Vista Probing Hemet Police Conduct During Drug Raid

Vista city officials said Wednesday that they are conducting their own probe of a drug raid at a Vista home by Hemet police officers, and Mayor Gloria McClellan charged that the “raiding cops were barbaric and unprofessional.”

Last week’s early morning raid by Hemet police stirred much anger after the officers broke into a home in search of illegal drugs but found none. The raiding officers said they were looking for evidence of a drug conspiracy, because a man arrested in Hemet with 5 pounds of methamphetamine gave the home as his address.

Mario Balcazar Suarez, whose family was in the house during the raid, said the suspect arrested by police was a former tenant who had not lived there for about six months. Balcazar, 39, said officers traumatized and mistreated his four daughters and invalid mother-in-law.

McClellan said she spent several hours with Balcazar and his family over the weekend, talking about the raid. City Manager Morris Vance said he asked San Diego County Sheriff’s Department officials to “get additional information from Hemet police about the raid.”

It is not clear what, if anything, Vista city officials can do about the incident. But McClellan said one consideration is asking police and city officials in Hemet to apologize to the Balcazars.

The Balcazars and McClellan are Mormons. The mayor said her daughter, Jacqulyn Prey, teaches a religious class that includes Balcazar’s two younger daughters, ages 6 and 5.

Balcazar and his wife Ernestina, 37, also have two older daughters, ages 17 and 14.

McClellan said the officers, led by Hemet Police Sgt. Randall Christianson, were “barbaric and unprofessional,” particularly in their treatment of Balcazar’s mother-in-law, who is 68 and diabetic.

“They pulled the grandmother, at gunpoint, from the bed and threw her onto the floor,” said McClellan. “They were joking and laughing while they threw the grandmother on the floor.”

Hemet police officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday.