Special Weapons and Tactics teams — SWAT for short — became standard in most large police departments during the 1980s when the Pentagon began unloading surplus military equipment just as the federal war on drugs was ramping up. Originally intended for use only in volatile, high-risk situations involving snipers, hostages or prison escapees, militarized SWAT teams are now increasingly used in routine police work, primarily to execute search warrants.
But, as CATO policy analyst Radley Balko documents in his ground-breaking study, “Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America,” the practice often result in botched raids and dead citizens.
That the Washington region is far from exempt from this disturbing trend was seen Jan. 24 when an unarmed optometrist under investigation for sports gambling was shot and killed outside his Fair Oaks townhouse. Tactical Officer Deval Bullock reportedly told internal affairs investigators that a recoiling door from the SWAT team’s Chevy Suburban caused him to fire his .45-caliber handgun into 37-year-old Salvatore Culosi’s side. Fairfax County Police Chief David Rohrer apologized for the “accident,” but Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert Horan refused to take action against the 17-year police veteran.
The Culosi family’s attorney, Ben DiMuro, isn’t buying the accident explanation. “Using the word ‘accidental’ is a disservice,” he told The Examiner. “It doesn’t answer the question of why he pulled out the gun, why he put his finger on the trigger and why he pointed it” at Culosi. “Those are all intentional acts.”
Culosi’s grieving parents say they have had no communication with police officials since detectives came to their home to inform them their eldest son was dead five hours after the fact. The detectives said they were delayed by taking statements from witnesses.
What witnesses? Police spokeswoman Mary Ann Jennings told The Examiner that the SUV driver and undercover Det. David Baucom were both sitting in the front seat. Baucom, who said in an affadavit that he wagered $28,000 with Culosi over a three-month period, had been talking to him through the vehicle’s side-door window. Other SWAT team members were nearby, but “not right there for the takedown,” Jennings said. The two officers would reasonably be expected to be watching the suspect they were there to arrest, but DiMuro says he was told that Bullock was the “only witness.”
A Freedom of Information request filed by The Examiner in September asking for a copy of the original police report was denied. The only document released to us was a copy of the search warrant, which detailed Detective Baucom’s belief that “records, documents, monies and paraphernalia used in the facilitation of an illegal gambling operation” were stored in Culosi’s townhouse.
Instead of searching the place when he was at work, police officials forced a confrontation that ended in Culosi’s violent death — before he’d even been charged with a crime. Why was a SWAT team sent in for a man suspected of betting on football in the first place?
