cinattra, is there a law stating that a man doesn’t have a right to return to his home, or that a man cannot miss a doctor’s appointment without having armored SWAT teams come out and stage a siege around his house for hours on end? Get real!

The issue here is not about citizen’s breaking the law anyway, it’s about the police going berserk with power, and breaking quite a few laws themselves in the process with almost total immunity.

I got a hold of my direct supervisor and informed him of what happened. He stated “…sounds like you did the right thing.” and that was that. Then I received a subpoena and 2 months later the Sheriff’s office, and the P.A. filed a formal complaint against me. Because I did nothing wrong at the Teagues residence, they began looking for anything to “punish” me for. They even went back 4 years trying to find anything, anything about me in which they could use in order to create harm to me, they even went to my ex-spouse’s office and conducted an interview but that did not go the way they wanted it to go (thank God even divorced couples can maintain a civil relationship).

I ended up in the docotors office for the stress of all the things that had gone on, there is nothing like being punished for telling the truth and doing the right thing. A year later, the embelished charges made it to the docket and I was subpoened again from both sides. Under oath I told the truth, the complete truth and nothing but the truth, and the 12 man jury accquitted all three members of ALL the charges.

The civil trials have yet to make it before a Judge … I am no longer a State Trooper, I am teaching at a high school. The one thing I learned from all this mess after having recovered from being hurt by this mess is this … I did the right thing, I would do it all over again if the situation ever presented itself because I would want to do the same for a member of my family.

My personal message to all of you, not all cops are bad, not all of the cops will serve themselves before those who they took the oath for. Taking the high road is not easy, it is lonely and painful but after 4 years and a re examination of myself, I am ok. And I know that Jimmy Teague, Leta Teague, and their son-in-law (I can not remember his name right now) are thankful I maintained my integrity thru all this mess.

Just me …

I imme

Kill The Police…

I grew up with several people who are now APD officers, and with one exception, they do now, and have, as long as I’ve known them, fit into what I would consider the “LEO stereotype”. That is to say, they seem to be arrogant, self-important, assholes who for no discernible reason feel that they are better than everyone they come in contact with and seem to get off on power.

Somewhat OT, but I recently had the pleasure of witnessing SWAT standoff at my neighbors house here. I live in a nice middle class neighborhood on the west side of town. I’m 33 and one of the youngest homeowners in the area.

I was awoken by the sound of police on a loudspeaker trying to coax my neighbor out of his house. When I went outside to investigate I saw at least 15 police vehicles including several armored SUV’s and a tank. I asked a police officer what was going on. She replied that the VA hospital had called about a mentally ill man who missed an appointment, and asked if the police could drop by to see if he was ok. She said he had refused to come out, but they believed him to be unarmed, because his daughter told them he didn’t keep guns in the house, and that he didn’t “believe in them”.

Why the tank? I don’t know. Might as well ask why they let off a few flash-bang grenades in the street over a period of several hours.

I was told if I left I would not be allowed back to my home, so I just watched the happenings from my backyard, and had a couple beers with my other imprisoned neighbors.

The most heartbreaking part of the ordeal was when I noticed a young teenage girl trying to get into my back yard. She turned out to be the man’s daughter, and was in tears because the police would not allow her within view of the house to try to communicate with her father. She confirmed that he had no weapons in the house, and asked if she could try to get his attention from my backyard. I had a view of the window her father occasionally peered out of to yell “don’t shoot me”. She was unable to get his attention from my backyard, and she couldn’t understand why the police wouldn’t let her nearer. The frustration on her face along with her obvious concern for the welfare of her father was painfull to see.

After 4-5 hours, with another flash-bang grenade the SWAT finally stormed the house and brought out their 150 lb prize in hand cuffs apparentally unharmed.

Now I live in NM, and I likes my guns. There’s a gunstore not far from me called fullautos.com, but those cops had an impressive array of firepower for one little old man who missed a doctors appointment and wasn’t armed. Overmilitirization? Bah!

Also, I have 65 and 85 lb sheppards that were locked in the house for most of the time this was going on. Shortly after the standoff, I noticed that a couple of fenceposts had been knocked down in my backyard. I went to my neighbor’s to see if I could put them back up from her side of the fence. I apologized, assuming that my dogs were the culprits as they usually are. She told me that, in fact, a cop had comming running through my backyard at some point, and knocked them off while jumping the fence. I can only imagine what would have happened if my dogs were in the backyard and met this jackass playing soldier. One cop with a rather large chunk bitten out of his ass, and two dead dogs, no doubt. Me in jail probably as well.

Things I learned:

1) It takes five cops and six police vehicles to block off a small residential street.

2) A bomb detonating robot is needed to deliver a phone to your front door if you throw a guitar out your window.

3) Cops live for that shit. Every one of them had a smile on his/her face, and were laughing and joking around even in front of the man’s teenage daughter (with the exception of the SWAT team who I rarely had a view of). Also Rambo who, not so covertly, ran through my back yard to… make sure they weren’t outflanked? must have been living out some sort of fantasy.

4) APD has a tank, but no mental health professionals to help them negotiate.

5) Most surprisingly, 20 or so APD officers are able to stand around for a few hours without killing anyone (or even any pets).

I’m looking forward to the day I can say APD officers can stand around for a few hours without beating the shit out of anyone.

Albuquerque always ranks high in the violent crimes per capita category, so I do believe there is a use for SWAT in this town. However, the “shock and awe” mentality seems to trickle down to the most mundane traffic stops here.

Standard not all cops are bad disclaimer, I’ve met some very professional ones here in situations that didn’t really require them to be. Also, they did eventually get my truck back after I got car jacked, although I think it was a by-product of the WOD instead of any due diligence to solve my case.

Finally officer Costales has my highest regards, and my warmest thanks.

~~~~~~

“Wherever the law is, crime can be found.”

(Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn — “The Gulag Archipelago”, Vol. I, p. 67)

Word.

“Although the Due Process Clause has little to say regarding the amount of discovery which the parties must be afforded, but cf. Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963), it does speak to the balance of forces between the accused and his accuser. Cf. In re Winship, 397 U.S. 358, 361 -364 (1970).”

I suppose you could make the argument that allowing cops to wear uniforms when testifying for the prosecution–but not the defense–upsets the balance of forces between the accused and his accuser. I can’t see a judge being particularly persuaded by the argument, however. Overall, I think it’s a horrible policy, but I’m not sure it rises to the level of inherently violating due process (and if it does, there have to be better cases out there than Wardius to support the argument).