From: wood@eisley.akita.com (Ken Wood)
Newsgroups: alt.activism,talk.politics.drugs,alt.society.civil-liberty,seattle.general
Subject: SWAT team kills innocent woman in No-Knock raid.
Summary: The DA refused to press charges!!!!
Keywords: SWAT police no-knock raid death
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 92 07:36:42 PDT
Organization: Mos Eisley Spaceport BBS


     What follows are parts of two articles I picked up from 
talk.politics.guns.  I thought that more people should be made aware of 
this.  I know that things like this happen every day in this country but 
this really was an extreme example.  Please pass information on this and 
similar cases around so that hopefully people will see what is really 
happening in this country.  For people in the Washington state area 
please call or write ( the better option ) your representatives and let 
them know how you feel about this.  Since the first article on this 
appeared there have been many others on similar cases including an 80 
year old woman who was shot on another police raid based on an incorrect 
tip.  That was in Dallas and the tip was called in by an ex-boyfriend of 
a relative of the woman.  This stuff sounds like the inquisition.  
Normally I really opppose the excessivly huge court settlements but in 
this case I hope the police and the individual officers involved get nailed 
to the wall.  That includes the people in charge too, there more at 
fault than anybody else.  Please don't just shake your head and ignore 
this.  GET MAD AND DO SOMETHING!!!!  This could be you next time.  These 
are innocent people!



  In article <1992Aug11.021616.18748@microsoft.com>
             alane@microsoft.com (Alan Ezekiel) writes:

>The Seattle Times for August 8th has a front-page story entitled
>"SWAT Killing: No Charges  //  State finds no negligence despite
>split inquest jury".
>
>To summarize the article: last March, the Snohomish County SWAT
>team got a tip for a suspect in an armored-car robbery/murder.
>They geared up and (in accordance with standard SWAT procedure)
>assaulted the house with overwhelming force.
>
>Unfortunately, there were a few problems.  (1) the suspect was
>not in the house at the time, (2) his wife and two children
>were, (3) the SWAT team did not announce their identity as police
>officers, and (4) one of the deputies had an itchy trigger finger.
>
>Net result?  Deputy Tony Aston shot and killed Robin Marie Pratt
>in full view of her 6-year-old daughter and 5-year-old niece,
>using his MP-5 submachine gun.  Pratt was totally blameless; she
>heard men breaking down the door and windows, ran from her bedroom
>to gather the children, and was shot to death without warning by
>by Deputy Aston, who was in the hallway.
>
>This situation sounds pretty bad, right?  Well catch this: Larry
>Pratt, the man they were coming to arrest, was *innocent*!  They
>dropped all charges shortly afterwards, saying they had received
>a "bad tip".
>
>Now the State Attorney General's office has decided not to prosecute
>the Deputy.  To quote the newspaper: "Greg Canova, the senior
>assistant state attorney general, announced yesterday that there was
>not sufficient evidence that Deputy Anthony Aston intentionally,
>recklessly, or negligently fired the shot that killed Robin Marie
>Pratt, 28."
>
>To my mind, this sort of incident can *only* be caused by reckless,
>negligent, or intentional action.  It's damn sure that weapon didn't
>fire by itself!
>
>The inquest jury likewise did not agree.  Of the six jurors, three
>considered it intentional homicide, one called it negligent homicide,
>and the remaining two deemed it excusable homicide.  Unfortunately,
>the jurors findings were only "advisory" and Canova has chosen to
>ignore inquest findings which, in any other circumstances, would
>clearly call for a criminal trial.
>
>Deputy Aston has now been restored to active duty.


  In article <1992Aug13.155141.28224@SSD.intel.com>
             hays@ssd.intel.com (Kirk Hays) writes:

>From the July 21st _Oregonian_:
>
>EVERETT, Wash. -- Family members of a woman killed in a sheriff's
>department Swat [sic] raid have filed claims seeking more than $87
>million in damages from the county and three cities.
>
>The relatives of Robin Marie Pratt, 28, claim they suffered emotional,
>physical and psychological trauma stemming from her death.
>
>Nineteen persons filed 21 claims against Snohomish County and the
>cities of Lynnwood, Everett and Mountlake Terrace, seeking $100,000 to
>as much as $5 million.
>
>Pratt was fatally shot by a Snohomish County sheriff's deputy in a
>pre-dawn raid March 28 on her apartment to arrest her husband. 
>Members of a special weapons assault team stormed in after tossing a
>flash-bang grenade and smashing through a glass door with a steel
>battering ram.
>
>A sheriff's internal review investigation concluded that sheriff's
>Deputy Anthony Aston unintentionally discharged his submachine gun as
>officers were rounding up the appartment's occupants.  Pratt was shot
>in the neck and died at the scene.
>
>The Swat [sic] team was looking for Pratt's husband, Larry, 29.  He was
>implicated by an informant as a participant in a 1991 Loomis
>armored-car robbery in Lynnwood in which one guard was killed.
>
>Swat [sic] team members from Everett and Mountlake Terrace police
>carried out simultaneous raids in their jurisdictions and arrested five
>other men who were related to Pratt and who also were implicated by the
>informant.
>
>All charges against the men, including Pratt's husband, later were
>dropped for lack of evidence.  Witnesses said Larry Pratt was at work
>at the time of the robbery.  The others also had alibis.
>
>Larry Pratt is seeking $40 million from the county and Lynnwood, a
>Seattle suburb.  His 6-year-old daughter, Tanya, is asking $10 million
>from them; his niece, 5-year-old Jessica Craig, seeks $10 million. 
>Robin Pratt's parents are seeking $10 million from the county and
>Lynnwood.
>
>Other's seeking part of the $87 million in damages include the five
>other men arrested and members of their families.
>
>Family members allege that law-enforcement agencies failed to
>investigate properly the criminal allegations against the Pratt family,
>unlawfully entered their apartment and intentionally, recklessly or
>negligently shot Robin Pratt.
>
>The claims filed last week are a prelude to a civil lawsuit against the
>municipalities, said John Muenster, a Seattle attorney representing the
>Pratt family.  Under state law, damage claims had to be filed first,
>and the earliest a civil suit can be filed is Sept. [sic] 14.
>
>Snohomish County Deputy Executive Joni Earl said it was too early to
>comment on the claims.
>Greg Canova, a state assistant attorney general who conducted an
>inquest into the shooting, is expected to decide this week whether the
>state will file criminal charges against Aston, the deputy who shot
>Pratt.
                    

     Ken Wood




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