"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
It all began as a drug investigation.
According to reports from police and prosecutors, audio recordings of the incident, and the Thompsons:
A confidential informant for the Anoka-Hennepin Drug Task Force set up what he and cops thought would be a drug sting targeting Ryan Robert Baker, 30, of East Bethel. In fact, Baker's intention was to rob the informant without selling him any drugs, according to theft charges to which he pleaded guilty this month.
Shortly after 1 p.m. Feb. 16, Baker and the informant, who was not identified, drove to Spring Lake Park. The informant wore a radio transmitter, and cops listened as Baker told him to drive to the 8300 block of Able Street Northeast. The police, following from a distance, didn't know where Baker was heading. Baker picked the Thompsons' house, apparently at random.
The Thompsons run a video and film production business out of the house, so they were home. They've never had a run-in with the cops, and neither of them knew the informant or Baker. Wade Cordts, an intern for their company, also was at the house. The Thompsons' four children, ages 8 to 18, weren't home.
Nicole Thompson heard a knock at the front door. She answered it and saw two men struggling over a wad of cash. One of the men asked about drugs. She yelled to her husband, who ran to the door and pinned the two men against a wall outside the house. Cordts helped keep them there while Nicole Thompson called 911.
"I need a policeman please," she says in a recording of the 911 call. "Two gentlemen just rang my doorbell, and they're fighting on my doorstep. No, I don't know them. My husband and another gentleman who lives with us are out there right now trying to restrain this guy, but I don't exactly know what's going on."
Amid the sounds of a struggle over the wire planted on the informant, cops heard him say he was being robbed. A supervising detective called out over the police radio, "This is a rip-off. Bust, bust, bust."
An audio recording given by the Anoka County Sheriff's Office to the Thompsons documents the incident, as heard through the muffled microphone on the informant. A salvo of screamed profanities announces the officers' presence. Some of it is inaudible; some of it is clear, like, "Anybody f-- moves, you get a boot in the head, understand?"
'EXIGENT CIRCUMSTANCES'
That's hardly the language used by the police - a combination of officers from several jurisdictions assigned to the task force - in official reports.
"I exited the vehicle took my badge out, held it in my left hand as far as I could," wrote Detective John Potter, one of the first on the scene. "I announced that I was the police and ordered everyone to the ground."
To Brad Thompson, the group of plain-clothed men who poured out of a beat-up minivan looked "like bikers," not police. And while he doesn't deny they may have had badges in view, all he saw was the guns pointed at him.
"I didn't know for sure they were police until the handcuffs came out," he said.
Police reports are littered with references of "exigent circumstances," a phrase drawn from legal rulings that give police the authority to enter a home without a search warrant if they fear they could be in immediate danger. The Thompsons didn't understand why a dozen officers were combing through their house; they hadn't been read their rights and no one told them what it was all about.
Every individual has a right to protect his/her life and property. If someone breaks into a house the individual has a right and an obligation to repel the invader by deadly force if needed. If the invader is a plainclothes policeman intruding into the wrong house, the invader may be killed. And that would be justified.
In this situation the homeowner didn't have a chance to protect him/herself and you can see what happens. If the innocent homeowner moves in the "wrong" direction, he/she is shot.
And tyranny and terrorism by government marches forward.
"The police, they're going back to their homes, and they're feeling remorse: 'Oh, my God, we could have hurt someone today.' "
Yeah, that's why they were so apologetic and accepted the invitation to visit the folks that got jumped.
Oh yeah, they didn't. Time to move to another town, Mr. and Mrs. Thompson. You are on the s%#^ list now for complaining.
"You think you've had a bad day" ping.
ping
Where was this?.......
Ping
Call John Edwards...he'll know what to do. (SARC)
Isn't there any way of these cops having a mug of the guy they're after? I mean really, the drug dealer doesn't have a record and picture on the police file?
The guys lucky he didn't greet anyone with a gun or there'd be 4 orphans right now.
I'd hesitate about the lawsuit EXCEPT for the inconvenient little fact that the lead cop allegedly picked the house at random. And the wife is right; if you sue the cops, who are you going to call next time you need help?
This get the drug dealers at all costs cr@p has got to stop. It's not worth what it's doing to innocent citizens.
Did they shoot the dog?
Posting this without explanation as above did a dis-service to your readers. May I inquire as to why you posted it all?
Botched Paramilitary Police Raids: An Epidemic of "Isolated Incidents"
http://www.cato.org/raidmap/
Lucky for these honorable defenders of liberty sworn to protect and serve that there wasn't an 80 year old lady with a revolver behind the door or they'd be ventilated like thier esteemed colleagues in Atlanta, GA!
Yet another reason to end the failed war on some drugs.
Smith and Wesson
Yep. It happened to a friend of mine. He sold his house, and moved.