Gun-toting cops on drug raid bust 2-year-old's birthday party

Chicago Sun-Times | February 10, 2005

COMMENT

We're talking about marijuana, something George Washington smoked. The media likes to write these kinds of stories because it sounds like a radical use of force, but then they get to say "oh, she did have marijuana." Ask yourself which is the greater evil, what's more dangerous to your family: men in black ski masks pointing machine guns at toddlers or a woman smoking pot. If you were going to say that the pot was going to hurt the baby, there are no studies that show that -- there are studies that show that prozac-class drugs cause massive problems in fetuses. Still, don't look for SWAT teams breaking down doors of the homes of women gobbling mass quantities of perscription drugs pushed on them by the state.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Police on a drug raid burst into a home during a toddler's birthday party, startling children who were getting ready to eat cake when the gun-toting officers crashed the party.

Amid wails from children and a few parents -- and a phone ringing incessantly with prospective drug buyers -- officers arrested a pregnant woman and accused her of selling marijuana from the house.

Shannon Hills Police Chief Richard Friend, who led the raid, found parents about to light candles on a cake adorned with green and white cartoon characters and a big "2" on top.

''The kids were up in high-chairs eating pizza, and the cake was just about to be lit and cut when we kicked the party off a little early,'' Friend said Tuesday. ''We got them something they wish they could return.''

Police did not know a birthday party was going on when they decided to make the bust.

''The first thing I saw was the birthday table and cake, so I yelled for everyone to put away their guns,'' Friend said. ''You could see they had a nightmare-come-true. Everyone just froze and looked at me. The parents started crying and then the kids started crying.''

Elizabeth Leah Sauls, 21, was hosting her niece's second birthday party at the time of Friday evening's raid. She was allegedly smoking marijuana in a bedroom and continuing to sell pot out of the house as the police moved in. Friend said she received 35 calls requesting the drug in the short time police were there.

Host aunt arrested

''We barely had time to conduct interviews because the phone kept ringing with people wanting to buy narcotics,'' Friend said.

Sauls was arrested on drug charges but was released without bond because the jail was full, Friend said.

She appealed to the police that she was just selling the marijuana to pay for diapers and food for her 1-year-old, but police said they had been gathering evidence for weeks, making undercover purchases from the home and arresting buyers leaving the home.

The 2-year-old birthday girl and Sauls' 1-year-old were turned over to their grandmother.

''We have plenty of cases of people providing drugs in diaper bags around children, but at a birthday party? That's unusual,'' prosecutor Robert Herzfeld said.

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