the same dog. In that instance, police used pepper spray on the dog and the suspect.

The police seized an unspecified quantity of drugs and weapons in that raid, and Raber was charged with drug offences.

Copyright The Vancouver Sun 1999

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