From: cescript@mtu.edu (Charles Scripter)
Subject: Re: No charges filed in SWAT killing
Organization: Michigan Technological University
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1992 04:30:39 GMT

In article <4400215@iftccu.boeing.com>, bressler@iftccu.boeing.com
(Rick Bressler) writes:

> In short, why did they use DEA drug raid tactics on a simple arrest?
> Why were both the police officers and innocent citizens endangered for
> no apparently good reason?

Maybe it's because they have this far-reaching RICO power, and wish to
apply it whenever possible.  How else can the govt steal innocent
person's property without due process?

> As far as the officer is concerned, I know a friend of his.  Tony is
> (according to this person I trust) a good guy.  He isn't a cowboy of
> some sort or anything like that.  I'm sure he feels as badly as anybody
> involved.  Probably at least as bad as those kids.

I doubt that.  I was severely pissed off after reading about this.
This isn't intended as a flame to you, Rich, but this guy made
a very serious mistake.

> Did he do anything wrong?  Probably not, in my opinion.  At most he made

Actually, he did.  OK, folks, count up all the basic firearm handling
rules he disobeyed...  The most basic is pointing his weapon a someone
he didn't intend to shoot...  Or did he intend to shoot?

He didn't do anything wrong!!??  What he did was to shoot and kill an
innocent person, after breaking into her home.  Is this wrong?  Hell yes!!

> a very human mistake.  Perhaps not even that.  I've done enough role
> playing and training to realize how quickly it happens.  Look at it from
> Tony's viewpoint.  He has been told to storm this house that contains
> vicious murderers.  He has been told that they are armed and dangerous.
> If you think that you aren't going to go into that situation 'adrenalin
> pumped' you aren't human or you have no knowledge at all of what really
> happens to people under stress.

I don't really care how "pumped" he was.  If he is unable to maintain
his cool, he shouldn't be there.  He can just stay in the car.  If an
officer in unable to perform his duty with competance, then he should
be removed from his office.

> In such a situation being startled, for example, can cause your fingers
> to contract with up to 50 lbs of pressure without you even realizing it.
> No firearm has a trigger that requires much more than 25% of that force
> to operate.  This is called the startle reaction.  Perhaps Tony made a
> mistake, but it may have been only having his finger on the trigger.

And it was a lethal mistake.  He must have also made the mistake of
having his gun pointed at the victim.

> There are other psychological forces of equal importance at work as well.
> I think there are at least four ways of making somebody involuntarily
> contract muscles.
> 
> When that poor lady burst into the room, Tony didn't fire intentionally
> and probably will never remember pulling the trigger.  No cover up, just
> human psychology.  It is very unlikely that ANY of us would have reacted
> much differently in the same circumstances.
> 
> I submit that not only was his action not criminal, it was probably

Huh?  If I run into someone with my car, I may well be charged with
manslaughter.  If I was drunk at the time, I'd probably be charged
with negligent homicide.  And all por Tony did was to shoot an innocent,
unarmed woman in her home....

> completely human and predictable.  This doesn't mean that I think this
> situation should have happened or that I don't think there is an
> appropriate place to put the blame.  I just happen to think that placing
> all or even a significant portion of blame on Tony is stupid, short
> sighted and ignoring the real issues.

There are several places to lay the blame.  The officer should be charged
criminally.  If he gets less than "negligent homicide", I'd be surprised.
Then, of course, there's the DA who requested the warrant, and the judge
who issued it, the chief who ordered the raid...

Let's see if you recognise this quote:

"...no Warrant shall issue, but upon probable cause,
supported by Oath or affirmation, ..."

Does the judge have an affidavit from the person who supplied the
"tip"?  If not, I'd say he didn't have probable cause...

I'd recommend the officer be tried on Negligent Homicide charges, and
the DA and judge should be garroted for their parts in the offense.

Then there's the police chief...  Does the chief have the power to order a
SWAT team raid?  Or does he need an order from the judge?  Garrote him, too.

> >>It is really the governing authority of the SWAT unit which needs to be
> >>disciplined here.  A police force which sends armed units into an
> >>expected deadly encounter solely on the basis of a telephone tip from
> >>an anonymous or in any way questionable informant is grossly negligent.

The judge never had the power to issue a warrant, if it was based
on an anonymous tip.  See the 4th Amendment.

> >>A large civil liability award is a good way to get their attention on
> >>that point.
> 
> Hey, my taxes are already high enough!  This got my attention without me
> being fined.  Who the hell do you think the 'government' around here is?
> I agree that family needs to be taken care of. I have no problem
> with that.

And the officer, police chief, Da, and judge need to be taken care of also.  
They should be removed from their respective offices.

> On the other hand where does the blame lie?  At a first approximation
> I'd say with the police official that ordered that kind of a raid, with
> the DA who requested the warrant on such flimsy evidence, and the Judge
> that issued it. If anybody needs to pay punitive damages, it is them.

Correct, but this does not relieve the officer of the fact that he
killed a person.  He should still be charged with negliegent homicide.

> I feel fairly safe in stating
> that this situation resulted from gross violations of reasonable police
> operating procedures and the constitution itself.

Definitely!

-- 
Charles Scripter   *   cescript@phy.mtu.edu
Dept of Physics, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI 49931
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