Oh man, then it definitely gets complicated. Were the victims two white people of note? Did they have friends or relatives in Texas politics? Are they frequent posters on r/The_Donald? So many variables at play here.
I imagine we’ll get the usual cover story, maybe a cop gets fired and re-hired by a city an hour away.
This thread is so awful; it always makes me cringe when a new post pops up after a few days of quiet. And it makes me very glad to live in a somewhat saner country.
That’s how I feel about that school shooting thread. Just waiting for the inevitable update on that one when the next group of school kids dies.
I think they should be treated as murders. Basically faking up evidence for a warrant like this should be about as legal as armed robbery. Just like in an armed robbery, the people who submitted the false warrant should be legally responsible for anyone who gets killed or injured as a result (i.e. felony murder).
My understanding is that the address on the warrant was a mistake; there was a drug house at the same number/street name except it was XXX Place instead of XXX Road. When the police were called on it, they insisted they raided the correct house.
So just negligence resulting in the deaths of two innocent people (plus dog) and the injuries to the police officers.
The crime is perhaps that these kinds of raids are conducted at all.
I understand the need for no-knock, guns-drawn raids – if you suspect you’re heading into a group of armed suspects, you can’t just ring the doorbell and hope for the best. But this calls for an extra process step. Someone should be responsible for double-checking to be damn sure this is the right house.
They need a checklist system here, like the pre-flight checks on commercial airlines.
I see. That seems to happen with distressing frequency. Lying about the mistake after the fact is infuriating but not causal.
It seems like they should at least be reserved for very rare circumstances and treated with extra caution and oversight.
‘Hope for the best’ is hyperbole, but in fact there’s no reason they can’t with reasonable prep knock on the door to serve an arrest warrant. Sure it’s more dangerous for the cops, but what’s happened is that they’ve calculated that the risk to the lives of innocent bystanders is a better risk to take than that of danger to the cop who’s knocking. So much for ‘to protect and serve’.
Yeah, if they don’t use these no knock raids then a cop might get hurt! Best to just kill random innocent civilians and then cover it up when things go awry. I completely disagree with any rule or regulation that transfers the danger from the trained police officers onto the general population.
What dos this have to do with them faking a drug exchange in order to get a warrant. If they hadn’t faked the exchange in the first place, maybe they’d recognize it was the wrong house.
So Roger Stone should be glad they knocked and quit bitching about it.
This is the first I have heard of how this played out. Terrible. I remember seeing this on my local news as a “Breaking” story. I hope the news now plays up the police mistakes angle of this story. There is really no excuse for police killing innocent people, and getting members of their own force shot, because of their own stupidity and mistakes.
That was the original theory, but they said the address was correct.
What happened was they faked the “buy” to get a warrant. So these people were targeted for some reason near as we can tell.
I tend to agree. There are probably times when you have to do it, but 90% of the time it’s just police macho bullshit. Also it got 4 cops shot apparently, so the whole “police safety” doesn’t fly here. If they’d knocked on the door no one would’ve gotten hurt.
Schnider then opened Wheatcroft’s door, grabbed the man’s arm, and twisted it behind his back, causing considerable wrist pain. The two officers attempted to push Wheatcroft forward, contorting his body into an even more uncomfortable position. Next, they used a taser on him, over and over again. Wheatcroft ended up on the ground outside the car, with his legs still tangled in his seatbelt. The officers then handcuffed Wheatcroft, though this did not end the torture. According to the lawsuit:
Given the temperature of the asphalt, the officers’ contorting his body, and the tasing, Plaintiff Johnny Wheatcroft was writhing in pain while his family watched and screamed for the officers to stop. Plaintiff Johnny Wheatcroft was prone and handcuffed on the ground, when Defendant Schneider pulled down Plaintiff’s shorts and tased his testicles and perineum, which was significantly and excruciatingly painful.
Defendant Glendale’s officers then rolled Plaintiff Johnny Wheatcroft onto his side and began to remove the taser prongs that were embedded into his skin. As the officers began to forcibly remove the prongs, Plaintiff Johnny Wheatcroft screamed in agony and Defendant Schneider placed his taser on Plaintiff Johnny Wheatcroft’s penis and screamed, “Keep fighting and you’re going to get it again! You want it again? Shut your mouth! I’m done fucking around with you!” At this same time, one of the officers placed a handgun to Plaintiff Johnny Wheatcroft’s head.
I would encourage anyone who doubts that this description is accurate to watch the footage. Consider yourself warned: It is extremely disturbing.
Jesus fuck, what the fuck is wrong with some cops? This guy should be in prison. Fucking blue shield will probably close in and protect the piece of shit.
I’d bet a Glendale AZ jury will not convict these cops.
I’m not taking that bet.
Kentucky state trooper scores a two-fer! No need for care when the abducted victim and the abductor are both black I guess.
How do you know the trooper scored a two-fer?
Police said a trooper heard gunfire from the vehicle and returned fire. The release said Williams was hit by at least one round, though it was not immediately clear who fired the fatal shot.
Probably this.Williams was the one kidnapped.
I know Williams was kidnapped. I also know there was a shot reported in the vehicle before officers fired upon it. Since we don’t yet know who fired the shot that killed Williams it seems premature for rowe33 to make butter with the news.