No, it wasn’t a TV movie. Looking for guns, 30 armed police in tactical gear raided a financial adviser’s home in the Georgetown section of Washington, handcuffed him and his girlfriend after pointing guns to their heads, scared four children during a search of the residence for more than two hours, while other officers closed neighborhood streets during the process that turned up no weapons --- with all the action receiving scant media attention, noted Grumpy Editor.
In the forefront with coverage, however, is Washington Times staffer Emily Miller providing details in an Oct. 23 story.
It’ll be interesting to see media coverage of homeowner Mark Witaschek’s trial that starts next Monday. With no criminal record, he faces two years in prison for possession of unregistered ammunition, reports Miller, senior editor of opinion at The Times.
As Miller explains it: While no weapons were found in the house, police reported finding “one live round of 12-gauge shotgun ammunition,” which was an inoperable shell that misfired during a hunt years earlier, kept as a souvenir by Witaschek, and “one expended round of .270 caliber ammunition” along with “one box of Knight bullets for reloading” which Miller --- author of the 2013 book, “Emily Gets Her Gun” --- notes “are actually not for reloading, but are used in antique-replica, single-shot, muzzle-loading rifles.”
Miller, in her story, quotes Witaschek saying that soon after entering the premises, “police used a battering ram to bash down the bathroom door” where his 16-year-old son was pulled out of the shower, naked. “The police put all the children together in a room, while we were handcuffed upstairs. I could hear them crying, not knowing what was happening.”
Witaschek says the search caused an estimated $10,000 in damage, documented by photos he took after the July, 2012 incident.
Read Miller’s full story here.
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