What’s it Like to Destroy a Drug House?

Dallas (WBAP/KLIF News) – Operation Crackdown takes down another known drug house, and the guy doing the actual knocking down says it’s rewarding.  Sergeant Cristobol Mejia with the Texas National Guard says he’s doing something everyone dreams of at one point or another.

“It’s a great feeling.  You get paid to break something,” said Mejia.  “As a little kid, you wish you could do it, and 17 and a half years in the military, and I’m getting paid to do this, so it’s a great feeling.

Mejia has been knocking down drug houses with Operation Crackdown since 1999.  He said in that time, he’s taken down around 600 buildings, across the state.

He’s part of a team of heavy equipment operators, truck drivers, mechanics and other Guardsmen who make it happen.  For the project in the Hamilton Park neighborhood, in Northeast Dallas, he had four team mates watching to make sure none of the nearby homes, trees or utility lines got damaged as he was knocking down the house.

“I don’t have to look at none of that,” said Mejia.  “My focus is on the structure itself, to see which way it’s gonna fall, to see which way I need to pull it.  They’re watching everything else around me.”

Mejia turned it into a pile of rubble in about four minutes.

The Texas National Guard works in partnership with cities across the state to demolish the drug houses, with the permission of the property owner.  Since the program began in 1998, 1,200 drug houses have been brought down.

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said there are another 60 or so identified drug houses on the Operation Crackdown list.  Funding for the operation comes from the Asset Forfeiture program, essentially funds seized in drug raids.

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