JoshLowry
04-05-2009, 04:43 PM
http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20090330_Video_sharpens_focus_on_raid.html?viewAll =y
The footage from the day of the raid is crystal-clear:
Duran is chatting on his cell phone in front of the cash register when the officers enter the store. With gun drawn, Tolstoy is in the lead. Most of the officers are wearing vests or shirts with the word "Police."
Tolstoy handcuffs Duran. The officers ask routine questions: Does Duran have a gun? Does anyone live on the second floor? Are there dogs in the basement?
Then Sgt. Bologna looks up and waves his finger toward the ceiling: "Whaddya got, cameras over there? . . . Where are they hooked up to?"
In fact, every officer seems fixated on the surveillance system.
"Where's the video cameras? The cassette for it?" Richard Cujdik asks.
"Does it record?" Jeffrey Cujdik quickly adds.
Officer Kuhn then steps up on a milk crate that he had placed underneath a ceiling camera and struggles to reach it. "I need to be f---ing taller," Kuhn mumbles as another officer laughs.
"You got a ladder in here, Cuz?" Kuhn asks Duran.
"Yo," Tolstoy calls out from behind the register. "Does this camera go home?
Can you view this on your computer, too?"
"I can see [at], yeah, home, yeah," Duran replies.
"So your wife knows we're here, then?" Tolstoy asks.
"My wife? No. She not looking the computer right now," Duran says.
"Hey, Sarge . . . Come 'ere," Tolstoy shouts out.
Bologna ambles over to the front counter.
Jeffrey Cujdik leans in and whispers, "There's one in the back corner right there."
"It can be viewed at home," Tolstoy says.
As the others talk, Officer Parrotti reaches up to another camera in front of the register. He pulls the wire down and slices it with a bread knife taken from the store's deli.
"OK. We'll disconnect it," Bologna assures Tolstoy. "That's cool."
Meanwhile, Parrotti's hand covers the camera lens and he appears to yank the camera from the ceiling.
The screen goes black.
"They could watch what's happening at the store at your house?" Bologna asks.
The audio cuts out.
There is footage of Kuhn looking for a camera outside the store and of Richard Cujdik searching Duran's white van. In the audio portion of the video, Richard Cujdik asks Duran, "Is that your - whose white van is that?"
Then Richard Cujdik simply asks for the keys and heads outside. The search warrant for the store makes no mention of a van. The Daily News could not find a search warrant for the van in court records.
The officers arrested Duran on misdemeanor charges of possessing and selling drug paraphernalia, specifically tiny ziplock bags.
The footage from the day of the raid is crystal-clear:
Duran is chatting on his cell phone in front of the cash register when the officers enter the store. With gun drawn, Tolstoy is in the lead. Most of the officers are wearing vests or shirts with the word "Police."
Tolstoy handcuffs Duran. The officers ask routine questions: Does Duran have a gun? Does anyone live on the second floor? Are there dogs in the basement?
Then Sgt. Bologna looks up and waves his finger toward the ceiling: "Whaddya got, cameras over there? . . . Where are they hooked up to?"
In fact, every officer seems fixated on the surveillance system.
"Where's the video cameras? The cassette for it?" Richard Cujdik asks.
"Does it record?" Jeffrey Cujdik quickly adds.
Officer Kuhn then steps up on a milk crate that he had placed underneath a ceiling camera and struggles to reach it. "I need to be f---ing taller," Kuhn mumbles as another officer laughs.
"You got a ladder in here, Cuz?" Kuhn asks Duran.
"Yo," Tolstoy calls out from behind the register. "Does this camera go home?
Can you view this on your computer, too?"
"I can see [at], yeah, home, yeah," Duran replies.
"So your wife knows we're here, then?" Tolstoy asks.
"My wife? No. She not looking the computer right now," Duran says.
"Hey, Sarge . . . Come 'ere," Tolstoy shouts out.
Bologna ambles over to the front counter.
Jeffrey Cujdik leans in and whispers, "There's one in the back corner right there."
"It can be viewed at home," Tolstoy says.
As the others talk, Officer Parrotti reaches up to another camera in front of the register. He pulls the wire down and slices it with a bread knife taken from the store's deli.
"OK. We'll disconnect it," Bologna assures Tolstoy. "That's cool."
Meanwhile, Parrotti's hand covers the camera lens and he appears to yank the camera from the ceiling.
The screen goes black.
"They could watch what's happening at the store at your house?" Bologna asks.
The audio cuts out.
There is footage of Kuhn looking for a camera outside the store and of Richard Cujdik searching Duran's white van. In the audio portion of the video, Richard Cujdik asks Duran, "Is that your - whose white van is that?"
Then Richard Cujdik simply asks for the keys and heads outside. The search warrant for the store makes no mention of a van. The Daily News could not find a search warrant for the van in court records.
The officers arrested Duran on misdemeanor charges of possessing and selling drug paraphernalia, specifically tiny ziplock bags.