SWAT team throws stun grenade:lands in baby crib

[MikeK]

Something needs to change, I'll grant you that. I think they need to be damned certain before breaking into anyone's home.

I am old enough to remember a time when the very idea of police breaking down a door would raise eyebrows and was virtually unheard of in any but the most extreme circumstances and when unavoidably necessary.

Back in the early 1950s I witnessed the capture of Public Enemy Number One, Willie Sutton, a notorious bank robber known to have a Thompson submachine gun. He was living across the street from a friend's house where we watched it happen from her third floor apartment window.

Three detectives from a Brooklyn police precinct, acting on an informant's tip, knocked on the door of Sutton's apartment under a pretext and arrested him without incident. The whole thing took place within ten or fifteen minutes.

Today there would have been at least fifty masked cops armed with machine-guns and wearing invasion gear, ambulances, fire engines, and armored cars. And if you'd care to run a superficial Google search you will find there were more than 44,000 "no-knock" warrants executed in the U.S. last year -- many of which were mistakes. And in many examples the reasons for breaking doors down in pre-dawn hours were as petty as "suspicion of marijuana possession."

The simple fact is the police are doing it because they can -- and the more they get away with the worse it will get. In this example they are trying to justify severely injuring a baby by calling this a raid on a "meth house." But anyone who is vaguely familiar with such circumstances knows that a "meth house" is a potential bomb. It is a place where the slightest spark can cause a massive explosion when methamphetamine is being "cooked." But the same lying fools who are calling it a "meth house" didn't hesitate to toss in a what amounts to a giant firecracker.

And they are doing it because they can.

 

[Pogo]

Something needs to change, I'll grant you that. I think they need to be damned certain before breaking into anyone's home.

I am old enough to remember a time when the very idea of police breaking down a door would raise eyebrows and was virtually unheard of in any but the most extreme circumstances and when unavoidably necessary.

Back in the early 1950s I witnessed the capture of Public Enemy Number One, Willie Sutton, a notorious bank robber known to have a Thompson submachine gun. He was living across the street from a friend's house where we watched it happen from her third floor apartment window.

Three detectives from a Brooklyn police precinct, acting on an informant's tip, knocked on the door of Sutton's apartment under a pretext and arrested him without incident. The whole thing took place within ten or fifteen minutes.

Today there would have been at least fifty masked cops armed with machine-guns and wearing invasion gear, ambulances, fire engines, and armored cars. And if you'd care to run a superficial Google search you will find there were more than 44,000 "no-knock" warrants executed in the U.S. last year -- many of which were mistakes. And in many examples the reasons for breaking doors down in pre-dawn hours were as petty as "suspicion of marijuana possession."

The simple fact is the police are doing it because they can -- and the more they get away with the worse it will get. In this example they are trying to justify severely injuring a baby by calling this a raid on a "meth house." But anyone who is vaguely familiar with such circumstances knows that a "meth house" is a potential bomb. It is a place where the slightest spark can cause a massive explosion when methamphetamine is being "cooked." But the same lying fools who are calling it a "meth house" didn't hesitate to toss in a what amounts to a giant firecracker.

And they are doing it because they can.

Sadly true. I know one of those 44,000 - an ex-GF who had her home busted into, door broken down and ransacked, just because the cops had the wrong address (or had the right address and didn't bother to read it right). She's a schoolteacher who has nothing to do with drugs. Nobody came back to fix their damage or apologize. Good thing she was teaching school and not at home at the time - I shudder to think what would have happened to her.

 

[Politico]

More cops not showing caution
SWAT officer shot in the face breaking into window during no-knock raid | Police State USA

Daaaaamn. That guy was a good shot. He hit almost every one of them.

 

[jon_berzerk]

More cops not showing caution
SWAT officer shot in the face breaking into window during no-knock raid | Police State USA

No drugs were listed on the evidence sheet.

he needs a good self defense lawyer

 

[Jarlaxle]

Dang, you almost got me. These stores have nothing to do with the op. Prove the cops were negligent in this case and I'll demand their heads on a platter.

God and goddess...they threw a FUCKING GRENADE INTO A BABY'S CRIB! Either they did it deliberately (in which case, they were evil on the level of a concentration camp guard), or they did not do proper observation before attacking (in which case, they're just incompetent).

Okay, first of all, I think it's already been determined that the cops acted badly. Second of all, if you are going to do a no knock entry of a drug house, are you going to stick your head in first before you throw the flash grenade? You'd get it blown off.

There are many ways to determine the occupants of a house without entering.

 

[Jarlaxle]

More cops not showing caution
SWAT officer shot in the face breaking into window during no-knock raid | Police State USA

No drugs were listed on the evidence sheet.

he needs a good self defense lawyer

No, he needs to skip the country. Otherwise, he (and his family) will more than likely be horribly killed.

 

[KissMy]

More cops not showing caution
SWAT officer shot in the face breaking into window during no-knock raid | Police State USA

Maybe they should rethink doing no-knock raids. Being a Cop is safer than most jobs in the USA. But there are always stupid idiot cops who bust into someones home without identifying themselves. People have a right to self defense, home defense & defense of property even against police thugs.

 

[RKMBrown]

the cop bears some responsibility for it



you are supposed to be in control of your car at all times



having the green light does not absolve his failure to control his vehicle

Not too many people have that kind of reaction skills, maybe Superman?

Told you these guys would find a way to blame the cop.

Meanwhile...here is what happens when you don't err on the side of caution:

Officials: No criminal record for shooter who killed cop - CNN.com

Huh?

 

[RKMBrown]

More cops not showing caution
SWAT officer shot in the face breaking into window during no-knock raid | Police State USA

Huh?

WTF is wrong with you? We give orders to our police to do stupid shit, like breaking and entering homes and they get killed for it and you call this out because you want them to kill everyone in the home first to protect themselves? WTF?

 

[KissMy]

No-Knock warrants should be illegal.

I wouldn't say they should be illegal, but rare...VERY rare. The most common justification for a no-knock is that evidence could be destroyed, meaning the inhabitant could flush drugs down the toilet. I do not think that justifies a no-knock warrant. However, I can see some very rare circumstances in which a no-knock warrant makes sense, such as a situation in which some is being held against their will and if the police announce themselves an innocent life could be in danger. Of course, in those situations, a warrant may not be required at all!

Anyway, I agree with your sentiment but would say there MAY be some justification for no-knocks. Today, they seemed to be used with shocking regularity.

It would be best to turn off the water to the residence first. Then go properly identify as police & properly serve a warrant. A small bag of drug evidence is not worth violation of constitutional rights or endangering lives over.

 

[RKMBrown]

No-Knock warrants should be illegal.

I wouldn't say they should be illegal, but rare...VERY rare. The most common justification for a no-knock is that evidence could be destroyed, meaning the inhabitant could flush drugs down the toilet. I do not think that justifies a no-knock warrant. However, I can see some very rare circumstances in which a no-knock warrant makes sense, such as a situation in which some is being held against their will and if the police announce themselves an innocent life could be in danger. Of course, in those situations, a warrant may not be required at all!

Anyway, I agree with your sentiment but would say there MAY be some justification for no-knocks. Today, they seemed to be used with shocking regularity.

It would be best to turn off the water to the residence first. Then go properly identify as police & properly serve a warrant. A small bag of drug evidence is not worth violation of constitutional rights or endangering lives over.

Harder to cut off the septic but yes.

 

[Intolerant]

People make bad decisions all the time. Sounds like all parties involved here made some bad decisions. I'll leave the cop-bashing-hammer in it's place for now...but will say that 'the child did not deserve this' is about the only thing here that I agree with.

It occurs to me as others have stated that a house where drugs are being sold, if that is what it was, is not somewhere one should stay with a child. If that is the case and the family was aware, then...indeed, the child deserved better than that.

I must also question the police action here. Not for throwing a flashbang into a room they were about to breach....seems that that would be smart thing to do. But I wonder about the lack of intelligence. If the family had been staying there for a few days...or even just for the one day, how did the police NOT know before they stormed the house?

I am not bashing the police here, per se, but wondering if that is SOP. If I were asked to enter a SINGLE FAMILY DWELLING that required that I carry a weapon, body armor, and flashbang the room before entry....I would sure as heck expect those asking me to enter the building to also be able to tell me pretty accurately WHO WAS IN THE HOUSE. Babies are hard to hide. If a mom showed up to stay for any length, she surely came with all of the accoutrements that go along...which as any parent knows, is a LOT of stuff.

Either, the police were NOT watching the house prior to the entry, which to me seems like a disservice to the officers entering the building as well as any innocent bystanders/occupants, OR they knew there was a child in the house, and decided that a sudden and forced entry was still their best bet for taking down.....whoever it was they were trying to take down....in which case they will hopefully pay for it in court.

In any case....the newscaster didn't say whether or not there were drugs found...did he? In fact...he didn't seem to say much at all that didn't imply that 'cops are bad and like hurting Mexican babies'. Not exactly the pinnacle of journalistic integrity is he?

And portraying it as an attack on a baby that would willfully be repeated is a bit disingenuous in itself, isn't it? It was not as if they decided to go out and attack a baby. They grievously injured a baby while doing a no-knock. As stated above, that seems sloppy to me, and is a tragedy, but is not the same thing as making a conscientious decision to injure a baby.

I am personally against no-knocks, et al, agree that SWAT seem to be overused these days, while good intelligence gathering and good prudent decision making seem to be underused. That is my opinion. It is also my opinion that trumping up stories that intentionally or negligently misconstrue facts/stories/etc. does not actually helps one's cause, whatever that cause may be.

 

[FireFly]

I wouldn't say they should be illegal, but rare...VERY rare. The most common justification for a no-knock is that evidence could be destroyed, meaning the inhabitant could flush drugs down the toilet. I do not think that justifies a no-knock warrant. However, I can see some very rare circumstances in which a no-knock warrant makes sense, such as a situation in which some is being held against their will and if the police announce themselves an innocent life could be in danger. Of course, in those situations, a warrant may not be required at all!

Anyway, I agree with your sentiment but would say there MAY be some justification for no-knocks. Today, they seemed to be used with shocking regularity.

It would be best to turn off the water to the residence first. Then go properly identify as police & properly serve a warrant. A small bag of drug evidence is not worth violation of constitutional rights or endangering lives over.

Harder to cut off the septic but yes.

Not hard at all. Just drop a balloon on a tube into the yard vent & fill with water.

 

[RKMBrown]

It would be best to turn off the water to the residence first. Then go properly identify as police & properly serve a warrant. A small bag of drug evidence is not worth violation of constitutional rights or endangering lives over.

Harder to cut off the septic but yes.

Not hard at all. Just drop a balloon on a tube into the yard vent & fill with water.

Filling a balloon to clog a septic just doesn't have the same panache as shooting a stun grenade through a door.

 

[Againsheila]

More cops not showing caution
SWAT officer shot in the face breaking into window during no-knock raid | Police State USA

Which is why you don't look before throwing in the flash grenade. But you darn well better have the right house.

 

[R.C. Christian]

The police have been intentionally militarized so the powers that be will have more control once the wheels fall off of this stupid country.

 

[Againsheila]

God and goddess...they threw a FUCKING GRENADE INTO A BABY'S CRIB! Either they did it deliberately (in which case, they were evil on the level of a concentration camp guard), or they did not do proper observation before attacking (in which case, they're just incompetent).

Okay, first of all, I think it's already been determined that the cops acted badly. Second of all, if you are going to do a no knock entry of a drug house, are you going to stick your head in first before you throw the flash grenade? You'd get it blown off.

There are many ways to determine the occupants of a house without entering.

Really, without looking through a window? Without have a helicopter flying over head giving the bad guys a heads up? Care to tell me what those many ways are?

 

[Manonthestreet]

Thermal imaging...need a warrant, which they had.

 

[Againsheila]

No-Knock warrants should be illegal.

I wouldn't say they should be illegal, but rare...VERY rare. The most common justification for a no-knock is that evidence could be destroyed, meaning the inhabitant could flush drugs down the toilet. I do not think that justifies a no-knock warrant. However, I can see some very rare circumstances in which a no-knock warrant makes sense, such as a situation in which some is being held against their will and if the police announce themselves an innocent life could be in danger. Of course, in those situations, a warrant may not be required at all!

Anyway, I agree with your sentiment but would say there MAY be some justification for no-knocks. Today, they seemed to be used with shocking regularity.

It would be best to turn off the water to the residence first. Then go properly identify as police & properly serve a warrant. A small bag of drug evidence is not worth violation of constitutional rights or endangering lives over.

Even if you turn off the water, there will be enough water in the toilet for one flush.

Though I kind of agree with your second sentence.

 

[Againsheila]

It would be best to turn off the water to the residence first. Then go properly identify as police & properly serve a warrant. A small bag of drug evidence is not worth violation of constitutional rights or endangering lives over.

Harder to cut off the septic but yes.

Not hard at all. Just drop a balloon on a tube into the yard vent & fill with water.

We have sewage, where is the yard vent? I didn't even know there was one.