Posted on 10/14/2013 12:20:34 PM PDT by bkopto
Vanessa Guerena’s $20 million wrongful death lawsuit against the four police agencies was recently settled for $3.4 million. Even with that extraordinary settlement, the police of Pima County, Marana, Oro Valley, and Sahuarita have been loath to admit fault. Deputy Tracy Suitt of the Pima Couty Sheriff’s Department, which will pay $2.35 million of the settlement, wrote:
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department strongly believes the events of May 5, 2011, were unfortunate and tragic, but the officers performed that day in accordance with their training and nationally recognized standards.
However, legal advisors and insurers recognize the unpredictable resolution of disputes at trial regarding police conduct and even well-accepted police tactics. As a result, well established business and insurance principles call for compromise and the resolution of disputed cases to mitigate risk and avoid the expense of a trial.
Pima County administrator Chuck Huckleberry maintained the settlement was a “calculated risk management settlement,” which was not an admission of wrong-doing.
With a smaller settlement, perhaps Deputy Suitt’s and Administrator Huckleberry’s spin might be believable. But a $3.4 million settlement? The police did not want this case anywhere near a jury. And the attorneys for the police were wise indeed: the police made horrendous mistakes before, during, and after the raid, mistakes that caused the death of an innocent man.
SNIP
[The] police appear to have learned nothing. Their internal investigation of the raid — conducted by themselves — found them to be not only blameless, but paragons of professional tactical proficiency and police virtue. There is no evidence they have adjusted their policies, procedures, or tactics or that they have disciplined anyone involved. Jose’s shredded home, unoccupied to this day, stands in mute testimony to their ineptitude and to the danger they still pose to the community.
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
Now that the department has admitted culpability, it’s time to hold each individual swat member involved in the raid.
Taxpayers get screwed, murderous thugs go untouched.
I have no doubt that each of them will face a stern backslapping and a speedy promotion.
Only the commons go to prison.
If US Soldiers did something like this in Afghanistan, they’d be war criminals.
But if cops do this to an American family, they are “heroes.”
There’s a link on the article of the actual head cam video of this horrible event, 54 seconds in length. Those officers were shooting into a darkened room and in no way could they have known what they were shooting at. That room could have been filled with sleeping babies for all they knew. Where are the murder charges?
I only wish that settlement would have come out of the police retirement funds.
To Protect and To Serve.
That is a excellent idea. They should have some skin in the game and the pack won’t tolerate rogue behavior that will affect their loot.
Where did you see that?
Now that is a good idea.
You’re right. I may have jumped the gun when they were made to pay restitution.
You're right.
Fort Bragg, N.C. — A military jury on Thursday found a Fort Bragg Army lieutenant guilty of murder in the shooting deaths of two Afghan civilians more than a year ago during a military mission.
Prosecutors characterized 1st Lt. Clint Lorance, 28, with Fort Bragg's 82nd Airborne Division's 4th Brigade Combat Team, as aggressive toward Afghans and argued that he illegally ordered the fatal shootings of two men on motorcycles in Afghanistan's Kandahar province.
Lorance's attorney, Ret. Lt. Col. Guy Womack, has said his client was protecting his platoon, which had suffered multiple casualties in the weeks prior to the July 2, 2012, incident, and that intelligence information and helicopters over the area of the attack in Afghanistan's Kandahar Province, warned the platoon to be on the lookout for men on motorcycles.
"I am bitterly disappointed," Womack said. "Lt. Lorance is an outstanding officer who made a decision to engage a suspected enemy approaching his position and now has been declared a murderer. The members heard all the evidence and I am confident they made the decision they believe is correct, but it is a crushing blow for those of us who know Lt. Lorance."
Lorance was also found guilty on charges of attempted murder, wrongfully communicating a threat, wrongfully and willfully discharging a firearm into a populated village and impeding the investigation into the shootings.
He was sentenced to 20 years in a military prison, forfeiture of all pay and dismissal from the U.S. Army.
Good point
No more drug war, no more payouts for raids gone wrong.
“but the officers performed that day in accordance with their training and nationally recognized standards.”
Perhaps someone should review the training and national standards?? just a thought
I discourage any young man interested in military service. Luckily all my children have done their 3 combat tours and gotten out.
Since these police were out of control paramilitaries, that themselves represent a major threat to the peace and security of the people in that region, and since there seems to be no practical way of restraining their actions in the future, the best alternative would seem to be an armored “safe room”, that they cannot penetrate before help arrives.
A standard design could be created for such a safe room that could be installed below ground level, and would provide protection from several common threats, including tornadoes.
The basic body is made of precast reinforced concrete pipe, which is quite common, large enough to accommodate 3 people for several hours. It also needs a long concealed air ventilation pipe with a battery powered overpressure air pump, and some means of communication that cannot be interrupted or intercepted, which means underground land line. Finally, a steel door in a steel frame that cannot be penetrated with small arms.
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