Raiders Ram Into Purported ‘Rock House,’ Arrest 14

Police officers battered their way into a suspected “rock cocaine house” at a Pacoima housing project and arrested 14 people Wednesday, Los Angeles police said.

Two officers carrying a three-foot-long metal bar nicknamed “The Key to the City” smashed through an apartment door in the San Fernando Gardens housing project about 10:30 a.m., police Sgt. Tom Gordon said.

Officers arrested six people inside, five in the parking lot and three others as they drove from the complex, Gordon said. Police confiscated 12 pebble-like pieces of cocaine and a .22-caliber revolver, he said.

“We dropped the net on the dealers out in front and served the search warrant on the pad all at the same time,” Gordon said. “They were really shocked--they had no idea we were just a few feet from them.”

One 17-year-old was arrested on suspicion of possessing drug paraphernalia, then released to his parents, Gordon said. The others, who all are adults, were arrested on suspicion of drug possession or drug sales and taken to the Van Nuys Jail, he said.

The investigation into the apartment on Carl Place began about a week ago when officers patrolling the San Fernando Gardens on foot noticed a sudden increase in rock cocaine sales, Gordon said.

Eight to 10 “very brazen and very bold” dealers conducted sales in the parking lot, which drug users and police call “Coyote Gulch,” he said. The dealers would go to the apartment when they needed new supplies, he said.

On Monday, a police surveillance team counted 19 drug purchases in 90 minutes, Gordon said. Undercover officers returned Tuesday, purchased cocaine and witnessed 10 drug transactions in 20 minutes, he said.

Team of 17 Officers

A team of 17 officers returned Wednesday morning but had to wait for a funeral procession from a nearby church to pass by before moving in, he said.

When the raid began, one man bolted out the back door and was grabbed by an officer and pinned to the ground, Gordon said.

The type of battering ram used in the raid has been in the arsenal of police departments around the country for decades, police said.

“ ‘The Key to the City’ isn’t anything new,” Gordon said. “Vice has used it for years on bookmaking operations and on the hard rock houses.

“If you don’t have a key, this is literally guaranteed to open the door.”

Gordon, who led the raid, said police were disappointed with the amount of cocaine seized, but noted that the contraband is easily disposed of and difficult to spot because of its size. When police approach, dealers open their fists and let the small “rocks” of cocaine, which sell for about $25 each, fall to the ground to blend in with pebbles, he said.