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Friday, January 25th, 2008In his interview with the Virginian-Pilot, Ryan Frederick said he was into gardening and landscaping, and that one reason he had the grow lamps is that he was learning how to grow young Japanese Maple trees.
In our comments section, "Kap" points out that the leaves of Japanese Maples look a lot like marijuana leaves. To an untrained eye, one wonders if a very young Japanese Maple (the kind that would require a grow lamp) might resemble a marijuana plant.
Could the informant have spotted the young trees in Frederick’s garage, then mistakenly reported them to the police as marijuana plants, triggering the raid?
UPDATE: I just tipped of a Virginian-Pilot reporter on the Japanese Maple leaves and the possibility that the informant was responsible for the earlier break-in at Frederick’s home, given the timing of the break-in and the information contained in the search warrant that the informant had been in the home 72 hours prior to the raid.
He told me a couple of interesting things that didn’t appear in the paper’s interview with Frederick. First, Frederick told the reporter that as the police were taking him out of the house in handcuffs, he told them he was sorry, and that he was scared because his house had been burglarized earlier in the week. According to the reporter, Frederick says the police arresting him then told him they not only knew about the burglary, they knew who had done it. Neither the reporter nor Frederick made the connection at the time that the person who broke in could well also be the informant.
I’m starting to think now that that’s the case. Frederick also told the reporter he rarely has visitors, and couldn’t think of anyone who had been in his home that week.
As for the plants, the reporter confirmed that Frederick did actually own young Japanese Maple trees, in addition to tomatoes (which have also in the past been mistaken for marijuana and led to drug raids) and several other plants. The guy was a gardening hobbyist.
Frederick also believes the cops likely found about three joints in his home.
I would be very suspicious if the police olice were to suddenly announce, a week later, that they did indeed find marijuana plants in Frederick’s garage, too.
Here are a few questions I have for Chesapeake PD:
• Who was the informant? Under what circumstances did he hand over this information? Has he assisted the police in other cases?
• Did police tell Frederick at the scene that they know who broke into his home three days before the raid? Do they know? If so, was it the same person who tipped them off?
• If so, did he break in to Frederick’s home with instruction from the police, or on his own accord?
• How much marijuana was found in the home? Could we get a definitive yes or no on whether marijuana plants were found, as indicated would be found in the search warrant?
• What sort of police work was done to coroborrate the informant’s tip before conducting the raid?
• If there were no marijuana plants found in the home, did police find Japanese Maple plants? Tomato plants? Other evidence that Frederick was a gardening enthusiast, as he says?
New Professionalism? Hardly. Keystone kops is more like it ensuring once again someone pays the ultimate price.
This was and is 110% avoidable.
http://www.edenarts.com/flowers/images/japanese_maple.jpg
Another Pic of the Japanese Maple
The possibilities seem to be there that they caught the “informant” at another crime scene and he handed the cops Fredricks house in order to get off.
If that is the case then the “informant” is the one who should be charged with murder, and first degree would be pretty appropriate as well.
Thanks for sticking to this one like glue! Hopkins as well is a real credit to his trade. Real reporting.
I can’t get over how sad this is. A poor fellow is dead and another poor bastard is sitting in jail charged with murder. Pray for both of them.
http://hamptonroads.com/2008/01/fellow-officer-recalls-shock-he-felt-when-his-friend-was-shot
According to this article, posted today, everyone on the raid was wearing body armor and helmets, and the article again states that Det. Shivers was killed by a single bullet wound to the “arm and chest”. There still seems to be some confusion as to whether he was fully inside the house when he was hit, or if he was shot through the door. But there seems to be no question that Ryan Frederick used a .380 pistol. .380s are not known for their power; it seems like a fluke that this round may have penetrated a door and a vest before killing the detective.
The article also quotes one of Det. Shivers’ superiors stating that if they had to do it over again, they would have conducted the raid the same way.
The article also quotes one of Det. Shivers’ superiors stating that if they had to do it over again, they would have conducted the raid the same way.
How can they say they would do this raid the same way again?
Mr. Frederick was obviously no threat to anyone. The fact that he surrendered the minute he knew that is was the police tells you had they knocked on the door he would have answered and surrendered.
And the detective would have been alive and Mr. Frederick’s life wouldn’t be ruined for nothing! The statement by the police saying they would do the same thing again is so disheartening….it means they learned nothing from this so what hope is there for a change in all this if the police and SWAT Teams still believe they’re right?
My biggest fear for Mr. Frederick is that the police will smear his name to clear themselves and he will lose everything he has and disappear from society into the prison system, like so many other innocent people caught up in a situation like this. How do we bring national attention to what is going on in this country? It seems to me that a news show like 60 Minutes, 20/20, Dateline etc. would be an excellent way to get these stories out there. Look what the Ed Bradley interview did for the boys from Duke. I believe if the nation knew what was going on something would be done.
In post #2 “TC” writes:
“The possibilities seem to be there that they caught the “informant” at another crime scene and he handed the cops Fredrick’s house in order to get off. If that is the case then the “informant” is the one who should be charged with murder, and first degree would be pretty appropriate as well. ”
While I agree completely with your premise, the part about the charges is absurd. It is NOT the responsibility of a criminal to do proper and responsible police investigation. It is the responsibility of the police. I think that’s why they have titles such as “Detective” , “Investigator”, etc.
However, my PREDICTION is the police will avoid all responsibility, culpability and liability by using the exact diversion you suggest: blame it on someone else this time the CI. It’s a common practice, they usually blame it on the warrant (except it’s the Police and ONLY the police who write them). The next fall back is the judge signed the warrant (except the judges (as is noted in the warrants themselves) rely solely on the word of the police affidavit and bear and take no responsibility for it’s accuracy).
The one true excuse we’ll never see is: “This is stupid police policy and we are a bunch a idiotic f’ups”. But that would be to much to expect the actual truth now, wouldn’t it?
“The article also quotes one of Det. Shivers’ superiors stating that if they had to do it over again, they would have conducted the raid the same way.”
This should be a BIG RED WARNING LIGHT to anyone working under this superior…your boss is an idiot and you are also consider expendable to the point that if they KNEW you were going to die to bust a small time marijaunna user…they would send you in anyway.
I’m becoming more and more convinced that they KNOW there are better ways, but the over-abundance of testosterone, the need for the rush, the thought of not being able to use their little toys, and not being able to bully the rest of us “no account civilians” (I saw that remark and few similiar to it a few times on a cop website) would just make the job not much more different than being a mail man and THEN what would be the purpose?
Still hard to feel sorry for cops who die in actions like this. Claiming “its your job” carries about as much weight with me as a Nazi SS guard making the same claim…besides…its the life YOU chose. And from what I’ve been reading on cop websites, the ones who want to “protect and serve” and help “no account civilians” appear to be a very very small minority. The rest appear to be feeding the needs stated above which have NOTHING to do with public service.
Go check out a few of the cops sites and see what the average cop in the street thinks of you, your rights, and your life.
//I’m becoming more and more convinced that they KNOW there are better ways,//
Whether or not “there are better ways” depends on the objective.
“The article also quotes one of Det. Shivers’ superiors stating that if they had to do it over again, they would have conducted the raid the same way.”
Of course the superior is going to say this. I see at least two potential legal actions following the raid. The first one is the obvious, the state prosecuting Frederick for the death of the officer. And this one will happen — there’s going to be enormous pressure from the police department to prosecute. The second lawsuit is an action for the wrongful death of the detective brought by the widow. This is the one the quote above is meant to address. If the police acknowledge that the raid was inappropriate, then the p.d. has admitted negligence, which the widow would use in a wrongful death action against the p.d. This lawsuit might not happen. Frederick sounds like a rock — he’s got no money, and the widow is going to have a very difficult time proving the p.d. has any liability for the death of the officer so long as the p.d. stays on message.
They would have done it the same way if they had to do it all over again?!
A dead cop and a casual marijuana user in jail for murder and they would do it the same way!!??
Just astonishing, and yet that probably sums up modern police work to a “T.” Do anything to avoid responsibiility and accountability, and never once question your own tactics, methods or atttudes because that seems too close to being held accountable. Oh, and pretend to be a total bad-ass with cool John McClane sayings and fun little toys when you can.
“According to this article, posted today, everyone on the raid was wearing body armor and helmets, and the article again states that Det. Shivers was killed by a single bullet wound to the “arm and chest”. ”
If you’ve ever seen body armor, there is an open seam line between the body and the arm so that a person could easily move there arms. You basically have a choice of protecting that area or keeping your speed of movement, taking the chance that by some mischance you’ll be hit. Think of how well a baby can move in a snow suit, and you’ll get the idea. Total protection, but very hard to move. Its a complete fluke that Officer Shivers was hit in this area.
When I live in VA 20 years ago, you could presume that anyone breaking into your home was there to kill you and you were able to use deadly force to defend yourself.
Seems to me that this “raid” by the Chesapeake gestapo met the criteria.
welcome to the war on drugs, this happens everyday inocent people are set up by informants this is code for some crooked pieces of #&!t caught doing something against the law, and to get out from under it they turn in anyone that comes to mind and for what ever reason, maybe they would not go out with him( Ohio) or maybe the snitch did not like them,or maybe the snitches handler had a beef ( most snitches have cops as handlers ) the bottom line is money, the war on drugs has meant a huge influx of money into police depts. and drug task forces all over the country, and they like the money and many of them will do what ever it takes to keep the money coming, all you have to do is a little research and you will find facts to back up this statement, wrongful deaths ruined lives, all in the name of the war on drugs and in many of these cases it comes back to BAD INFORMERS AND BAD HANDLERS AND WORST OF ALL BAD POLICE WORK , which is really a war on the poor and those least able to defend themselves against the d.e.a. and these task forces.