The “Justified” Shooting Of A Man Sleeping In His Bed

I guess I missed this at the time of the original shooting. Even though it’s slightly dated, I decided to share anyways just because it is so damned aggravating to see officers get away with carelessly breaking the law – and doing so without feeling any consequences for it. A man with no criminal history or background was shot by officers…while sleeping in his bed. Oopsy-daisy! They had the wrong person, it seems…and to pile insult atop injury, officers claim the shooting was “justified”… 

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Via Stop Police Brutality

“Only by sheer luck, the 29-year-old Dustin Theoharis from Auburn survived after being shot 16 times by two police officers who burst into his apartment without a warrant, looking for his arrested roommate’s gun.

Theoharis was crudely woken by two armed uniformed men who rushed into his room and started yelling out orders at him. He reacted in a way most people would, instinctively reaching for the flashlight by the bed. Detective Aaron Thompson and Corrections Officer Kris Rongen immediately responded by shooting the man 16 times.

Detective Benjamin Wheeler, one of four other officers present at the scene, came into the bedroom to find Theoharis in a pool of his blood and two baffled cops still in the state of shock. Luckily the man was rushed to the hospital fast enough for doctors to save his life.

Thompson and Rongen tried to justify their action by claiming that Theoharis reached for the gun, but no weapon was found in his room. The main reason this police action was organized was Theoharis’ roommate Nicholas Harrison, an ex-convict, failing to report for community supervision. Harrison was arrested before the raid and the police searched his place for weapons so they could charge him with parole violation.

The King County Prosecutor dropped all charges against the two officers, justifying the brutal shooting as a proper response to a “perceived risk” to their safety.”

 

Why More SWAT-Style Raids?

“I’m very concerned that, on a national basis, police organizations are looking more and more like combat troops and less and less like community police officers.” 

- Robert Wadman, emeritus Weber State University criminal justice professor-

Excerpt, Standard Examiner – “Law enforcement officials agree: Police execute a “door kick” somewhere in Weber County, on average, once every week.

The forced entries range from a welfare check, when neighbors become concerned as newspapers pile up on someone’s porch and the family car is parked in the driveway.

At the other end of the spectrum are the full-on, SWAT-style raids with helmeted officers battering down a door unannounced, such as the Sept. 16, 2010, entry that left the suspect, Todd Blair, fatally shot.

Officials point to the frequency of door kicks, in police parlance, that occur without publicity or complaint as proof they’re benign — only a small percentage go awry. They steadfastly maintain they are crucial, the swift deployment necessary for officer safety and to keep suspects from destroying evidence.

Commando tactics concerns

But there are critics concerned about the increase in the commando-style entries, also known as a breach.

The American Civil Liberties Union recently announced a nationwide investigation of the “militarization” of police departments, simultaneously filing 255 public records requests in 24 states on March 6.

Among 18 Utah agencies whose records were requested are the Ogden, Roy and Brigham City police departments and the Weber and Cache county sheriff’s offices.

The agencies have been asked to provide data on SWAT team deployments and injuries during the deployments, weaponry used, and the level of funding for armament and equipment from the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security.

The ACLU decried militarization as an erosion “of civil liberties encouraging increasingly aggressive policing.”

In the wake of high-profile, lethal-force incidents involving officers, police brass and prosecutors have defended the strong-arm tactics as necessary in an increasingly violent world.

“Officers plan for the worst and hope for the best,” said Ogden Police Lt. Will Cragun. “It’s easy to second-guess after the fact, but you need to get down in the dirt with us to know what’s going on.”

Officials typically point to recent mass shootings around the country as a constant reminder to officers to be on their guard.

Roy Police Chief Greg Whinham noted the Columbine High School shootings of 1999, where 12 students and a teacher were killed and 21 injured, moved him to make his department the first in the state to put A-4 automatic rifles in the trunks of all patrol cars.

“I will always err on the side of getting my officers home at the end of their shift,” he said.

In an earlier news story about the ACLU records request, Weber County Sheriff’s Deputy Chief Klint Anderson said the problem is “the militarization of our criminals.”

Anderson said law enforcement is seeing “criminals who have military experience and military training.”

“They are better armed, better trained and more dangerous than before.”

Jim Retallick, veteran Ogden public defender, and other defense attorneys argue there are other ways to serve search warrants than the military-style door kicks.

“Hell yes, it’s getting dangerous,” Retallick said. “For seven people to get shot over marijuana is ridiculous.”

He is referring to the Jan. 4, 2012, forced-entry raid on the Ogden home of Matthew David Stewart. Six officers were shot, one fatally. Stewart was also wounded, hospitalized and jailed and now awaits trial, facing the death penalty…” Full Article Here

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***Warning: Video Contains Graphic & Heartbreaking Footage***

 

DHS Tanks In My Backyard

How nice to get a full video demonstration of the newly retrofitted ‘light armored’ tanks ready for deployment in New Mexico and W. Texas…yippeefreakingkayay!

Welcome to the Wild West, DHS style…

The Department of Homeland Security (through the U.S. Army Forces Command) recently retrofitted 2,717* of these ‘Mine Resistant Protected’ vehicles for service on the streets of the United States. *An earlier version of this post included a figure of over 2,700 vehicles, as cited from the original RT link. This figure likely comes from a press release from Navistar Defense, mentioning delivery of 2,717 to the U.S. Marine Corps. A DHS Spokesman confirmed with Business Insider that they have only 16 nationwide.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/homeland-security-serving-warrants-mrap-2013-3#ixzz2MpOHQ35e

For those of you who may be wondering…yes, I absolutely feel 100% safe and secure living here now that I know DHS is so well equipped as to be able to pluck us off the roadways (while not even having to worry about those pesky street mines!) as they drive…

…Oh…and if you actually believe me? Well…I’ve got some nice ocean front property for sale, too..!

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Related -

Homeland Security Is Serving Warrants Using Mine-Resistant Vehicles

Building The Global Special Operation Forces Partnership

This is…well…unnerving…and chilling.

 

ISOF (Photo credit: United States Forces – Iraq (Inactive))

 

(May 2012) Military assault demonstrations at the ISOF 2012 conference in Tampa bay, Florida. The participating SOF teams came from 10 allied nations: Australia, Canada, Brazil, Colombia, Jordan, Norway, Poland, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, and included American SEALs, Green Berets, Air Force Combat Controllers, and US Marines. This year ISOF’s theme is “Building the Global SOF Partnership.” This is composed of mutually supporting partners working to identify and preemptively address problems, and helping to defeat the appeal of violent extremism.

 

 

 

The Relentless March of the U.S. Police State

Excerpt from The Independent Institute – By Robert Higgs 

Jonathan Turley, a professor of law at George Washington University, wrote recently:

An authoritarian nation is defined not just by the use of authoritarian powers, but by the ability to use them. If a president can take away your freedom or your life on his own authority, all rights become little more than a discretionary grant subject to executive will. . . . Since 9/11, we have created the very government the framers feared: a government with sweeping and largely unchecked powers resting on the hope that they will be used wisely.

Turley does not say much in this article about the other rail of the Police State Railway that Americans are riding to hell: the drug war, with its massive arrests, prosecution, and imprisonment of people charged only with victimless crimes and its militarization of the state and local police all over the country. (On the militarization of the police, see especially this research paper, a revised version of which will appear in the spring issue of The Independent Review.) This massive bloating of police power and legalized oppression and the corresponding suppression of individual rights have brought down to the lowest level the threats to life, liberty, and happiness that the war on terrorism has created in what most people view as a more remote and less threatening venue—”out there” somewhere, in drone-istan.

Each day, the U.S. police state grows larger, more powerful, more pervasive, and more menacing. When will the majority awaken to the realization that this threat has nothing to do with party politics, that it makes no difference whether a Republican or a Democrat occupies the presidency while our freedoms are demolished? Read Full Article Here

A Moment Of Clarity by Lee Camp…

New Law Proposed in MO: Criminalize the Failure to Notify Schools of Your Private Business

“A Missouri lawmaker has proposed legislation that would require parents to notify their children’s school if they own a firearm.”

This irks the living crap out of me. Set aside the standard gun-issue arguments of whether or not we should own guns, how many or of what caliber and consider the concept underneath all of that…this law (or others like it) could be expanded…report to the school if you have medicines, objectionable books, cleaning products…think about it.

A 2nd point to consider…who is going to PAY for this?? Literally…where is the money going to come from to enforce this right now?

Who is going to go door-to-door and search the home of every child enrolled in MO schools? By what authority??? With – or without – search warrants and the all-too-common use of SWAT teams?

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Excerpt – “The bill, introduced by Missouri Democratic State Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, would make it a crime to fail to report gun ownership to a school and to store a firearm in a place where a child could possibly access it. The legislation also criminalizes failure to prevent illegal possession of a firearm by a child under the age of 18.

“This act requires a parent or guardian to notify a school district, or the governing body of a private or charter school, that he or she owns a firearm within 30 days of enrolling the child in school or becoming the owner of a firearm,” the bill reads in part. “The written notification only needs to include the names of the parent and any child attending the school and the fact that the parent owns a firearm…

…Failure to report a firearm to a child’s school would result in a fine of up to $100 or $1,000 if the parent is also found guilty of “negligent storage of a firearm,” in addition to any other required punishments.”

Read Full Story Here on Daily Caller

A Death Sentence…For The Marijuana That Wasn’t There

This story happened over a year ago but I decided to post it in order to highlight (again!) the dismal failure the ‘War On Drugs’ has been – as well as the dangers of law enforcement continuing to use SWAT teams to raid the homes of US citizens.  What happened to that pesky notion about people being INNOCENT until PROVEN guilty? Apparently it has been swept aside as government agencies get more and more federal funding to use on gadgets, gear & guns.

FBI SWAT in Atlanta gaining entry into a building during a training exercise. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The mere suspicion that a natural plant might be in a home has now become justifiable cause for gunning down citizens and little thought is given to whether or not there might be children, pets…or innocent civilians taken out in the process. To call these *mistakes* anything less than what they are…cold blooded murder…is just a slap in the face to all of the victims and their families.

On May 19, 2011   Former Marine, Jose Guerena,  age 26, was killed  murdered in his Tucson home during a drug  pointless raid. Officers pounded him with 71 rounds as they burst through the door of his home. No drugs were ever found. His family helplessly watched as their loved one was shot to death by over-zealous, over-armed and UNDER trained officers…

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Uncle Sam In Your Backyard

Michael Salman, has been fighting a 60 day jail sentence since his September 2010 conviction for violating city building codes on his property in Phoenix, AZ but last week a federal judge denied his motion to block the sentence and tossed his civil lawsuit.

 According to news reports, Mr. Salman has been fighting the city in order to be allowed to have 40 or so people at his home for bible study gatherings since 2007. His home has even been raided by police — twice. City inspectors are claiming that a structure on the property where the gatherings take place isn’t safe…

…And we’ll just never mind the fact that police raids are also not generally very ‘safe’ either, right?

To raid a bible study group for any reason is an unnecessary show of intimidating force – and to what ends? Why does the city assume they have the right to step in and supersede individual choice? Are we really so pathetic and helpless that ‘The City” must decide for us where we are safe to gather together…for whatever damn reason we see fit? 

From neighborhood lemonade stands to garage sales all the way to Private Assembly on Private Property, the long arm of the law just keeps stretching farther and farther down our throats…

Phoenix News Times, “A federal judge has slapped down Pastor Michael Salman’s request for a restraining order against the city of Phoenix in Salman’s fight over his backyard church services.

Salman’s been battling city officials and neighbors for the last few years in his quest to continue the services, which — he says – he holds each week for the benefit of about 50 friends. Fire and zoning inspectors maintain that a structure he built in his backyard with the help of some of those friends is a safety hazard.

As we reported last week, officials raided Salman’s home in March for a second time and cited him with seven code violations — as a 60-day jail sentence he received for previous code violations remains on appeal. As a last-ditch effort, Salman filed a federal complaint last week against the city of Phoenix and various officials, as well as a request for a temporary restraining order.”

More coverage on this story Phoenix News Times

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And another excerpt, this one from The End of theAmerican Dream – “Michael Salman was found guilty of 67 “code violations”, and now he is going to be ripped away from his family and put in prison for two months.  In addition, the assistant city prosecutor is asking the court to “revoke his probation and convert it into a 2 1/2 year jail sentence since he continues to hold worship gatherings on his property despite court orders.”  This kind of case has the potential to have a huge “chilling effect” on home gatherings of all kinds all over the United States.

You may be thinking that you are glad that this man is being put in prison because you aren’t a Christian and you don’t have any sympathy for Christians.

Well, what if you wanted to hold small gatherings in your home to discuss the U.S. Constitution?

Or what if you wanted to hold small gatherings in your home to play cards or watch football?

The U.S. Constitution guarantees “the right of the people peaceably to assemble”, and when the constitutional rights of one person are under attack, it is an attack on all of us.

In America today, we actually do not own our homes and our properties.  Instead, we are only allowed to use them in very, very narrowly-defined ways, and if we “rebel” against those rules the control freaks that run things will smack us hard…” Continue on End Of American Dream

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And I wonder, when will enough finally be enough for us? When will we snap to and remember that we are only bound by chains of our own making? We scream for more protection from imaginary boogeymen…and fail to realize the price tag that hangs around our neck with each new ‘safety’ we demand. How much longer until the chains drag us all down into a dungeon we cannot escape?

How To Harass A Senior Citizen in Austin

Either I am in a really funky mood this week or else…or else this country (meh, probably the world) has just gone insane in more ways than my poor brain can begin to comprehend. If we aren’t beating innocent, young, mentally ill men to death, we’re holding 70 year old men at gunpoint…seriously, America?? What in the HELL is wrong with people? I understand officers have a job to do but don’t any of them have enough conscience anymore to say, “No, this is enough. I will not obey orders to harass/beat/spray or taze my fellow citizens who have done nothing wrong…” ? 

Austin PD didn’t beat this man to death in the literal sense but after waking him, tricking him, ambushing him, filling his basement with tons of cement, billing him for it AND seizing his property, it’s a small miracle the poor man hasn’t keeled over from the stress of it all!

From Off The Grid Survival – Early one Saturday morning, 70-year old retired Air Force reservist and former state employee Joe Del Rio was awoken by a knock on his front door. It was the city of Austin’s local code enforcement team. One of the agents told Mr. Del Rio that he needed to speak to him right away.

After getting dressed Mr. Del Rio went and opened his front door. He was immediately bum rushed by the Austin Police Department’s SWAT Team and then detained and interrogated for over 10 hours.

What was this 70-year old mans crime?

It seems that the Mr. Del Rio had an underground bunker, and apparently in Austin, Texas that enough to have the SWAT team storm your home and hold you at gun point.

The bunker in question was previously built as a bomb shelter during the cold war. Mr Del Rio had recently renovated part of the old fall out shelter and had been using it as a makeshift workshop…

Full Story (with video interview) Continues on Off The Grid Survival

The Taxman SWAT

It was really only a matter of time until the IRS got their very own SWAT teams, wasn’t it? Next thing you know someone will come up with this crazy notion that citizens ought to be imprisoned for their debts…

Nah, that’s far too outrageous of a thought…it would never happen…again…right?

Riiiiiight.

Sourced From RT – Published: 22 March, 2012 -

The US Internal Revenue Service is calling on the big guns to help clampdown on companies shifting earnings from country to country to lower the amount of taxes that are owed to the US government.

The group which is being dubbed an IRS “Swat Team,” is attempting to thwart the technique known as “transfer pricing.”

The issue has been on the agency’s radar since last May when Samuel Maruca took the role of the transfer pricing director.

The position which didn’t exist before the arrival of Maruca, has been a demanding gig. The goal is to put an end to the thriving practice of companies evading global tax responsibilities.

According to Reuters, the major players include worldwide corporations that are continuously exchanging properties, services and resources from one subsidiary to another in different countries.

Full Story Here on RT

So far as I’m concerned, Johnny Paycheck sums it up best -

Raiding Our Freedom

An interactive map of botched SWAT and paramilitary police raids, released in conjunction with the Cato policy paper “Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids,” by Radley Balko.

Related articles

• Radley Balko Talks HuffPo, Nashville, OWS, & Cory Maye (reason.com)
• Radley Balko: SWAT Raids, Stun Guns, And Pepper Spray: Why The Government Is Ramping Up The Use Of Force (occupygr.wordpress.com)
• When Terror Is At The Door; Legalized Home Invasions (misbehavedwoman.wordpress.com)
• Drug Paraphernalia Raids Make Books Disappear (reason.com)
• Subjects of Missouri Drug Raid That Went Viral Have Their Civil Suit Dismissed (reason.com)
• UNC-Charlotte gets its own SWAT team (boingboing.net)