Archive for the 'Police' Category

ABC News.

ATLANTA — Before dawn on Oct. 18, 2017, FBI agents broke down the front door of Trina Martin’s Atlanta home, stormed into her bedroom and pointed guns at her and her then-boyfriend as her 7-year-old son screamed for his mom from another room.

Martin, blocked from comforting her son, cowered in disbelief for what she said felt like an eternity. But within minutes, the ordeal was over. The agents realized they had the wrong house.

On Tuesday, an attorney for Martin will go before the U.S. Supreme Court to ask the justices to reinstate her 2019 lawsuit against the U.S. government accusing the agents of assault and battery, false arrest and other violations.

A federal judge in Atlanta dismissed the suit in 2022 and the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision last year. The Supreme Court agreed in January to take up the matter.

The key issue before the justices is under what circumstances people can sue the federal government in an effort to hold law enforcement accountable. Martin’s attorneys say Congress clearly allowed for those lawsuits in 1974, after a pair of law enforcement raids on wrong houses made headlines, and blocking them would leave little recourse for families like her.

FBI Atlanta spokesperson Tony Thomas said in an email the agency can’t comment on pending litigation. But lawyers for the government argued in Martin’s case that courts shouldn’t be “second-guessing” law enforcement decisions. The FBI agents did advance work and tried to find the right house, making this raid fundamentally different from the no-knock, warrantless raids that led Congress to act in the 1970s, the Justice Department said in court filings starting under the Biden administration.

In dismissing Martin’s case, the 11th Circuit largely agreed with that argument, saying courts can’t second-guess police officers who make “honest mistakes” in searches. The agent who led the raid said his personal GPS led him to the wrong place. The FBI was looking for a suspected gang member a few houses away.

Martin, 46, said she, her then-boyfriend, Toi Cliatt, and her son were left traumatized.

“We’ll never be the same, mentally, emotionally, psychologically,” she said Friday at the neat, stucco home that was raided. “Mentally, you can suppress it, but you can’t really get over it.”

She and Cliatt pointed out where they were sleeping when the agents broke in and the master bathroom closet where they hid.

Martin stopped coaching track because the starting pistol reminded her of the flashbang grenade the agents set off. Cliatt, 54, said he couldn’t sleep, forcing him to leave his truck driving job.

“The road is hypnotizing,” he said of driving tired. “I became a liability to my company.”

Martin said her son became extremely anxious, pulling threads out of his clothes and peeling paint off walls.

Cliatt initially thought the raid was a burglary attempt, so he ran toward the closet, where he kept a shotgun. Martin said her son still expresses fear that she could have died had she confronted the agents while armed.

“If the Federal Tort Claims Act provides a cause of action for anything, it’s a wrong-house raid like the one the FBI conducted here,” Martin’s lawyers wrote in a brief to the Supreme Court.

Other U.S. appeals courts have interpreted the law more favorably for victims of mistaken law enforcement raids, creating conflicting legal standards that only the nation’s highest court can resolve, they say. Public-interest groups across the ideological spectrum have urged the Supreme Court to overturn the 11th Circuit ruling.

After breaking down the door to the house, a member of the FBI SWAT team dragged Cliatt out of the closet and put him in handcuffs.

But one of the agents noticed he did not have the suspect’s tattoos, according to court documents. He asked for Cliatt’s name and address. Neither matched those of the suspect. The room went quiet as agents realized they had raided the wrong house.

They uncuffed Cliatt and left for the correct house, where they executed the warrant and arrested the man they were after.

The agent leading the raid returned later to apologize and leave a business card with a supervisor’s name. But the family received no compensation from the government, not even for the damage to the house, Cliatt said.

Martin said the most harrowing part of the raid was her son’s cries.

“When you’re not able to protect your child or at least fight to protect your child, that’s a feeling that no parent ever wants to feel,” she said.

First, he’d better be glad he never reached for that shotgun. He’d be dead now. Second, if they had a dog in the house, the dog would be dead too. Third, notice what the attorneys for the FedGov said: “Courts shouldn’t be second guessing law enforcement decisions.”

In other words, the constitution doesn’t apply to them. They call it “second guessing.” The arrogance of this statement is remarkable.

The bill of rights is precisely for protecting citizens from actions by the government, and all legal cases involve second guessing. It’s what happens in court when a jury decides whether rights have been violated (or in this case, the courts). That courts are making the determination is obscene because officers of the court are deciding whether other officers of the court have violated constitutionally protected rights.

Remember why raids like this are terrible, horrible, no-good and very bad. First, they violate God given rights. A man’s home is his castle and he has the right to protect it from all home invaders. Second, innocent men, women and children get injured and in some cases killed. Third, even if police need evidence, they can always get that evidence the old fashioned way – by detective work and investigation. There is nothing stopping them from entering the premises when people are not home.

Fourth, if they need to apprehend an Indvidual, the same rule applies. They can do it safely rather than causing risk to the home owners. I have no interest in minimizing risk to cops. I have every interest in minimizing risk to others. Fifth, sometimes they get the addresses wrong, and sometimes they listen to very unreliable people as CIs and do things they shouldn’t be doing based on bad information. Sixth, criminals have begun to mimic police SWAT teams in home invasion tactics. If a man and his family must lay on the floor and beg for mercy against home invaders, then that’s the end of the second amendment as it concerns protection of family, hearth and home.

None of this is good or righteous. Any man who engages in these acts is engaging in an unrighteous action. But it actually concerns me that the supreme court will hear the case. I expect the “law and order” types to side with the cops. Nothing could be worse than for the SCOTUS to justify bad law and make this precedent-setting.

Cops are more likely to get killed, more likely to get injured, and more likely to injure a bystander.

Sounds about right.

Source, from a reader.

Remember boys and girls, cops are the only ones qualified to handle firearms.

Seriously though, what on earth sort of grip does she have on that pistol? What on earth is she doing?

Via WiscoDave.

"Oh my God. That's all I needed" -female deputy who just ND'd into another police vehicle #police #women #19th #cops #LawEnforcement #fail #FAFO pic.twitter.com/rFzPcEfYD9

— Mrgunsngear (@Mrgunsngear) January 25, 2025

This is yet another instance of cops attacking the wrong people, violating the right to privacy and the right to due process.

On another front, cops shouldn’t have access to dogs. They should wear sky blue collared shirts in full uniform, knock on doors, and be imprisoned for violation of rights.

Finally, any man who can’t control their beasts any better than that doesn’t deserve to have them. There should be a permanent injunction against the handler ever having dogs again, right after he gets out of prison.

This is yet another wrong-home SWAT raid. This one is so bad it defies belief.

They originally should have gone to another address (actually, they should have just knocked on the door and asked questions), then they got a warrant for the wrong address, and then finally, they went to yet another residence from the one they should have gone to or the one on the warrant – and shot an innocent man to death.

It’s like the keystone cops with rifles. Ignorant and uneducated goobers with deadly weapons aimed at innocent people.

Again, for the thousandth time: You’re never in more danger than when the police are around. There is never a situation so bad that it cannot be made worse by the presence of the police.

Here’s the kicker. They were looking for a weed eater belonging to a judge. So you see, all animals are equal. But some animals are more equal than others.

I hope his surviving family sues the city out of existence, although that wouldn’t complete justice. The judge who issued the warrant and the officers who executed the warrant should all be in prison today and facing charges tomorrow.

More.

David Codrea’s notes.

It might be that they just stand by and watch you burn to death.

It might be that they arrest you for trying to recover your home from a squatter and tell you to “try to see things from his perspective.”

It might be shooting 84 rounds at a perp, missing with 70 of them which hit various parts and pieces of the neighborhood businesses.

It might be that they beat you literally to death while laughing about it.

NEW: Body-cam footage released showing New York correctional officers smirking as they “fatally beat” a man in handcuffs.

Sickening.

43-year-old Robert Brooks passed away on Dec 10 at Wynn Hospital in Utica, NY.

The New York Attorney General’s Office of Special Investigations… pic.twitter.com/BwLPnOS9fH

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) December 27, 2024

But it also might be that some numbskull shoots you with your own gun.

Florida resident Jason Arrington was driving near the intersection of 27th Street and Main Street in Jacksonville’s Brentwood neighborhood on Dec. 13 when he did something we’ve all probably been guilty of at one time or another: he ran a red light. An officer with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO) witnessed this action and pulled him over, but the traffic stop didn’t exactly go as planned.

Arrington, who thought he was doing everything correctly, informed the officer that he had a gun on his person — a gun that he owned legally — and  he was asked to step out of his vehicle and put his hands on his truck. Back-up arrived on the scene, and, according to Arrington, the back-up officer began to search him and attempted to remove the gun.

“She tugged on the gun the first time, then she tugged again,” Arrington said in a statement on Friday. “That’s when I told her, ‘Hey, let me unloosen my belt because it’s tight.’ I don’t know, she might have got nervous or whatever and she pulled harder two more times and that’s when it discharged and it shot me in my upper thigh, hip and came out on my right side.”

Arrington also said that didn’t even understand why the officers wanted to remove the gun anyway. He said he posed no threat, and did everything they asked him to do, even keeping his hands on his vehicle after getting shot. While a request has been made to release the bodycam footage, the JSO said it could take six to eight months.

On Friday, the organization announced on X that it is conducting an “active internal affairs investigation.” Typically, when an officer is involved in a shooting, it would conduct what it calls an “administrative review of a critical incident.” The sheriff’s office added, “As is customary in these types of investigations, the officer under investigation may have his or her law enforcement authority rescinded. That authority has been rescinded for this officer and the officer was reassigned to an administrative position until the active internal affairs investigation is complete.”

She should be charged with assault with a deadly weapon, with additional charges or being a stupid ditz and too dumb to hold any sort of job at all.

I’ve said before that anyone – whether gun owner or cop – who touches a gun during an encounter with the police is an idiot. That goes equally and even more so for cops. Besides, a police officer job is inherently safe anyway compared to other occupations.

A man might have modified his weapon. A man might have installed a light trigger. The holster might be a retaining holster. It might be out of the holster. It might be a single-action only gun. It might be a SA/DA gun. It might have a safety. That safety might be engaged, or it might not be.  It might not have a safety.

It might be a 1911 with series 70 design, so not drop safe. It might be a 1911 with series 80 design. A gun might have one in the chamber, or it might not. It might be in a holster that fools the cop into thinking that she doesn’t have her finger on the trigger. I could go on, but you get the point.

Any cop who touches another man’s weapon without there being a clear danger (e.g., a gun fight) is an idiot. She isn’t making things safer. She is making things less safe. Any police department that has as its policy to touch another man’s weapon in routine stops is full of imbeciles. The absolute safest place for a weapon to be is on the person or unmolested. Untouched!

Do … not … touch … the … weapon!

As I’ve said many times before, you’re never in more danger than when the police are around. No situation is so bad that it cannot be made worse by the presence of the police.

I knew that the senior senator in the Florida legislature had taken this position. I’m not sure I have faith or confidence in Ron Desantis any more. He could put a stop to this charade with one simple sentence: “I will not sign any more legislation until an open carry bill is brought to my desk. That includes shutdown of the Florida government.”

But he doesn’t do this.

The main reason I’m lifting prose out of this article at Bearing Arms is to point out yet another lie that they have bought.

Florida’s not anti-gun, though it’s not as pro-gun as some like to think. Still, getting open carry should be easy and yet, the fight is still going to be a rough one.

Efforts to pass open carry legislation in Florida are faltering, even with strong backing from Gov. Ron DeSantis. Senate President Ben Albritton, newly installed in his leadership role, has voiced opposition to the measure, aligning with concerns from law enforcement groups.

Albritton, a Republican, said last week he stands with the Florida Sheriffs Association, which has consistently opposed open carry policies.

“I trust my law enforcement officials, and that’s where I stand,” Albritton said, signaling little appetite for pushing the controversial measure forward.

Florida currently prohibits openly carrying firearms in public spaces, except in limited circumstances such as hunting, fishing or target shooting. That stance makes it one of only four states in the nation with such restrictions.

Gov. DeSantis has publicly expressed his support for open carry and suggested earlier this year that the Legislature could revisit the issue. The debate comes months after Florida adopted a permit-less concealed carry law, a measure DeSantis and other Republican leaders hailed as a victory for Second Amendment rights.

However, some gun rights advocates were disappointed that the bill stopped short of allowing individuals to openly carry firearms in public. Groups like Florida Carry argue the state’s refusal to expand gun rights further undermines constitutional freedoms.

“It’s a fundamental right that the state continues to deny its citizens,” said Richard Nascak, co-executive director of Florida Carry. “There’s no logical reason for Florida to lag behind the majority of the country on this issue.”

Then, Tom Knighton waffles and genuflects over a falsehood.

Albritton’s reason for opposing this is a big problem.

Look, I respect law enforcement as a general thing, but they’re also trying to do a job and they don’t like the idea of anything that makes their jobs the least bit more difficult. That’s understandable, but we also need to remember that we can find law enforcement groups who don’t really like Fourth Amendment protections on your vehicle or mobile device, either, because it makes things harder on them while trying to do their job.

No, and a thousand times no, that has nothing whatsoever to do with their reason for opposition. Oh, the LEOs are opposed because they won’t be “special” anymore. But LEOs are always opposed to open carry by anyone but them.

No, the real reason for this opposition in the senate is that they think this will hurt tourism. And the real problem Tom should be addressing is that this is all lies. It doesn’t hurt tourism. It didn’t in S.C. either. It doesn’t cause blood to run in the streets. It doesn’t cause LEOs to have more problems with doing their jobs. It doesn’t matter how someone carries their firearms. Peaceable men could have their firearm concealed and yet unholster it by the time LEOs arrive on the scene (like almost always happens) and LEOs still wouldn’t know who had carried openly and who had carried concealed.

That objection is literally a stupid objection crafted for people stupid enough to buy it.

Tom at Bearing Arms needs to think a bit harder.

Or maybe it’s the fire department. What’s the difference? Anyway, I want to know who this is? I want names and badge numbers. I want to know what county, what city and what department?

Sheriffs and Deputies in North Carolina admitting that they took 40 generators from these aid workers, and threatening arrest if they try and take them back.

The state is your enemy. https://t.co/YeB8VLX610

— Appalachian Liberty (@Liberty_Xtreme) December 7, 2024

Source, from a reader.

A Tennessee man is grieving the deaths of his seven dogs who were shot and killed by a sheriff’s deputy while the owner and his wife were out to dinner.

On Monday, Nov. 4, Kevin Dismuke and his wife left their home in McNairy County to go to dinner, Fox 13 reports.

When his wife returned to their home on Finger Leapwood Road, she called him with shocking news.

“She said, ‘Poe is dead,’” he said, referring to one of their pet dogs.

According to News 3, Dismuke said he returned home to find all of his dogs except one were dead.

“They were told the property was abandoned and the dogs were malnourished,” Dismuke added, News 3 reports. “I got the veterinary paperwork in my truck from three weeks ago. They all had a clean bill of health on them.”

Dismuke said a neighbor told him a deputy came to his house while he was gone and shot the dogs, Fox 13 reports.

Dismuke and his family are heartbroken over the deaths of their beloved dogs.

“I don’t care if you give me $10 if you give me $10 million,” he told News 3. “You can’t replace my dogs.”

According to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, which launched an investigation on Nov. 7, the incident began when the McNairy County Sheriff’s Department received an animal welfare concern call on Nov. 4.

The incident unfolded when Deputy Connor Brackin, 24, was sent to a home in the 8300 block of SR 199 in Bethel Springs to check on the condition of dogs living on the property, according to the TBI statement.

“For reasons under investigation, he fired his duty weapon, shooting and killing seven dogs on the property,” the TBI says.

According to the affidavit of complaint obtained by PEOPLE, some dogs were in campers, and Brackin allegedly “loaded his service rifle and pistol and began firing into the campers at the dogs.”

Brackin “fired eight times while standing outside of the campers and multiple times standing inside the campers, prior to clearing the campers for occupancy,” the affidavit alleges.

Brackin allegedly killed seven dogs in total.

The incident was captured on his body camera, according to the affidavit.

On Tuesday, Nov. 12, TBI agents obtained warrants for Brackin, charging him with seven counts of aggravated animal cruelty and eight counts of reckless endangerment.

There are three major problems here, in order of importance.

First, this is probably based on yet another anonymous phone call from someone who will never be held responsible for sending the police off on a wild goose chase for no good reason.

Second, if there is a problem in your community or home, just handle it yourself. Do not involve the police. You are never in more danger than when the police are around. There is no situation so bad that it cannot be made worse by the presence of the police, and that increased danger goes equally to animals and humans.

Third, this man is a sociopath. Many cops are. Unless and until they begin to understand and care why their standards are so amenable to hiring sociopaths (and also understanding why they don’t weed them out or at least properly train them), this will continue.

Of course, the possibility exists that they want sociopaths to work for them.

News from Florida.

A Florida sheriff’s deputy allegedly shot and killed his girlfriend while he was showing her how to clean the gun, according to reports.

Marion County Sheriff’s Deputy Leslie Boileau, who had been drinking, was showing his girlfriend, Polina Wright, 25, how to clean an AR-style rifle on Thursday when the gun discharged a loaded round into her forehead, according to the Ocala Police Department.

News from the FedGov.

WASHINGTON — A U.S. Secret Service (USSS) agent accidentally shot and injured himself Saturday evening. He is expected to survive.

According to USSS, the agent was on duty during the “negligent discharge” while he was handling his weapon shortly before 8 p.m. in the area of 32nd and Fessenden streets Northwest. His injuries were not life threatening, and the officer was taken to a hospital for evaluation and treatment. USSS says no one else was injured in the incident.

Fiddling with your weapons, muzzle flagging people, ammunition in proximity to guns being cleaned instead of another room, no trigger discipline, and on and on the failures go.

It’s a good thing they aren’t really supposed to protect us according to numerous court precedents. With friends like that, who needs enemies?

You’re never in more danger than when you are around police. There is no situation so bad that it cannot be made worse by the presence of the police.