Jose Guerena Vindicated: Widow Receives $3.4M Settlement from Arizona Police

PJ Media ^ | Oct 13, 2013 | Mike McDaniel

[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.

[papertyger]

Anarcho-tyranny is a paleoconservative concept used in critiquing modern “social democracy.” Samuel Francis argued that the problems of managerial state extend to issues of crime and justice. In 1992, he introduced the word “anarcho-tyranny” into the paleocon vocabulary.He once defined it this way: “we refuse to control real criminals (that’s the anarchy) so we control the innocent (that’s the tyranny).”

I have often said the job of the "sheepdogs" is not to defend against wolves, but rather to keep the "sheep" in line.

Apparently Sam Francis whole heartedly agrees with me....