Here’s at least one case where I can’t possibly see qualified immunity as a defense:

Twenty percent of Hempstead’s police officers were suspended after felony indictments were issued against them, KPRC Local 2 exclusively reported Monday.

The Hempstead Police Department only has 13 officers.

KPRC Local 2 broke the story in 2004 when members of the Cypress Creek EMS Tactical Medics Unit were accused of setting off SWAT team grenades just for fun.

The first flash-bang grenade blew up under a police car at a Hempstead truck stop, sending police running out with guns.

“That would have been very scary,” truck stop manager Mohammad Khan said. “Thank God there was no customer at that time.”

Hempstead’s police chief promised he would investigate, but then the same reserve officer was accused of setting another grenade off at a back-yard party.

One party guest lost a foot.

Never quite understood why flashbangs are considered “non-lethal.” There are a few cases where people have died when flashbangs set the house on fire, a few more cases of lost appendages and third-degree burns, and, of course, the cases where the shock, noise, and bewilderman caused by flashbangs triggered heart attacks.

Thanks to Rogier van Bakel for the tip.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 28th, 2006 at 8:29 am by Radley Balko and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.