Posted on 02/06/2009 11:02:54 AM PST by ellery
Collateral raid damage
In January 2007, a SWAT team in Lima, Ohio, shot and killed Tarika Wilson, a 26-year-old mother, during a drug raid at the home of her boyfriend, Anthony Terry. When the unarmed Wilson was shot, she was kneeling on the ground, complying with police orders. She was holding her 1-year-old son, Sincere, who was also shot, losing his left hand. A subsequent investigation revealed that Officer Joseph Chavalia heard another officer shooting Terry’s two dogs, mistook the noise for hostile gunfire, panicked, and fired blindly into the room where Wilson was kneeling. Chavalia was charged with involuntary manslaughter, but acquitted.
As reckless and violent as the raid was, the police did at least find a substantial supply of illegal drugs inside the house, and Anthony Terry later pleaded guilty to felony drug distribution. A subsequent investigation by the Lima News showed that despite the inherent danger and small margin for error, SWAT raids conducted by the Lima Police Department frequently turned up no drugs or weapons at all. The paper found that in one-third of the 198 raids the SWAT team conducted from 2001 to 2008, no contraband was found.
Similar reviews in other cities have produced similar results: A surprisingly high percentage of raids produce neither drugs nor weapons. And the weapons that are found tend to be small, concealable handguns, with few raids resulting in felony convictions.
A Denver Post investigation found that in 80 percent of no-knock raids conducted in Denver in 1999, police assertions that there would be weapons in the targeted home turned out to be wrong. A separate investigation by the Rocky Mountain News found that of the 146 no-knock warrants served in Denver in 1999, just 49 resulted in criminal charges, and only two resulted in prison time. Media investigations produced similar results after high-profile mistaken raids in New York City in 2003, in Atlanta in 2007, and in Orlando and Palm Beach, Florida, in 1998. When the results of the Denver investigation were revealed, former prosecutor Craig Silverman said, “When you have that violent intrusion on people’s homes with so little results, you have to ask why.”
Lima police apparently aren’t as concerned. When told of the Lima News investigation, police spokesman Kevin Martin said, “That means 68 percent of the time, we’re getting guns or drugs off the street. We’re not looking at it as a win-loss record like a football team does.”
ping — I searched and didn’t see this posted. If this is a repeat, please disregard. :)
And the police in this country continue to be supplied with military tools with no additional training.......
SWAT, "we only accidentally kill 32 out of a hundred, we're worth it"
Obamma would surely approve of these stats as long as none were muslim
*&^%$&# SWat **(*&&*#$@ and (*&& no knocks.
Another success in the Drug War.
Going swimmingly, isn’t it?
Oops, sorry, you dead, me baad.
Re: “A subsequent investigation revealed that Officer Joseph Chavalia heard another officer shooting Terry’s two dogs, mistook the noise for hostile gunfire, panicked, and fired blindly into the room where Wilson was kneeling. Chavalia was charged with involuntary manslaughter, but acquitted.”
Let’s see—according to this account, he fired his weapon without identifying his target (who could have just as easily ended up being his fellow officer). Needless to say, the Brady Campaign, Dianne Feinstein, and so on will again tell us that only the police should have guns.
Or hoodrat drug dealers / gangbanger illegals.
Anyone gainfully employed without a violent criminal record is fair game.
It's really, really difficult for me to work up any sympathy for cops who get their sh** scattered during these raids anymore.
NK raids should be reserved for only the most extraordinary circumstances, not routine pot busts.
L
I guess the 1 year old wasn't complying fast enough. /s
The problem is, when a cop does unfortunately get killed in these raids, raid pushers use the fact as justification for why these raids are needed in the first place.
They're always shooting the dogs.
mistook the noise for hostile gunfire, panicked, and fired blindly into the room where Wilson was kneeling.
Rule Four: Know what your target is, and what lies beyond it.
No-knock raids must be outlawed at the federal level. I wouldn’t mind seeing SWAT completely ended. If paramilitary is needed, send in the National Guard.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2178431/posts
The police, armed with increasingly lethal weapons, will endlessly escalate the arms race. Many SWAT teams are now equipped with up-armored tactical vehicles, essentially small tanks. These Rambo wanna be's saw too much embedded reporter film footage from Fallujah and want to do the same thing. The only difference is that these big gun, small d*ck LEOs didn't have the balls to try it as part of the 101st or 5 Mar Div.
one of the lovely fruits on the drug war...
placemark
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