Archive for the 'Police' Category

We covered the case of the thirteen year old boy who was gunned down by thuggish police for carrying a toy gun.  And I told you at the time:

… tell me if a single cop tells the truth or holds anyone accountable.  Tell me if a judge or jury finds these men guilty of anything?  No, the strongest response will be from totalitarian lawmakers who want to make it illegal to have or sell toy guns.

And then the blue wall closed in like I said it would, and now this:

Andy Lopez was walking to a friend’s home on the outskirts of Santa Rosa when a sheriff’s deputy shot and killed him, mistaking the eighth-grader’s plastic BB gun for an assault weapon.

The afternoon killing of the bright, popular 13-year-old has spurred almost daily protests and nightly candlelight vigils in Santa Rosa, a community known as a gateway to the wine country, with stately Victorians on quiet, tree-shaded streets and edgier enclaves pockmarked with gang graffiti.

As the FBI and Santa Rosa police investigate the Oct. 22 killing, some community leaders are talking to lawmakers about finding ways to deter such shootings, which occur with disturbing frequency across the country when police mistake plastic guns for lethal weapons.

“There are so many kids running around with these things that it is almost inevitable there will be additional shootings in the future,” said Dan Reeves, chief of staff to state Sen. Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles).

De León carried a bill in 2011 at the behest of Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck to require BB guns be painted bright colors. It followed an LAPD officer’s shooting of a teenager who had an airsoft pistol, a replica of a Beretta handgun.

The 13-year-old Los Angeles boy, who was shot while playing with friends in Glassell Park, was left a paraplegic. A jury last year ordered the city to pay him $24 million in damages.

I’m neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I told you so.  And take note of how utterly stupid this law is.  Now all criminals have to do is paint their weapons bright colors to convince the police that they are obeying the law.  Or not, in which case the bright colors mean nothing.

I have a better idea.  Cops can walk up to folks carrying what appears to be a weapon, and then ask the person, “Sir, I notice that you’re carrying a weapon.  This isn’t an open carry state.  May I ask why you’re doing that?”  Of course, in open carry states that don’t have stop and identify statutes, this would be illegal and the cops shouldn’t do it.  And of course, the law wouldn’t stop the cops from doing it, because the cops are above the law since they can perform anal rape of motorists for rolling stops.

First, from Communist China.  The Reuters caption reads: “A policeman (2nd L) of the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) controls a mock rioter during a SWAT police performance drill at a training base in Xi’an, Shaanxi province October 30, 2013.”

Next, from Communist America (via Instapundit):

David Eckert, a resident of Deming, NM, was pulled over by police officers after failing to come to a complete stop at a stop sign. For whatever reason, the officers decided Eckert was hiding something, or perhaps they were unsatisfied that a routine stop hadn’t blown up into something bigger.

They asked him to step out of the car and then searched his vehicle (without his consent). Another officer brought in a drug dog which reacted (a relatively worthless indication of anything — drug dogs can easily be “alerted” by their controlling officers) to the driver’s seat. (Eckert’s lawyer calls into question this dog’s training, presenting documents that claim to show it hadn’t received the proper field training and recertification. See exhibits listed under docket item 27.) Then the officer “observed” that Eckert was standing “erect with his legs together” and his “buttocks clenched.” This was all the justification the Deming police needed to subject Eckert to the following horrific chain of events at a hospital in neighboring Silver City.

1. Eckert’s abdominal area was x-rayed; no narcotics were found.
2. Doctors then performed an exam of Eckert’s anus with their fingers; no narcotics were found.
3. Doctors performed a second exam of Eckert’s anus with their fingers; no narcotics were found.
4. Doctors penetrated Eckert’s anus to insert an enema. Eckert was forced to defecate in front of doctors and police officers. Eckert watched as doctors searched his stool. No narcotics were found.
5. Doctors penetrated Eckert’s anus to insert an enema a second time. Eckert was forced to defecate in front of doctors and police officers. Eckert watched as doctors searched his stool. No narcotics were found.
6. Doctors penetrated Eckert’s anus to insert an enema a third time. Eckert was forced to defecate in front of doctors and police officers. Eckert watched as doctors searched his stool. No narcotics were found.
7. Doctors then x-rayed Eckert again; no narcotics were found.
8. Doctors prepared Eckert for surgery, sedated him, and then performed a colonoscopy where a scope with a camera was inserted into Eckert’s anus, rectum, colon, and large intestines. No narcotics were found.At no time did Eckert give his consent to these searches.

The faces are different, but the wicked heart that enforces totalitarianism is the same the world over.

We covered it here.  You know the drill.  Sonoma deputies shot and killed a boy holding a toy gun.  First, let’s cover some details about the man.

The Sonoma County sheriff’s deputy who killed a 13-year-old boy after mistaking his toy AK-47 for a real rifle was identified Monday as a firearms instructor, hunter and war veteran who in the past has warned other officers that they may need to use lethal force to survive an encounter.

Deputy Erick Gelhaus, 48, had broad experience with guns – even relative to others in his profession – before he fatally shot Andy Lopez Cruz last Tuesday just outside Santa Rosa, an incident that has prompted community outrage.

Gelhaus is a frequent contributor to law enforcement magazines and online forums in which he promotes officer safety. He served as an infantry squad leader in Iraq, according to his online profiles, and he describes himself as an avid hunter in North America as well as Africa.

He once accidentally shot himself in the leg in 1995 while on duty with the Sheriff’s Office – reportedly while holstering a gun. However, officials said he has not fired upon a suspect in 24 years with the agency, where he serves as a field training officer for new recruits and trains colleagues to shoot at the department’s gun range.

This is just too good.  He is an expert on firearms – and he shot himself in the leg.  So let’s cover some details on the shooting itself.  Here is the one you really need to know.

Ethan Oliver, who lives across the street from where the shooting occurred, said he heard two gunshots, and while Lopez was on the ground the deputies “went at it again and unloaded like six to seven shots,” KTVU.com reported.

Like I said in the initial article.  The blue wall will close in and you will never hear the story.  Watch it happen, I said.  It’s happening.  The cop who did it is an “expert,” even though he shot himself.  The cops who fired were under threat, or had to assume so.  But they continued to shoot after the boy had gone down.

You’ll never hear the truth from the LEOs.  But you’ll hear enough of it to assist you in developing an understanding of how LEOs see the world today.  Be very careful and circumspect.  Watch your six.  The LEOs think they are in Iraq (and most of them only know what they saw on television).  The LEOs think we are Sunni or Shi’ite insurgents.  The LEOs think they are in the infantry.  The LEOs will kill you.  And the blue wall will close in to protect them.

Not this:

Four law-enforcement officers were wounded Friday in a suburb of Sacramento, Calif., during an attempt to take a wanted gang member into custody.

The shooting occurred in Roseville, a suburb about 20 miles northeast of the state capital.

Helicopters circled overhead and armored vehicles and other police cars flocked to the area following an initial report that a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent had been shot.

A sporadic gun battle lasted into the night and the commotion snarled traffic for hours. Police responded by setting up a checkpoint and pointing guns at motorists, as this Associated Press photo shows.

I have sent a note to the California Highway Patrol demanding to know why this officer hasn’t been arrested and charged with endangerment and assault with a deadly weapon (which includes perceived threat as well as potential danger).  I asked that they not respond that “the officer is observing trigger discipline,” because that’s not a good enough excuse for me.  I would have been arrested and charged with a crime.

I’ll let you know if I get a response, but I’m not holding my breath.  The CHP apparently allows criminals to work in their ranks.  I wonder how this guy would feel if he received a Christmas card in the mail of his picture shown through a high powered scope, cross hairs centered on him?

CBS News:

California sheriff’s officials and family members say deputies shot and killed a 13-year-old boy who was carrying a replica assault weapon.

Two Sonoma County deputies saw the boy walking with the replica weapon at about 3 p.m. local time Tuesday in Santa Rosa. Lt. Dennis O’Leary says they repeatedly ordered him to drop what appeared to be a rifle before firing several rounds.

The boy fell to the ground. Deputies handcuffed him and began administering first aid, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Deputies then discovered that the gun the man had been carrying was a replica, and he also had a plastic gun in his waistband, CBS San Francisco reports. O’Leary said the teen is believed to live in the area where he was killed.

The deputies involved have been placed on administrative leave while an investigation is conducted by police from Santa Rosa and Petaluma and the district attorney’s office, CBS San Francisco reports.

This is wicked behavior.  In Colonial times men were expected to carry their weapons to church worship services and practice afterwards with the rest of the community.  Today, LEOs will, at the slightest provocation, properly interpreted or not, gun down little boys where they stand for carrying toys.  The important thing of course is that the LEOs got to “go home at the end of their shift.”

The mother asks, “Why did they kill him? Why?”  Because they can.  Grieve for your lost little boy, Mrs. Cazarez, and we will grieve for the loss of our country to agents of Satan.  Now watch the blue wall close in behind these cops, these child murderers.  Watch it happen, and tell me if a single cop tells the truth or holds anyone accountable.  Tell me if a judge or jury finds these men guilty of anything?  No, the strongest response will be from totalitarian lawmakers who want to make it illegal to have or sell toy guns.

Watch it happen.

David Codrea:

“So, this is a way to inch things forward on the gun control issue,” she observed. “You go to one of Vermont’s most liberal municipalities and you get a tiny bit, then maybe you inch forward.”

Death by a thousand cuts.  And what have I told you about gun politics being local?

Kurt Hofmann:

Isolate the Insurrectionists by embracing the self-defenders and the sporting gun owners.

Another incremental strategy, similar to the collectivists in Vermont?

John Jay is wondering why anyone associated with the government in Montana (or the feds) would need armored personnel carriers or grenade launchers?

Darryl Cannady in Charlotte, N.C., was pulled by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police because his car matched a profile description of one they were searching for.  The officer unholstered his weapon and held it pointed at Darryl for quite some time.  What’s really interesting about this case is the reaction in the comments, which seem to be on the side of telling this kid that racial profiling had nothing to do with it.  Get over it, kid.  It happens every day.  In reality, the officer had no right to unholster his weapon and point it at anyone unless his life was in danger.  I can’t do that, you can’t do that, and it would be called brandishing a weapon if we did.  Additionally, we would be charged with felony assault for such behavior.  But hey, even if the kid was in danger that day, at least the cop got to go home at the end of his shift, right?

KTLA5:

The wife of an 80-year-old man who was shot dead by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies in a mistaken meth lab raid is planning to sue the county for $50 million, she said.

On the morning of June 27, detectives raided the couple’s home in unincorporated Littlerock, serving a search warrant granted because the property allegedly smelled of the ingredients used to make methamphetamine, according to sheriff’s department officials.

There’s a dispute about what exactly happened at the home in the 36600 block of 117th Street East (map), east of Palmdale, but Eugene Mallory ended up dead, shot six times.

No evidence of a meth operation was ever found, though sheriff’s officials say marijuana was found on the property.

On Friday, attorney James Bergener plans to announce his filing of a civil lawsuit on behalf of Mallory’s widow Tonya Pate against the sheriff’s department and the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner, which Pate says released Mallory’s remains to an out-of-state relative. Pate will ask for upwards of $50 million.

During the June raid, Mallory raised a semi-automatic handgun in response to deputies, who fired on him, the sheriff’s department said at the time. Two guns were recovered at the scene, according to sheriff’s department spokesman Steve Whitmore.

“Age does not preclude somebody from being aggressive toward deputies,” Whitmore said. “The lesson here is… don’t pull a gun on a deputy.”

Pate said Mallory, a former engineer with Lockheed Martin, respected law enforcement and would never have used a gun against officers.

“He would never point a gun at officers,” said Pate, 48. “Every day I stay in that house with that bloody bedroom … where I know he was taken from me for no reason.”

Mallory did own two guns that were in the house, Pate said. She said his glasses were beside his bed when he was killed, and could not have seen because of poor eyesight.

“He was shot in his bed before there was any warning given,” Bergener said..

Marijuana was found on another part of the property where Tonya’s lived, she said.

“There was a drug operation that was certainly going on in this house,” Whitmore said.

There was a drug operation that was certainly going on in the house.  Certainly.  Even though there is no evidence, because, certainly.  And shut up, they explained.

I have noted before the exigent conditions that can obtain in situations of home invasion – and a police raid is a home invasion – including the fact that wearing police insignia and tactical gear and announcing themselves as police is a favorite method of the serious criminals now.  Poor eyesight is yet another condition.  The Sheriff’s department has no way of proving that Mallory knew they were LEOs.  Mallory cannot be reached for comment.

But then this condition obtains in most situations, doesn’t it?  Can anyone ever know that those busting in the door are real LEOs?  Can anyone ever know that those shadows moving in the dark are not there to harm him?  Can anyone ever know – in the presence of flash bangs, gunfire, screaming and shouting and cursing – that they are not under threat by someone intending malice?

And listen to the takeaway.  “The lesson here is don’t pull a gun on a deputy.”  Because, you know, only LEOs get to be concerned about going home safely at the end of their shift.  Because, shut up.  Just lock up your damn guns since you can never be sure about anything.

You all know about the attack in New York by the motorcycle gang called Hollywood Stuntz, so I won’t repeat that tale here.  I remarked to my wife after this happened that the poor man’s family was endangered as a result of the incident, not to mention his own health and safety.  If this had happened to me and my family, I would have quickly squashed Mr. Hollywood Stuntz like a bug, run over his machine, and run over all of his buddies and their machines in order to get away – right after I blew a hole in his whole body organs with one of my handguns.  Mr. Hollywood Stuntz would be dead now, and burying him would have required picking his multiple pieces off of the road.

And of course, it has been (correctly) pointed out that New York has some of the most draconian laws on the books in America regarding guns (when I say that I would have run straight over Mr. Stuntz after I shot him, I mean if he had done that to me around these parts, since I won’t visit New York city or even fly over or drive through the state due to the gun laws).  So New York would willingly submit you and your family to this kind of volence, and then prohibit you from protecting your family from it.

Great place, right?  Makes you want to hop right in your car and pay a visit to the empire state on your vacation, right?  Oh, and in the most recent news of just how bad this gets in New York, here is New York’s finest as they saw it first hand.

An off-duty, NYPD undercover officer was among the pack of motorcyclists who chased a Financial District family up the West Side Highway — and he stood by as the dad was hauled from his car and beaten, The Post has learned.

The unidentified officer only came forward Wednesday night, four days after the caught-on-video biker predation, and is described as a motorcycle hobbyist who rides with Front Line Soldiers, a New Rochelle-based group that also counts several other cops among its members, a source said.

Internal Affairs is investigating whether those cops, too, were among the bikers, and whether any of them are also witnesses to the beating that left Internet exec Alexian Lien bleeding on the pavement as his wife and toddler daughter cowered inside their black Range Rover.

“It is does not appear that he got involved at the scene,” one law enforcement source said of the undercover.

“He didn’t want to blow his cover,” said a source — though he was not investigating those riders.

The undercover has now lawyered up, the source added.

Lawyered-up.  Yea, I’ll bet.  I think the police use that as a term of derision for us normal folk if we refuse to speak to them.  “Didn’t want to blow his cover,” although he was not investigating those riders.  Let that wash over you again.

That means that he was hanging with the Hollywood Stuntz gang for fun and as his hobby and interests.

Is it possible for this story to get any better – or worse?

The Free Patriot:

Here is the setup to understand the upcoming video.

The man, 40-year-old Aaron Tatkowski, said he had just come home when he saw Hart pulling over the woman — his daughter-in-law — and he didn’t like how he was talking to her.

“He hollered for me to get back in my truck, so I got back in my truck,” Tatkowski told CBS affiliate WTOL. “Next thing you know, I’m yanked out of the truck and it made my girlfriend say a few things. He yanked her out of the truck.”

Tatkowski claims he was trying to comply with Hart, but was worried because his two granddaughters were still sitting in the backseat.

Tatkowski said Hart forced him, his girlfriend and his son to the ground, which is where the cellphone camera video — shot by a witness — begins.

The Toledo Blade also has coverage.  We don’t have video of the complete event, and it would be good to see the run-up to this “footage.”

But even in the absence of more video, several observations may be made.  First, something went horribly wrong for an officer to be pointing a weapon of any kind at people who are laying on the ground and obviously not a threat to him.  The escalation appears to have been the officer’s fault.

Second, the officer doesn’t appear to be in the best shape.  I’d like to see him with his hands zip tied behind his back, lying prone, and be told to get up.  I doubt that he could do it.

Third, I cannot see any reason at all the officer should have taken the cell phone from the caller and thrown it down.  I’m not sure what the caller was talking about (officer in distress?), but the phone call appears innocent enough.  At a minimum, the officer should be charged with theft and vandalism.  It wasn’t his phone to destroy.

Finally, in addition to the unfortunate and irresponsible militarization of police tactics in America, it occurs to me that the problems run even deeper with police forces.  For one thing, they apparently aren’t teaching officers well enough in Police Academies.

It also seems that there is a temper problem with many officers.  Hot heads don’t belong on the police force – the police need educated men and women, knowledgeable of the law and Supreme Court decisions like Tennessee Versus Garner, and who know how to deescalate sensitive situations.  Obviously, this event is a complete fail on every level.