Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Blog

Police Tactics Questioned

Viewers tonight will hear a minute from the 9-1-1 call Seven Hills resident Belinda Saavedra placed in late December as police stormed her home.

As Jon notes, Saavedra and her boyfriend, Emmanuel Dozier, deserve Academy Awards if the two really did know it was the police attempting to break down the door in an effort to serve a search warrant for narcotics. The police claim to have yelled "Police. Search warrant," as they fired a shotgun to rip the bolts from an iron gate. The home's occupants and neighbors claim to have just heard commotion.

Audio Clip

  • 911 call, part 1

Audio Clip

  • 911 call, part 2

Audio Clip

  • 911 call, part 3

Audio Clip

  • 911 call, part 4

The arrest warrant documents three cocaine purchases undercover officers claim to have made from Dozier outside the home prior to the execution of the search warrant. Police found no cocaine during the raid, Dozier is pleading not guilty to all charges and the judge at the preliminary hearing said the incident begs a review by Metro of its procedures.

We wanted to ask Metro a couple obvious questions... like why so much force for what seems to be a small-time dealer, if the accusations are true?

Why not arrange another buy and simply grab the suspect? Why endanger the lives of the police and others, including innocent children?

The police refused to appear but I've posted Metro's policy for executing search warrants as well as an audio recording of the entire 9-1-1 call.

We also wanted to ask the District Attorney's office why it filed abuse and neglect charges against a woman, as the complaint states, for being unemployed. Since when is the mother of an infant prohibited from staying home? Belinda Saavedra says her mother works two jobs so that Belinda may enjoy raising her children. Absent any evidence the children are lacking, should she even have to explain?

The only other allegation in the complaint against Saavedra is that her 13-year-old daugher was traumatized when Dozier fired shots at what he says he believed to be intruders. Really. That's what it says.

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