A Charlottesville man is asking for compensation and an apology after he says state police officers stormed his house with flash grenades and automatic weapons, handcuffed his daughter and her friend, tore the place apart and then left without explanation.
Led by state police, about 20 officers from the Jefferson Area Drug Enforcement Unit or JADE went to a house owned by Herb Dickerson. Dickerson’s a senior citizen who counsels drug addicts at a local homeless shelter and was recently honored by the public defender’s office for his community work. His lawyer, Jeff Fogel, says officers broke down Dickerson’s door and tied the hands of two women as their children watched.
"Herb’s daughter and her friend were immediately placed in armored vehicles, because when the state police showed up, they showed up with two armored vehicles, with AK15’s and everything along with it," he recalls.
Fogel says the officers were looking for his client’s son, Kenyatta Rashad Anthony, who had been convicted of several felonies and was in the habit of carrying a gun according to a police informant. Officers set off a flash grenade to disorient anyone who might still be inside – then began ransacking the place.
"Took things out of drawers, out of closets, out of cabinets," he complains. "They broke his front door. They broke a window, they broke a desk, they broke a bed, they broke a bookcase and just left everything strewn about the house."
Meanwhile, the suspect was standing across the street, watching as were kids in the neighborhood.
" Children were just home from school and playing out in the street, and all of a sudden an army shows up. Well what are these children supposed to think? I’ve talked to a number of parents on the block. They are really upset about what happened."
Fogel notes this was a mostly African-American neighborhood, and he says state police should have been much more sensitive after failing to protect city residents during an attack by white supremacists in August of 2017.
"Do they not know what’s going on?" he wonders. "Are they unaware of what happened in the past between the state police and the citizens of Charlottesville? Are they unaware of the governor’s commitment to do something about the problem of racism that infects many institutions of government? People in Charlottesville do not have any trust in the state police, and this is going to exacerbate it."
Officers eventually freed the two women and left without explanation, but homeowner Herb Dickerson wants an apology and compensation. His lawyer is asking the governor to order an independent probe and Jeff Fogel vows to get answers in court if he can’t get a response soon.
" I’m preparing a lawsuit, and we will go to court over this if we cannot get any relief or resolution from any of the authorities that participated," he says.
Charlottesville’s chief of police, Rashall Brackney, apologized to Dickerson’s daughter, her friend and the kids, noting her department had no idea JADE planned a raid. A spokesman for the state police said this was “NOT a raid and because the individual we were searching for is a violent convicted felon, use of tactical measures is standard practice.”