Posted on 01/20/2015 5:33:45 AM PST by marktwain
On 15 January, Police Chief Louis Ross was loaned a bullet resistant vest before he and other officers broke into a home in Sentinel, Oklahoma. Ross was shot three times in the chest, and once in the arm. Three of the bullets were stopped by the vest. The police had no warrant for the raid. The homeowner, Dallas Horton, was not hurt and has not been charged, and it seems unlikely that he will be. He and his wife Esther Marie, were both interviewed.
There are many things about this case that have not been widely reported.
First, Police Chief Ross *is* the police force in Sentinel. He is also the Chief. It is a one man force. He was called out of his home for the raid, according to a resident (audio recording), as he is on call 24/7. The bomb threat was called in at 4 am. The Chief is well thought of in the community.
Second, the police did not have a warrant.
Third, the police had the wrong house. The bomb threat did not originate from the house, the person who called in the threat simply said that he was Dallas Horton. It was, essentially, a crude "swatting" that the police should have figured out.
No bombs, explosives, or bomb making materials were found, even though UPI wrote that a device was allegedly found. From upi.com:
Law enforcement officials allegedly found an explosive device at Horton's home. Horton and his wife were arrested.I have not found any other source that corroborated this allegation. It also seems clear that neither Dallas nor Esther Marie Horton were arrested. It would be interesting to know where UPI got it from. The fact that no "bomb making materials" were found probably has more to do with the peace officers integrity than anything else. I have seen everything from fireworks and lengths of galvanized and PCP pipe, and reloading supplies, characterized as "bomb making materials". It is hard to find a household in rural America that does *not* have "bomb making materials* if the police are inclined to find them.
"This is country, this ain't Oklahoma City," Jimmy Rhoades told KFOR. "You're taught from a young age that if somebody comes into your house to shoot."
It is a one man deparatment, the Chief was likely briefed just before they broke down the door.
I don’t know how it is in other states, but small town cops in Ok are not to be trusted.
"Article the fourth... The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
The Fourth Amendment is part of the supreme law of the land and is enforced by the Second Amendment even when the courts fall short in their duty to faithfully interpret the law. The police should have had a warrant, and the police should have knocked and waited long enough for the homeowner to respond peacefully.
“It is a one man deparatment, the Chief was likely briefed just before they broke down the door.”........
Apparently the wrong house. Who did the “briefing”?
Don’t worry, gawker figured it out. It was racism again. Damn crackers
White man shoots black police chief four times and walks free
http://gawker.com/white-man-shoots-black-police-chief-four-times-and-walk-1680254831
PCP pipe or PVC pipe?
Maybe Dallas Horton IS lucky to be a white man.
Read about Cory Maye, black victim of a wrong address, no knock raid. Not realizing it was police breaking in, he defended his baby daughter and killed the white police chief’s son. Originally sentenced to death, later allowed to plead manslaughter, out on ten years time served.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cory_Maye
I would say Cory Maye got off lucky. Well in comparison with Jose Guerena. The marine veteran got 22 bullet wound and was refused medical care during a no knock SWAT raid on the WRONG house.
Good catch!
For my own-self, I prefer using a PCP pipe while installing PVC pipe and subsequently laying pipe before the wife gets home.
Journalists...what DON’T they know?
I should have said Mr Guerena got dead from 22 bullet wounds.
In all fairness, after all the hubbub, the police chief was righteous enough to admit it was a mistake and to not press charges.
I think most of us would be hard pressed to forgive someone who had just shot us four times, for *whatever* reason, even if we were in the wrong.
Hopefully in the future, this guardian angel intervention will make that police chief a lot less willing to go charging in, when a polite knock on the door followed by a calm conversation might suffice.
Reported by UPI?
I thought UPI disappeared years ago.
Now owned by Moon’s Unification Church.
PVC pipe.
It has been corrected in the original...
Apparently the wrong house. Who did the briefing?
My guess was that centralized dispatch from 911 went to the Sheriff’s department. A couple of deputies live in the town. They probably said “The Chief should be in on this” and called him up, waking him in the wee hours of the morning.
That is my guess. They said someone loaned him a vest just before he went in the house.
I remember a video of that. It was NM, wasn’t it? There were enough cops on that scene to hold a convention - all jockeying for space through the front door. Remarkable they didn’t shoot one another.
A shame, the whole story....
Not NM - AZ!! Sorry
Must have been a guy unhappy with his Obamacare service.
Doctor Shot at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Suspect Dead
ABC News
By SYDNEY LUPKIN 1 hour ago
A doctor was shot today at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston after a gunman entered the building and asked for him by name, authorities said.
http://news.yahoo.com/doctor-shot-brigham-womens-hospital-boston-suspect-dead-191329297.html
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