By Dean Weingarten
On March 13, 2020, at about 1 a.m., in Louisville, Kentucky, five police officers, at least three who were in plain clothes, without body cameras, executed a no-knock raid, with a warrant naming Breonna Taylor.
The warrant had the right address and person. The officers were not wearing body cameras, because they were narcotics officers, and were exempt by policy.
From usa.today:
No body-camera footage is available because officers in the Criminal Interdiction Division who conducted the search warrant do not wear cameras, police chief Steve Conrad previously said.
The police started breaking down the door. They claim they announced themselves. Breonna’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker had a concealed carry permit and was armed. Walker says he heard the banging on the door. It is not the same thing as hearing police announce themselves. Neighbors say they did not hear the police announce themselves. Kenneth Walker fired at the intruders breaking down the door at 1 a.m. He wounded one officer.
The three narcotics officers, in plain clothes, fired back, about 22 rounds, missing Kenneth Walker, but hitting Breonna eight times, killing her. The two other officers who were there did not fire. Kenneth Walker immediately called 911, believing a home invasion was occurring.
How were Breonna and Kenneth supposed to know it was police breaking down their door, and not a gang of criminals? Neither of them had criminal records. Many criminals claim to be police. Mere verbal claims of being police should not be sufficient identification. A Louisville councilwoman, asked: How would a person know to comply? From wdrb.com:
Councilwoman Green, who described the case as a “damn shame,” asked how someone would know to comply if police burst in during the middle of the night.
The warrant claimed surveillance of the address showed a former boyfriend of Breonna, had visited the apartment several times, and retrieved packages. The warrant claimed this was sufficient probable cause to search the house for drugs, guns, money, and any sort of records which could be associated with drug trafficking. Breonna had no criminal record. She was an emergency responder herself, and had a good record at her job.
Jamarcus Glover, Breonna’s former boyfriend, and a suspected drug dealer, was arrested hours and miles away, before the raid on Breonna’s apartment.
This raid seems an abuse of the no-knock warrant concept. Using the information in the warrant, anyone could be subject to police breaking down the door in the middle of the night, just from knowing someone with a criminal record. The three officers who fired were placed on administrative reassignment
The three Louisville Metro Police officers who fired their guns that night — Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and officers Brett Hankison and Myles Cosgrove — have been placed on administrative reassignment while the department’s Professional Integrity Unit investigates what happened.
At least two other police officers, a lieutenant and an officer, were on the scene as a part of executing the warrant that night. However, LMPD officials named only the three who used their guns.
Wide use of no-knock warrants is incompatible with the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Anyone breaking into an American home in the middle of the night can reasonably expect to be met with gunfire. It should take extreme circumstances to justify a no-knock warrant. This raid was not justified by extreme circumstance. The warrant reads like boilerplate, looking for drugs, money, guns, and records. Except for the drugs, all the rest are things in more than half of American homes. I am not sure about the drugs.
Warrants are meant to protect the police as well as the suspects. If a warrant is legitimately presented, the residents of the house/apartment will know the police have a legitimate reason for their search. In our technological age, the subjects should be able to confirm the warrant by telephone.
The excuse of “destruction of evidence” for no-knock raids should be severely curtailed. The amount of drugs that can be flushed down a toilet in five minutes does not justify the extreme risks involved in no knock raids.
In January, the criminal abuse of no-knock warrants resulted in the death of Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas, an innocent couple in Houston. Breonna’s death confirms the deadly danger of no-knock raids.
The officers have a duty to protect the public. How was the firing of 22 rounds, none of which hit Kenneth, justified? Breonna was killed. She was not firing. Some bullets ended up in other apartments.
The Houston warrant was based on false testimony. The Louisville warrant is being investigated. The warrant claims a postal inspector verified the delivery of suspicious packages. No one has found a postal inspector who is willing to state they made any such verification. From wdrb.com:
A day before the raid, a detective asked a judge to approve the warrant in part because he claimed a postal inspector verified that Glover was using Taylor’s home to receive parcels, the affidavit says.
It is “possible” that Louisville police asked a mail inspector from another jurisdiction of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for help, Gooden said, but he said his office almost surely would have been notified of an outside agent’s involvement.
On 21 May, 2020, the FBI announced it was launching an investigation.
From courier-journal.com:
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The FBI is launching its own investigation into the fatal police shooting of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor following a rising chorus of calls for an independent inquiry.
“The FBI will collect all available facts and evidence and will ensure that the investigation is conducted in a fair, thorough and impartial manner,” the FBI Louisville Field Office said in a statement. “As this is an ongoing investigation, we are not able to comment further at this time.
No illegal drugs were found at Breonna’s apartment. Kenneth’s pistol was completely legal.
On 26 May, 2020, the charges against Kenneth Walker were dismissed, without prejudice, which means the charges could be filed again, with new evidence.
From whas11.com:
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Friday, Commonwealth Attorney Tom Wine asked a judge to dismiss the case against Kenneth Walker. Walker, boyfriend of Breonna Taylor, was charged with attempted murder of a police officer after he started shooting at officers executing a no-knock search warrant at Taylor’s apartment.
WHAS11 has learned the charges have been dismissed. According to a court document [Commonwealth of Kentucky vs Kenneth Walker III] dated May 26, 2020, a judge dismissed the indictment without prejudice.
Some police were outraged. Act like a criminal gang, and Americans will treat you as a criminal gang. From wdrb.com:
“Not only is he a threat to the men and women of law enforcement, but he also poses a significant danger to the community we protect!” River City FOP president Ryan Nichols wrote in a Facebook Post Friday. “Home incarceration was not designed for the most violent offenders!” “I call on the public to condemn the actions of Judge Olu Stevens.”
When you are serving a warrant, appear at a reasonable time, knock on the door, wear uniforms, be ready to present a warrant. If no one answers after three or four minutes, then you may break down the door. No knock raids in the middle of he night are closer to police terrorism than due process of law.
It often takes three or four minutes to answer the door. People can be changing a baby, in the bathroom, taking items from an oven, making love. You have to allow reasonable time to answer the door. Don’t expect people in the middle of the night to awaken, figure out what is going on, and answer the door, in the 20 seconds it takes to knock it down. Don’t assume yelling “Police” is a reasonable way to assure people that you are legitimate police. It isn’t.
The tragic death of Breonna Taylor could have been prevented if no-knock raids were restricted to the tiny number of times they are needed.
It appears the Louisville Police are instituting reforms, such as requiring the Chief of Police to sign off on every no-knock warrant. The policy exempting narcotics officers from wearing body cameras on raids has been changed.
Those reforms are a good start.
Use of body cam footage of use of force by officers would be required by law, to be released to the public, by a bill in the Kentucky legislature. From louisvillefuture.com:
Kentucky House Bill 373 would make it so that cities do not have to release all body camera footage from first responders to the public. But footage of certain types of incidents, including use of force by police, is required to be made available to the public.
The Lousiville City Council is considering eliminating no-knock warrants. From wdrb.com:
At least one council member, Barbara Sexton Smith, called Wednesday for police to prohibit the no-knock warrants and is drafting an ordinance to do just that. The chair of the public safety committee, Jessica Green, is also collaborating on that effort.
“Several of us do have an appetite to draft an ordinance to either do away with no-knock warrants in their entirety or to drastically restrict them,” Green told WDRB News.
No knock raids put everyone at risk. Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas in Houston were white. Breonna was black. The Constitution and the law should be colorblind.
Following the limits on government power placed in the Constitution, is the way to allow all to exist in freedom under the law. It is called “ordered liberty”. We need to return to it.
©2020 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
As retired LE, I agree that no knock warrants should be extremely rare and are extremely dangerous. Saying that, I find it dishonest that this incident is being used as an example. As mentioned, while the officers did receive a no knock addendum, they did not use it. There is ample evidence from neighboring apartments the police did announce themselves. Further, the chaos of a forced entry, even with an clear announcement, can lead to misunderstandings and a lack of understanding by the residents on what is actually going on. The fact is the affidavit for the warrant has been determine to be accurate, showing that Ms Taylor was working a money drop for her off and on a drug dealer boyfriend. At the time of the warrant, there was a different boyfriend at the resident, but that does not in any way mitigate that it was Ms Taylor’s criminal actively that led to he untimely demise
While the Warrant was indeed a “no knock” authorization, the officers did knock Instead. Credible evidence to this has been established, and two of the three officers were subsequently cleared of all charges while the third has been charged for randomly firing into nearby occupied residences during the raid.
F-this union maggot
River City FOP president Ryan Nichols
next time somebody goes to serve one of those rough up the citizens warrant your worthless ass better be front and center so the occupants can hit you center mass without harming any of the other officers.
This is why labor unions have no business in government especially in law enforcement this kind of mentality will start a civil war and it will result in the killing of officers and civilians.
I thought it interesting that part about how the FBI is going to investigate what are they going to blame blame it on Trump f*** the FBI why is this goddamn justice department even exist anymore we oughta know better by now they should bar William Barr from any more government exploits
his fat ass absolutely unbelievable it’s sadly laughable.
Kind of like all these secret ATF rules and unconstitutional collection of gun buyers info to build Illegal Data Bank when the ATF goes to try a no-knock warrant it will not be sadly laughable anymore as the result will be War the government may not fall because of it but they sure as hell cannot win it will be a long protracted bloody war that could grind on for a decade we might even kill a million this time I won’t say Americans because 30% of people living in this country have no right to continue living here as Americans it’s probably at least another 5% that have no right to be her whatsoever as they criminally entered our country in violation of our laws both federal and state that alone would prevent them from ever becoming an American this idea that we can just pretend the laws don’t exist or make up imaginary laws that can’t exist per our Constitution and Bill of Rights theres over 240 countries in this world there’s only one US anybody that’s not happy I recommend that they pick a country and get going as for any government official state or federal it is part of the making up laws that are absolutely an infringement on our rights I say whoa unto you may GOD send you straight to hell after of course you have suffered hours of agony because you attacked a civilian that was well within his legitimate god-given rights.
You got to love an oligarch.
Something’s wrong here. Boyfriend shoots at what he thought were home invaders. Cops shoot back and fire TWENTY-TWO rounds, none of which hit the boyfriend, but strike the girlfriend eight times. A report I read said she was in bed at the time. That means the cops fired 14 errant rounds. What gives??
Gee, that’s funny- I must have slept through the nationwide riots/burning/looting/desecration following the murder of Tuttle and Nicholas. Oh wait, they were white.
About a decade ago in Indiana it became legal for police officers to raid homes, no warrant. What happened was that armed with a warrant, police officers performed a raid at the wrong address. They found drugs at the wrong house and arrested the occupants. It went to court and the defendant’s lawyer argued that the raid was illegal because it occurred at an address that wasn’t on the warrant. The defendant lost the case and was convicted for what was an illegal search, raid. It made it all the way to the Indiana Supreme Court where the lower court ruling was upheld, “guilty”. The Chief Justice wrote in the majority opinion that requiring a warrant could make it more dangerous to the police officers. As an example used, “…it’s the middle of the night and officers raid a house unannounced, no warrant, kick the doors in and the huge family dog is sleeping on the bed of the little daughter, kicks into defense mode and goes to attack the intruder(s) whom are armed police, to then defend themselves they shoot at the protective family dog, miss and blow the little girl’s head off. What then?”. The Chief Justice reasoned that if that happens, the family can then take the police to court…AS THOUGH OUR U.S. Constitution’s 4th Amendment needed apply. Here, let me see if I can find a link for the non-believers…
Update, instead of finding the story from a decade ago, I found lots of them on blogs. But bigger than that, I found that OUR SCOTUS basically made the same ruling nationwide and lots of actual news stories about it. Do an internet search. it’s there.
Whatever happened to the Castle Rule? A mans home is his castle! There is no reason for a no-knock warrant at all. Law enforcement can set a parimeter around the dwelling and wait for the person to surrender. Law enforcement would spend a lot less money in the end and a lot less shooting to defend against.
You are absolutely right. With a modicum of planning, no-knock warrants are completely unnecessary. Essentially, they are a product of laziness. There are so many stories about innocent people getting killed when no-knock warrants have been served, that one must scratch one’s head in wonder at why they still exist. They are a product of a war we have lost – the War on Drugs.
And in the “no-knock warrants resulted in the death of Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas”, it was brought on by not only a ‘dirty cop’ but a filthy one. Over twenty of his cases have been over turned. He mainly stuck to picky on other black citizens, knowing they didn’t have the funds to properly defend their selves. Heck in the Tuttle case the cop shot one of the other cops! They even shot one of the Tuttles’ dogs. I don’t recall hw many rounds were fired but they made the home look like Bonnie and Clyde’s last ride.
Quote: “The three narcotics officers, in plain clothes, fired back, about 22 rounds, missing Kenneth Walker, but hitting Breonna eight times, killing her.” This right here is the perfect argument against the notion that only the police should have guns. They fired 22 rounds and missed the shooter every time. They hit an unarmed person just over once out of every three rounds fired. It is just a matter of good luck that they didn’t kill someone in one of the other apartments.
NoKno turns the Bill of Rights on its head. I know one thing there will be lawsuits coming out of this.An innocent woman is dead and her future stolen. Winners? As always the attorney’s. They get paid no matter what.
1770’s to the 1970’s ‘No Knock’ warrants did not exist. I read an article years ago claiming when first introduced the ‘No Knock’ has very limited and specific use – which is why only 35 to 40 PER YEAR in the WHOLE US happened. Today we are at 1800+ coast to coast per week.
Aroused from sleep at 3am by my dogs barking their heads off. Went to investigate and saw two police(?) standing outside my apartment. Still half asleep, I asked what did they want.
“Come outside, we want to talk to you.”
If I were fully awake and thinking straight(only 3 hrs sleep), I would never have complied; but I did.
Turned out they Were legitimate cops.(TG)
So, what was so important to bang on someone’s door in the middle of the night? It concerned the registration tag on my vehicle. I’m not making this up.
Now, understand that this was private property and the police, by their own admission, had no business being there unless a resident(or mgt.) called for them. Also, my vehicle was backed-into the parking space w.o. the tag visible unless you would get out of your vehicle and walk to the back of mine. It was also parked directly in front of my apt.
Long story short, I filed a formal complaint with Internal Affairs at the Sheriff Dept. An officer from that dept. called me later for an interview on the incident. I figured this was going to be an attempt to gather evidence exonerating the officers, or even used against Me! Turned out the interviewer agreed with my complaint and asked if I wanted to file a lawsuit(!). I declined, and said some sort of disciplinary action along with re-training would do.
Lesson: Cops are human and can exercise bad judgment. Problem is, it’s not like choosing the wrong wine to go with fish. Their bad call can have dire consequences.
What a wonderful fairytale
So where is the racial injustice in this one? BLM and their libflake celeb supporters and the fake news repeat the false narrative that the victim would surely be alive today if she were white. Instead the movement should be stressing warrant procedures, policies and execution as the GunsAmerica author pointed out. Although the author intentionally left out the name of the second suspect on the warrant. Look it up, coincidence? Don’t put yourself in the company of people who might get you arrested or killed. And the author led readers to believe the boyfriend immediately called 911 when actually it was several minutes later to bolster his lie that his girlfriend fired the shots at the officers. The author omitted the part where for days the boyfriend let the world think his deceased girlfriend started the shooting, and when the truth was found out the fake news media turned it around on police as if they were the ones lying to protect themselves from shooting an unarmed black girl. For all those sticking up for the boyfriend, do you really think he didn’t know who knocked the door down? Your friendly neighborhood crackheads trying to steal your PlayStation do not use a battering ram. They pounded on the door multiple times over a couple minutes, the boyfriend admits that. When he went to retrieve his firearm you don’t think he peaked out the window to see who was out there? They have vests and shirts that say POLICE and DEA. If the boyfriend and his girl are concerned about home invasions, maybe they shouldn’t allow the apartment to be frequented by known drug traffickers. The two warrant suspects had repeatedly elnvaded arrest by using cameras for advanced warning to allow them to destroy evidence. I agree authorities should’ve known that one or more of the suspects was already in custody a couple hours earlier. I agree there were an excessive amount of return fire shots that could and did go through walls into other apartments. But this tragedy isn’t clearly as one-sided as the author makes it out to be. At least the author didn’t inject the phony race element.
I don’t have the problem with the police executing the warrant as much as I have a problem with no knock warrants in general, and how they got this particular warrant in specific. I fully expect to die in the case of such a warrant being erroneously executed at my house; I guarantee that someone breaking down my door will receive an education in what .45acp will sound like. People watch way too many crime dramas and think they can add this bit to their local bag of tricks. Whoever got this warrant essentially committed murder, and needs to serve as an example of why you get your facts right when _swearing out_ a warrant. It’s horrifying that it had to take an actual senseless killing to make people aware of the abuse of our rights no knocks represent.
I’ve noticed that any negative comments posted about the accuracy of the administrator’s opinions in this specific article are deleted from view…..very telling as to how even some 2A proponents can succumb to using liberal tactics when it’s convenient for them
“Liberal tactics”? Seriously… you guys need to stop drinking the kool-aid. Everyone censors information to protect their own opinions as fact… Even the “infallible” Republican does this. Stop making this an us-vs-them.
Lot of key board cops here. I’m glad you never had to wear a badge in a 3rd world large urban area in U.S. where the Police are looked on as the “Enemy” by residents between 13 and 40 years of age. Most dealers of weight, who are trafficking narcotics do not follow the rules, like opening door for a warrant. This further shows the disturbing trend that views police as the “Enemy” and those calling to de-fund Police Departments are not thinking of what would actually take place with no Police. I thank all the Men & Women in Blue who try to make it better for me and you.
So maybe you haven’t heard… to many poor black people in the ghetto…the police are the enemy. If you dont understand how or why they believe this… you are part of the problem. You can deny this if you want… that doesn’t make it not so… it just makes you blind and inhumane if you do.
Are you justifying no-knock warrants? What is the purpose of the warrant? The risk of killing someone, maybe a police officer, vs. having a suspect flush some evidence doesn’t seem like a reasonable risk. If someone behind the door is being threatened with their life, a no knock make sense. Everyone in the game is at risk of injury. Me being innocent of crime, like these two, if someone burst into my home, the scatter gun will be operating at full speed. This tactic has to be used with great restraint.
… and by the way… the US is First World, not third. Or ghettos are nicer than some developed parts in actual 3rd world countries.
Stop making cartoon-style urban villains the justification for no-knocks. Here’s what no-knocks are used for. Arresting such heinous enemies of the State as Roger Stone and Paul Manafort for imaginary crimes that even if they existed, only existed on paper as part of a “show me a man and I’ll show you the crime” political prosecution. Using a dramatic pre-dawn raid deliberately leaked to a sympathetic press to pre-convict them in the media.
In this case, blowing away a sleeping EMT for no conceivable purpose. Policing is dangerous work; we get that. However, if you throw away due process, the evidence is tainted anyway — the no-knock is simply a tool to increase the chance of shooting people while arresting them — a gestapo tactic for sure. The fact that you stubbornly cling to the viability of this abuse of citizen rights after the inexcusable murder of an unarmed citizen sleeping in her bed shows you should not be allowed near a gun & badge, ever. When you get through your thick skull that the overwhelming majority of us don’t want to be shot in our sleep because your fellow dipshit made a clerical error, maybe then you will understand.
Yup, you said it right. A few years ago in So. FL, the news reported very briefly that a man had been killed during a police no-knock drug raid; similar to the situation in this case.
Cops broke-in, rushed throughout the apt. to find a man still in bed and (supposedly)reaching for a pistol on his nightstand in the dark bedroom. They shot him to pieces immediately. Justified police shooting?
One problem: It was the wrong address!
I think you nailed it
I will go for the idea that many of our ghettos to many of us seem like third world but are in reality home to many people maybe if we did not know where they lived it would make them seem more human.
Overwhelming reality black lives really don’t matter to blacks looking for an excuse to misbehave or the street thug that does not care either way.
Many police do try and do the right thing a few not so much even fewer are bad guys that make real trouble for society they are found thought organizations big and small state and federal some more cunning than others ultimately evil is evil, evil really does exist thankfully most of us are not exposed to such evil but many in the hood know to stay clear of certain officers or even areas of there neighborhood that are the working domain of crooks and coprobbers that plague our most violent cities
In most all cases these cities are run by democrats always have been people in these areas are Democrats the police that police these areas are Democrats and union members.
No one wants to go after either as they will be attacked even harmed by media police and the politicians.
Imagine CNN attacking Andrew Cuomo for his part in killing thousands by placing sick people in facilities that are not able to give the kind of attention required or the space required to maintain seperation staffed by overworked and poorly trained people by well trained well paid managers that must hold the line and answer to the mayor’s that are eyeing governor’s positions even presidential aspirations.
CNN knows better then to hold leaders of these cities accountable it’s like burning your own business before the rioters arrive.
It’s a hard point to make I always ask myself where in the hell do these people think they’re going to go after they set the bushes on fire.
In a world of 250 or so country’s there’s only one USA
Of these approximately 250 countries despotism tyranny communism and socialism rule.
So to set out to destroy the USA is a bad idea as sooner or later you must face the bad guys and live under their regime there is no where to go like Home sweet home.
No one seems to get this unavoidable reality before they act as they have never been made to account for there actions most are third forth fifth generation malcontents that were never punished for there actions by parents that never were punished by grandparents that never were punished.
do you think that Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer with behave the way they do right now if they were held to account for there behaviors years ago like when she said you have to vote for it to find out what’s in it.
in any real world she would have been drug off stage jailed then procecuted.
She won’t be tested for drugs or alcohol she will not be reprimanded she will not be pummeled by the crowds of people demanding a piece of her rear end as they goose-step her through the city to a waiting tree or bridge so they could hang her right then and there.
No that would be an angry mob of out of control people spewing racist epitafis setting fire to everything so what is different both in the incidences that we have seen this past month or the story described above
Nothing and everything.
To begin with all these groups like black lives matter could not give a rip about the communities where they riot protesting an imaginary enemy to bring about a change not necessarily a good change but change for the sake of change alone this is how and why the rest of the world suffers under socialism communism all these other isms these people make it possible for the real bad guys to secrete themselves in to the governmental structure as experts or media go to people instead of being drug off and beaten near death as they should be in a just society.
It comes down to selfish childish immoral undiciplined people putting there egos ahead of law and order and social norms then when the real bad guys show up roll tanks in the city then they’ll really howl like when China rolls in to Hong Kong you won’t hear much about it as the protesters are taken back to China to be executed or jailed never to be heard from again.
The real reason black lives matter and the like are rioting it’s not because mr. Floyd’s murder but opportunists malcontents thrive on anarchy either for personal gain or attention there better at ushering in communism piece meal then if Chinese paratroopers seized Walmarts in every city and started giving things away to the deserving masses at least this month next year the hammer falls and we get the sickle right in the neck plain and simple.
It’s never about what they say it’s about as soon as you get beyond today’s complaint it’s something else unless you really corner them without a scapegoat to blame then Your a Facisist Racist
Pig.
So when the badge thugs do not follow the rules or interpret them to give themselves as much power as possible, are you ready to say they are just as bad as the drug dealer? I would probably say the drug dealer is better. I am not extorted on a daily basis to pay the drug dealer money. I am forced to pay for the services of “Law enforcement” if I want them or not.
No-knock warrants are a Cowboy Cop tactic that are more than likely to get cops killed.
Especially in today’s environment.
So, what do they do…… Red Flag laws; even worse!
“after three or four minutes, then you may break down the door”.
That idiotic and grossly unsafe statement ruined your overall worthy argument. You are obviously wholly ignorant of the realities of law enforcement investigative procedures. I agree that No Knock warrants should be very very rare and go through several layers of professional and judicial scrutiny. However the only excuse for making the “three or four minute” type of statement is if you are an advocate for the legalization of dangerous /illegal drugs and/or you do not care if law enforcement officers are killed or injured in the line of duty. Please stop commenting about a topic where you have no practical knowledge and are reduced to parroting an ANTIFA talking point.
… so how long would it take you to answer the door at 1am. Ah… because you are pro 2A (and possibly PROFA?) you must have the ability to open up much faster!
You took his “three or four minute” remark completely out of context and spun it. Now, That’s a recurring tactic of the Leftist MSM. Maybe you’re one of those so-called “journalists.”
I’ve been a criminal defense attorney for 44 years in a community where I’ve never heard of the police using a “no knock” warrant. I’ve also never heard of anyone, police or citizen being shot during a raid. In spite of all that the police make plenty of good (don’t tell anyone i ever said that) arrests and are able to get plenty of convictions .
Unless my client’s toilets are a lot better than mine the amount of drugs they can flush probably shouldn’t be prosecuted anyway.
“..able to get plenty of convictions”
Yeah, right. With my very limited experience with the Legal(not Justice) system, I’ve seen the corruption 1st hand between the judges and the police. One judge, in open court, even said that he would side with the police every time unless there was overwhelming evidence to contradict that. Read: You, defendant, are guilty as charged, unless You can prove your innocence.
A real man would knock on the door, a real man would have respect for the people and would consider them innocent until proven guilty, a real man would have some respect for others, a real man would do unto others as he would do unto them, a real man would have respect for the constitution and the oath they took to it and God almighty and the people, a real man would understand that under these circumstances people have the right to defend themselves and that the fear of a raid like this if one is awakened suddenly they would just react, as every action has a reaction. A real man would not feel the need to use military style equipment and tactics to serve a warrant on a fellow man and that common sense and a thinking mind would serve better. I would be ashamed of myself if I thought I had to or would stoop to this level to do this job using a no knock warrant. If I did and one was killed I would feel so guilty I could never perform my duties again and would retire in shame. I am 77 years of age and in my younger days rarely heard of no knock raids are cops were real men, they rarely if ever drew their guns, and to have fired it was almost unheard of.
Our country has changed so much as to be unrecognizable, Old Timer. I don’t like our/their country so much anymore, and I served two tours in combat for it in my earlier naive patriotism.
Another old timer
Senator Obama replied :
“As I’ve said about the flag pin, I don’t want to be perceived as taking sides.” “There are a lot of people in the world to whom the American flag is a symbol of oppression…” “The anthem itself conveys a war-like message. You know, the bombs bursting in air and all that sort of thing.”
Obama continued: “The National Anthem should be ‘swapped’ for something less parochial and less bellicose. I like the song ‘I’d Like To Teach the World To Sing’. If that were our anthem, then, I might salute it. In my opinion, we should consider reinventing our National Anthem as well as ‘redesign’ our Flag to better offer our enemies hope and love. It’s my intention, if elected, to disarm America to the level of acceptance to our Middle East Brethren. If we,as a Nation of warring people, conduct ourselves like the nations of Islam, where peace prevails, perhaps a state or period of mutual accord could exist between our governments”.
When I Become President, I will seek a pact of agreement to end hostilities between those who have been at war or in a state of enmity, and a freedom from disquieting oppressive thoughts. We as a Nation, have placed upon the nations of Islam, an unfair injustice which is WHY my wife disrespects the Flag
and she and I have attended several flag burning ceremonies in the past”.
“Of course now,
I have found myself about to become The President of the United States and I have put my hatred aside . I will use my power to bring CHANGE to this Nation, and offer the people a new path . My wife and I look forward to becoming our Country’s First black Family. Indeed , CHANGE is about to overwhelm the United States of America.”
Yes, you read it right.
Do you always regurgitate any nonsense you read online? In the future how about you assume the need to cite your source before parroting fiction so you don’t look like a moron or, worse, an intentional liar?
https://www.factcheck.org/2008/04/obama-and-the-national-anthem/
anybody who is siding with the police want to explain the part where the actual suspect was apprehended hours before they attempted to enter the apartment? You mean to tell me as a team they couldn’t communicate reasonably within a few hours…”hey we got the criminal, stand down”…this is cold blooded murder…pure and simple…and it would be alot easier for some of you to accept this if you weren’t addicted to cops treating some folks (poor white or minorities) a certain way.
Roderick, only one of the two suspects was in custody earlier. The other suspect on the warrant,, (bearing the same last name as the deceased girls boyfriend), was still being sought after. So there might’ve been a reason to show up and serve the warrant. You’re also leaping to say that it was “cold blooded murder pure and simple”. The girl would still be alive if her boyfriend didn’t shoot the officer. He fired the first shot, claims that it was a warning shot yet it struck an officer in the femural artery. They are obviously going to return fire. I am against the excessive shots inside an apartment with bullets going through walls into neighbors dwellings. The boyfriend lied and told everyone that his deceased girlfriend was the initial shooter. That freed him up to go make a late 911 call pretending the raid was just taking place. It’s clearly not as cut and dry as you make it out to be.
I slept light when i was young . Now older (& heavier) i sleep like the dead , and snore. Thunderstorms sometimes don’t even wake me. A No knock raid on my house between 10 pm and 4 am would end the same . When i wake , surprised , from loud noise , suddenly , in the middle of the night , i am disoriented and ABSOLUTELY would not have heard anyone outside my door yelling anything before the ram hit my door. So , in my opinion , no knock raids are stupid , dangerous , high-risk, & should be banned . I guess a case could be made for a residence with high foot traffic, lights on , AT THE TIME OF THE WARRANT SERVING.
So if anybody says police all of you are going to cheerfully open your door and let them in, not knowing who is on the other side? Also the officers said they did knock and identified themselves, but as we all know police are bad criminals are good…… Also the conveniently over looked fact is they had a WARRANT, which means suspected criminal activity, are all of you doing something illegal, that would put you at risk? You act like they are going to go door to door and break into all your houses for no ligitimate reason.
Of course, someone banging on your door at 0430 yelling “I is da po po” should be given complete cooperation.
“..they are going to go door to door and break into all your houses for no ligitimate(sic) reason.”
If the Progressive-Socialists seize complete control and fulfill their gun-control agenda, you will see Exactly that.
So once again the police will investigate themselves. Gee I wonder how that will turn out? That’s another thing that needs to change! The 3 cops that fired their guns should be charged with murder.
well the other side of the coin is police safety, so they are not ambushed and to not give them a chance to dispose of the evidence. For what ever reason they were able to get the warrant…..Just saying so don’t trash me to hard.
Breaking into a home unannounced does the opposite of protect police safety… It provides the warrant target with a perfectly reasonable excuse to open fire on the unannounced intruders who failed to communicate their lawful purpose for entering that private residence.
The argument that using the element of surprise is necessary to prevent destruction of evidence doesn’t pass a basic risk vs reward evaluation… Are you going to risk the lives of the police, all innocent bystanders (other residents of the home & the neighbors) and the warrant target just to prevent the destruction of evidence?
First neither one of us were there so we only have the media reports to rely on (and we know how that goes). next a warrant was issued, a judge isn’t going to do that just to off a pregnant black woman. third police and military are not paid to get shot (they are people too) hence the safety part of my comment. Fourth my CC training included “know your target before you shoot” The police, atf, fbi all are well marked in those situations even the plain clothed officers. Lastly I don’t like the idea of no knock but thanks to bad guys that is something we have to live with, so put the blame on the criminals not Law Enforcement!
Quote: “Fourth my CC training included “know your target before you shoot” The police, atf, fbi all are well marked in those situations even the plain clothed officers.” So they knew their target which is why every round that landed in a person hit the one person who was not firing at the cops? Seems like they were not as well trained as you are.
If the safest way to proceed that they can think of is to kick the door of the wrong home in the middle of the night, they’re not competent.
If they think that creating a situation where they’re likely to end up killing people is justified to avoid destruction of evidence, they’re not competent.
If they want to be safe, they need to be competent.
“Anyone breaking into an American home in the middle of the night can reasonably expect to be met with gunfire.”
If you can accept the foregoing quote as the obvious fact that it is, then I would argue the only legitimate purpose for a ” no knock warrant” is in the almost entirely unconstitutional situation where the authorities’ primary objective is elimination rather than apprehension of their target. The only circumstance I’m aware of that could make that kind of objective actually legal is the pursuit of an armed fugitive who has clearly expressed their intention to “not be taken alive”.
Exactly! No knock warrants should be severely limited to only that case where it is an armed fugitive or a hostage situation.
How they even got this warrant is highly questionable, since there was no postal inspector claiming unusual packages were delivered there. It sounds like the warrant was based on a lie or false information. I hope their family gets a good lawyer to file a huge lawsuit.