Monday, April 13th, 2009
Lawsuit claims police raided the apartment in Livingston, Illinois last year. Woman claims the police barged through the door and ordered her to the ground at gunpoint. They apologized after realizing they had raided apartment 1 instead of apartment 10. She claims $20,000 in medical bills.
Officer trips, accidentally shoots man in the chest during a drug raid in New Jersey.
Chicago will pay out $288,000 in damages resulting from a 2006 drug raid on a bar on the southwest side of the city. Drug charges against two bar patrons were dropped after surveillance video showed officers had lied in their police report about what happened after the raid began.
A Phoenix couple has settled with the town of Gilbert, Arizona for $185,000 after an officer tossed a flashbang grenade through a window during a raid on their home. The grenade landed on a bed, caught the bed on fire, and burned the couple’s home to the ground.
The ACLU is suing over a series of raids in Riverside, California in which police targeted black-owned barbershops. Though they were drug raids, the actions were couched as “health inspections,” obviating the need for a search warrant. I’ve seen quite of few of these stories, lately–where police conduct drug raids under the guise of a regulatory inspection to get around the need for a search warrant. It’s troubling.
The police officer who shot Grand Valley State student Derek Kopp in the chest during a drug raid has been charged with the negligent discharge of a firearm. If the officer is actually guilty of that, it’s nice to see him held accountable. But the problem, here, is the policy of sending police into private homes with their guns drawn to enforce consensual crimes. Until that policy changes, we’ll continue to see incidents like this one. Charging the cops or homeowners who make mistakes under such volatile circumstances isn’t going to change anything. We need to stop putting both parties in such a precarious position in the first place–particularly over, of all things, smoking pot.
CORRECTION: This entry originally had another bullet point that was a separate account of the same Illinois raid mentioned above.
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on Monday, April 13th, 2009 at 10:37 am by Radley Balko
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TheAgitator.com
So how do you prevent an incident like what happened in Pittsburgh a few days ago? I agree that as soon as a weapon is drawn the chances of somebody getting hurt or killed goes way up, but at the same time they have a right to protect themselves.
Where do you draw the line?
The officer in the GVSU case isn’t being held accountable. Negligent discharge of a firearm is a bullshit charge. He should be up on attempted murder charges like the student and indeed any one of us would be if the situation was reversed and the cop was the one who got shot. Again, one rule for them and another for the rest of us.
Also, I disagree that charging cops won’t change anything. If cops start seeing their fellow thugs getting sent to prison for busting into people’s houses Rambo style, they might think a little longer next time before they pull the trigger or execute a no knock warrant. These are cops who are supposed to be trained to handle dangerous situations. They shouldn’t be going in guns blazing without identifying if someone is armed and if they pose a threat, and if they do, they need to be punished until that sort of behavior is cut out.
The accidental shooting was in Union County, New Jersey.
Also, there was no mention of any drugs found. What a shame.
That tripping story seems made up.
There’s a few easy places to draw the line, I’ll start with the most obvious.
In Pittsburgh, the police were called on a domestic violence complaint. In cases where there’s a complaint and thus a victim, police entry could be considered to be reasonable, where as in the case of a drug arrest, there is no victim, and no complaint (and in a slightly better system, no crime). So a simple line would be: don’t come in with drawn guns to enforce a supposed crime in which there are no victims.
It’s “troubling” that most Americans can’t find Iraq on a map. It’s “troubling” that my Check Engine light is coming on intermittently. It’s “troubling” that people still use Internet Explorer. It’s downright tyrannical that police are dodging inconveniences like the Bill of Rights.
I agree with Radley that charging a cop (or a citizen) when things go wrong in raids only assuages a blood lust to blame somebody, but really distracts from the real issues: the raids themselves, and the higher ups who foster that culture.
Also: regarding the bar raid in Chicago. Charges were dropped against the citizens. What about perjury charges against the cops?
Some of these cases where cops are caught on camera remind me of the scene in the movie “Disclosure” where an audio message surfaces that completely exposes the scam the Demi Moore character is pulling on the Michael Douglas character. The shocker is how quickly the Demi Moore team immediately changes gears without skipping a beat. No embarrassment. No guilt. No surrender after being found out. Kind of like: “You caught me trying to destroy you. So what. There’s nothing you can do about it.”
It’s nice to see that the Chicago cops were at least booted off the force, but their lies essentially amount to a scam where they were trying to ruin someone. They should be in the slammer.
You must be new here. ;)
“Accidental discharge of a firearm” is a good description of what the officer did — it looks like the right charge. Now assume that a homeowner trips during a raid and accidentally shoots an officer in the chest. What offence do you think the homeowner will be charged with?
Isolated incidents. Does that “s” make it an oxymoron?
Gotta agree with Euler. Negligent discharge? Bullshit. If it were anyone but a cop it wouldn’t be any “negligent discharge” bullshit charge and everyone here knows it.
One law for the rulers (and their thugs), and an entirely different set for us.
Stripping law enforcement/prosecutors of their immunity would solve a lot of these problems including the question #1 Jim asked. Cops go in with drawn weapons, fingers on triggers, when there isn’t any reason. If someone ends up shot or their house burns down then the town pays a fine and everyone just moves on. That isn’t good enough. If a prosecutor withholds evidence or a cop lies to get a warrant they should be looking at the same amount of time they were trying to get for the “criminal”.
Here’s one where a cop is suing his own organization for a wrongful raid on his house. Immigration Raid at Customs Officer’s Home Leads to Suit
Radley, your first two bullet points are ABOUT THE SAME CASE. The town of Dwight apparently lies within Livingston County, IL. Also, both mention the same $20,000 figure of medical charges incurred by the plaintiff, one Catherine Short.
I’m sure it was an honest mistake, butt to the nutcases trying to discredit you this could look like you’re artificially inflating the number of polices screw-ups out there. I want you to get taken more seriously in the real world, so I’m trying to help you keep honest.
#17:
Thanks for the heads-up. Note the correction above. And yeah, it was of course unintentional.
“police conduct drug raids under the guise of a regulatory inspection to get around the need for a search warrant.”
On that note, whatever happened with the Rack ‘n’ Roll in Manassas? Haven’t seen any updates on that case in quite a while.
No, the weapon didn’t discharge when the officer tripped and fell. The officer inadvertently SHOT the mothers’ son! The cop FAILED to uphold the four rules of safe gun handling, specifially number three, do not have your finger on the trigger until the target is in your sites!
1. All guns are loaded.
2. Do not let the gun cover anything you are not willing to destroy.
3. Keep your finger off the trigger until the target is in your sites
4. Know what you are shooting (and what’s behind it)
RB,
All due respect, but I think you’re wrong about the charge doing no good. The “risk” of such a charge has the effect of increasing the “price” paid by police. It is about time the police start asking fellow LEO’s if Rambo tactics are worth the price.
Honestly, I don’t have any blood lust need for revenge on this crap. I just want it to end. If charging cops moves us toward the goal of ending needless raids–that’s good. Fair minded people can argue about “how much” movement toward the goal we get by charging police, but there is an impact.
With regards to that Manassas story there are still some newer updates over at:
http://www.bvbl.net/?cat=24
Still lacking in current info though.
Euler,
“Also, I disagree that charging cops won’t change anything. If cops start seeing their fellow thugs getting sent to prison for busting into people’s houses Rambo style, they might think a little longer next time before they pull the trigger or execute a no knock warrant.”
What would change the cops is not seeing their fellow thugs get thrown in prison — they are just the ones that got caught. What WOULD change the POV of the cops is a federal mandate and a stern talking-to from the top on down. Instead, we have a supreme court that dismisses all charges and says, “Oh yeah, we may have had problems before… But we are TOTALLY professional now. *wink* *wink*”. We need a supreme court that will tell cops that any unnecessary suppression of rights will NOT be tolerated, and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent, just like non-cops get.
Edit: All suppression of rights is unnecessary… Oops.
In the end the prosecutor of this cop, even on such a ridiculously downgraded charge, will almost certainly throw the case entirely or “forget” to prove jurisdiction.
Hasn’t anyone else noticed that at trials for cops the prosecutor acts like a second defense attorney?
Hey, has Derek Copp been charged with anything yet? The links I’ve seen talk about the shooting, the recovery, the dad, the Facebook page, and the cop getting charged, but I can’t find anything saying what he’s been charged with.