From: Mike Tighe <tighe@convex.COM>
Subject: Re: No charges filed in SWAT killing
Originator: tighe@convex1.convex.com
Reply-To: tighe@convex.com
Organization: Convex Computer Corporation, Richardson, Texas
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 23:04:09 GMT
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by a user at CONVEX Computer
              Corp. The opinions expressed are those of the user and
              not necessarily those of CONVEX.

alane@microsoft.com (Alan Ezekiel) writes:

>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.

We had a similar situation in Dallas recently. A ninja dressed SWAT fool
used his MP5 SMG to shoot an unarmed 'suspect' (i.e., black, hispanic,
asian, etc.) when he reached for a cellular phone. Fortunately, the SWAT
officer's aim was as bad as his judgement and the 'suspect' survived the
shooting.

Perhaps we should ban the H&K MP5, the favorite weapon of the reckless SWAT
Team member.  :-(

Here is another case we had in Dallas recently. An unarmed 12 year old boy
was SHOT IN THE BACK and KILLED as he was running away from an undercover
drug sting. The officer allegedly ordered him to halt, and when he didn't
the officer opened fire." No guns or drugs were found. No charges against
the cop. Sorry Mrs. Doe.

These stories are endless.

>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".

It may sound silly, but if someone really pisses you off, and you want
revenge, all you need to do is call the 1-800-atf-guns, or whatever the
number is, and report that so-and-so has machines guns and drugs in their
house. The Police will do the rest.

Oh yeah. In an article published last Sunday, The Dallas Police Chief (who
until a year ago was the #2 man in the LAPD), called these incidents (as
well as a long list of others the newspaper had documented, including
several independent rapings of motorists by some of his officers)
'unfortunate and a result of inexperience'. I honestly fear the police more
than criminals.

>In a rational world, I would hope that this sad incident would cause people
>to reconsider the concept of disarming the citizens while leaving the
>police armed.  This incident is just one more piece of evidence that the
>police and the courts simply cannot be trusted to reprimand their own
>members for abuse of power.  An innocent person was shot to death by police
>in her own home, and rather than seeking justice and admitting fault, the
>attorney general and police are closing ranks to protect their own.

In the name of the War on Drugs, the police can do no wrong. And anybody
who disagrees, obviously fits the profile of a drug dealer.

"But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the
same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is
their right, it is their duty, to throw off such goverment and to provide
new safeguards for their future security. .... Let the facts be submitted
to a candid world. ..."

-- Declaration Of Independence

I think the facts are being submitted to a candid world. No wonder they are
trying so hard to take guns out of the hands of law-abiding people. They
have read their history.

-Mike
-- 
Mike Tighe, (214) 497-4206
tighe@convex.com
Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns