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G\A\F SWAT Team kills man using info from meth addict who stole his car.

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commedieu

Banned
Deputies shot and killed a man inside his Georgia home last month following an apparently bogus tip they received from a confessed meth addict and thief.

East Dublin resident David Hooks, 59, was killed because, according to Laurens County Sheriff Bill Harrell, he aggressively brandished a gun at the SWAT team that broke in his back door. But Mitchell Shook, a lawyer for Hooks' widow, contends that the sheriff has misled the public about the shooting and raid, which turned up no drugs.

The sheriff's office obtained a search warrant based on a tip from a thief who claimed he had found 20 grams of methamphetamine inside a bag he stole from a vehicle at Hooks' home, Georgia station WMAZ reports. According to the warrant, Rodney Garrett claimed that he thought the bag was filled with cash but that he later discovered it contained meth. Garrett said that he then turned himself into the sheriff's office because the drugs made him fear for his safety.

Sheriff's deputies raided the home without identifying themselves, Shook said, contrary to their claims that they told Hooks they were officers with a search warrant. The sheriff's office had also said they fired at Hooks for aggressively pointing a gun at them near the back door, but Shook alleges that the deputies blindly shot at Hooks through a wall without knowing who was there.

When Hooks' wife saw men in dark clothing heading for their home at 11 p.m. on Sept. 24, she woke up her husband and told him that the thieves who had stolen their SUV were back. Hooks grabbed a gun and headed to the door, according to Shook.

Hooks' family says that he didn't use drugs or sell them. They say he ran a successful construction company.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/07/david-hooks-shooting-swat_n_5949318.html
 

commedieu

Banned
No knock, no announcement raids really should be illegal. Use a megaphone from afar or something, if officer safety is a concern.

The argument against that is... "But it will give the Heavily armored and militarized police away and the thief will flush all of their drugs down the toilet! Or, use the back door!"
 

Hagi

Member
Wonder how they vetted the Meth Addict informant? best of 3 games of rock, paper, scissors? Some quality police work obviously went on here.
 
The argument against that is... "But it will give the Heavily armored and militarized police away and the thief will flush all of their drugs down the toilet! Or, use the back door!"
Then maybe roll in with tasers instead of guns or something? Then you still get your no knock raid, but you don't actually kill someone if you fuck it up.
 
Wow

Unbelieveable someone lost their life over a meth addicts word. I hope the police are indicted and sued back to the Stone Age.
 
Then maybe roll in with tasers instead of guns or something? Then you still get your no knock raid, but you don't actually kill someone if you fuck it up.

But what if there actually is a dangerous drug dealer in there and he's armed with a gun? Would you want to be in a shootout against someone with a gun while you're armed with a taser?
 

JDSN

Banned
1. Give people a shitload of guns.
2. Tell them its their right to hold their ground.
3. Deploy armed men to raid houses without notice taking advantage of shock and awe tactics.
4. ????
5. Semper Fi!
 
The sheriff's office obtained a search warrant based on a tip from a thief who claimed he had found 20 grams of methamphetamine inside a bag he stole from a vehicle at Hooks' home, Georgia station WMAZ reports. According to the warrant, Rodney Garrett claimed that he thought the bag was filled with cash but that he later discovered it contained meth. Garrett said that he then turned himself into the sheriff's office because the drugs made him fear for his safety

Wait why did the thief do this? Was he just a dick?
 

MrHoot

Member
God, the thief is such a fucking scumbag in the story

First stealing a car, then framing the guy who stole from and being partly responsible for his murder.

Police ain't looking grand on the whole affair mind you.
 

Dabanton

Member
Top rated comment on that page.

The "drug raid" was not to bust a drug dealer but an attempt to seize an expensive house and other property to fund the unit that did the raid. Blow away the smoke and it is just an old fashion money grab.

I know police can seize property but can they do that in terms of drug raids?
 

GaimeGuy

Volunteer Deputy Campaign Director, Obama for America '16
Then maybe roll in with tasers instead of guns or something? Then you still get your no knock raid, but you don't actually kill someone if you fuck it up.

Unless they fall and hit their head. Or you fry a pacemaker, or induce a heart attack/seizure/stroke.

how about no no-knock raids and no reckless use of force against the people you're supposed to be serving?

The purpose of the police isn't supposed to be to hurt or punish criminals, but to help law abiding individuals, and to get people who aren't abiding by the laws some help. If you're not helping people, if your actions as an agent of the state are making people feel threatened or endangered, or putting them in danger, or causing them harm, then you are failing in your duty as a cop
 

Chariot

Member
All the cops involved in no-knock raids should be summarily executed.
No, they should not. What is it with americans (I hope, you're actually american) and thinking of killing as the solution for problems? Seriously. Change the system, educate people, don't kill anyone who you think do wrong.
 
So the meth addict stole a bag of what he thought was cash, cuz he wanted to buy meth.

The bag ended up containing meth, and he got scared?
 

Syriel

Member
So the meth addict stole a bag of what he thought was cash, cuz he wanted to buy meth.

The bag ended up containing meth, and he got scared?

Meth addict stole car.
Meth addict got spooked.
Meth addict went to cops and lied about finding drugs hoping for leniency.
Cops killed a dude because they didn't bother to vet any information from meth addict.
 

potam

Banned
The fact that you used backslashes instead of forwardslashes in the title makes me angrier than the dude getting killed.
 

Branduil

Member
No, they should not. What is it with americans (I hope, you're actually american) and thinking of killing as the solution for problems? Seriously. Change the system, educate people, don't kill anyone who you think do wrong.

No-knock raids would definitely stop if we executed people for performing them.
 
Are terrorists going to have to take advantage of this tactic before something is done about it? Why bother with bombs and hijackings when you can dial-a-militia
 

Syriel

Member
No-knock raids would definitely stop if we executed people for performing them.

Officers have died because of no-knock raids (homeowner thinks they're getting robbed and shoots).

Response has been to ARREST THE HOMEOWNER because he "should have known" that the people in body armor banging down his door were police and not robbers.
 

commedieu

Banned
Are terrorists going to have to take advantage of this tactic before something is done about it?

Innocent grandmother shot during violent DEA drug raid in New Hampshire
http://www.unionleader.com/article/20140919/NEWS03/140918916

SWAT team breaks down door, shoots man as he watched TV with friend
http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/Settlement-in-Easton-Deadly-Raid-191946981.html

Police raid wrong home, throw innocent woman into yard half-naked
http://www.smdailyjournal.com/artic...olations-for-june-incident/1776425123355.html

Texas grandmother, autistic man held at gunpoint in wrong-door police raid
http://www.click2houston.com/news/cops-bust-into-raid-wrong-house/26238706


etc... etc.. and these are all recent.

Terrorists.. you were saying..?
 

potam

Banned
God this shit is so disgusting. These no knock raids are like sanctioned "let's kill people tonight" events.

Or, you know, sometimes knocking and saying "hey we're the police please open so we can arrest you" might give some people enough time to get their guns.

BUT YOU'RE FUCKING TOTALLY RIGHT, ALL POLICE ARE MURDERERS AND NO KNOCK RAIDS WERE DESIGNED TO KILL POOR BLACK PEOPLE.

I guess it's easier though to take the narrow-minded ultra-liberal GAF viewpoint rather than look at it from a wider perspective, though.
 
Or, you know, sometimes knocking and saying "hey we're the police please open so we can arrest you" might give some people enough time to get their guns.

BUT YOU'RE FUCKING TOTALLY RIGHT, ALL POLICE ARE MURDERERS AND NO KNOCK RAIDS WERE DESIGNED TO KILL POOR BLACK PEOPLE.

I guess it's easier though to take the narrow-minded ultra-liberal GAF viewpoint rather than look at it from a wider perspective, though.

which is worse

giving criminals an incredibly short time to get their guns

or the police gunning down innocents
 

potam

Banned
which is worse

giving criminals an incredibly short time to get their guns

or the police gunning down innocents

I wasn't defending this particular incident. I just hate the cliched responses we get on here about anything like this.

These no knock raids are like sanctioned "let's kill people tonight" events.

Really? Fucking really?

All I was trying to point out is that in every single one of these threads GAF gets flooded by canned responses in hopes that people will rally behind their "enlightenment", when, you know, this incident is more than likely not representative of the intent and results of most no knock raids.
 
But what if there actually is a dangerous drug dealer in there and he's armed with a gun? Would you want to be in a shootout against someone with a gun while you're armed with a taser?
Make them require a warrant/judge sign off. (Unless they already do and the system's just perma-broken.)
Unless they fall and hit their head. Or you fry a pacemaker, or induce a heart attack/seizure/stroke.

how about no no-knock raids and no reckless use of force against the people you're supposed to be serving?

The purpose of the police isn't supposed to be to hurt or punish criminals, but to help law abiding individuals, and to get people who aren't abiding by the laws some help. If you're not helping people, if your actions as an agent of the state are making people feel threatened or endangered, or putting them in danger, or causing them harm, then you are failing in your duty as a cop
Welp. I'm fresh out of ideas, then.

I guess I'll fall back on my belief that there shouldn't be any no-knock raids.
 
I wasn't defending this particular incident. I just hate the cliched responses we get on here about anything like this.



Really? Fucking really?

All I was trying to point out is that in every single one of these threads GAF gets flooded by canned responses in hopes that people will rally behind their "enlightenment", when, you know, this incident is more than likely not representative of the intent and results of most no knock raids.

Uh, who cares if it's not 'representative'. The fact that there's been at least 10 instances of completely wrong police assaults shows that it's a bad idea.

"Well, we've only accidentally killed 8 incorrect people, good enough for me!" does not sound like a reasonable argument to continue no-knock raids to me. They are a terrible idea and I don't get why you're trying to defend it. All they do is lead to misunderstandings, and these particular misunderstandings involve people on both sides being armed with weapons that think they're being threatened by criminals. Does that or does that not sound like a recipe for disaster to you?

Yes, people let their rhetoric get out of hand on some issues, but defending no-knock in any instance is just ridiculous. There's just way too high of a chance of something going wrong.
 
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