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Did the Couple Killed by Houston Narcs Know Who the Armed Intruders Were?
Reason ^ | Feb. 1, 2019 | Jacob Sullum

Posted on 02/01/2019 4:17:10 PM PST by GrootheWanderer

(Police Chief Art) Acevedo had no explanation for why police did not find the drug that was the justification for the search, even though the house supposedly was under surveillance by narcotics officers between the controlled buy and the raid.

Despite his repeated promises of "transparency" and "accountability," Acevedo was also hazy on the crucial point of whether Tuttle knew that the armed men breaking into his house, whose first action after entering was to kill his dog with a shotgun, were police officers. Narcotics officers executing search warrants "don't show up in uniform," Acevedo said, "but they do show up with plenty of gear that identifies them as police officers, including patrol officers that are out in front of the house."

Patrol officers outside the house do not give people inside the house notice that the men breaching their door and killing their dog are cops, and it's not clear what other "gear" Acevedo had in mind. But since the plainclothes officers who burst into the house did so without warning, "announcing" themselves at the same moment they were breaking down the door, it would not be surprising if Tuttle missed that announcement and any other clues to their identity.

Body camera video of the raid might have helped clarify this issue, but there is none. "Body-worn cameras are still a pretty new technology," Acevedo said.

(Excerpt) Read more at reason.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: bloggers; cops; drugs; fakenews; tuttle
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Some fine police work there
1 posted on 02/01/2019 4:17:10 PM PST by GrootheWanderer
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To: GrootheWanderer

My guess is wrong house or suspects. There may have been shady characters in the neighborhood, and the citizens thought it was a home invasion. I’d guess most of the injuries were blue on blue.


2 posted on 02/01/2019 4:20:52 PM PST by Fido969 (In!)
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To: GrootheWanderer

Police work in plain clothes precisely because they don’t want to be recognized as police officers. Therefore, it’s stupid to ask whether or not the victims knew it was police breaking into their home.


3 posted on 02/01/2019 4:22:00 PM PST by Rashputin (Jesus Christ doesn't evacuate His troops, He leads them to victory !!)
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To: GrootheWanderer

More ‘roided-up wannabe operators playing badasses on the county Rapid Response Team serving warrants by knocking down doors and shotgunning anything that moves, when a simple ticket in the mail would have sufficed for the level of crime alleged.


4 posted on 02/01/2019 4:23:00 PM PST by Yo-Yo ( is the /sarc tag really necessary?)
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To: Rashputin

And the second indication of just how astronomical the level of stupid is was the assertion that the amount of fear they had indicated they were police.

The cartels fielding just as impressive gear is how law enforcement has managed to circumvent the Constitution and militarize itself.

I see a department acting in bad faith.


5 posted on 02/01/2019 4:26:37 PM PST by MrEdd (Caveat Emptor)
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To: GrootheWanderer

If the first action is the shooting of your dog, you know darn well that they are cops.


6 posted on 02/01/2019 4:27:18 PM PST by matthew fuller (Some people are deserving of the death penalty.)
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To: GrootheWanderer

The problem with a militarized police force is not the gear, but the treatment of civilians as enemies, as opposed to suspects.


7 posted on 02/01/2019 4:31:03 PM PST by fruser1
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To: GrootheWanderer

Serving a warrant by simulated home invasion seems like a bad idea to me.


8 posted on 02/01/2019 4:35:19 PM PST by FreedomForce
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To: GrootheWanderer

There ought to be a law: A couple of marked police cars should have to accompany every house raid. And the instant the door is smashed in, those cars should have to turn on their lights and sirens.

Let the folks inside know just who is coming through the door.

And no, I don’t think that would give the bad guys much of a heads-up. The door being smashed in would do that anyway.


9 posted on 02/01/2019 4:36:42 PM PST by Leaning Right (I have already previewed or do not wish to preview this composition.)
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To: GrootheWanderer
Suburban Ruby Ridge..

Was the controlled buy A LIE?

Or maybe they thought they were raiding Roger Stone's house?

"Body-worn cameras are still a pretty new technology," Acevedo said."

If the above quote isn't evidence of GUILT, I don't know what is.

10 posted on 02/01/2019 4:37:06 PM PST by CivilWarBrewing (Get off my back for my usage of CAPS, especially you snowflake males! MAN UP!)
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To: Fido969

“There may have been shady characters in the neighborhood”

Neighbors thought these were the shady characters in the neighborhood.


11 posted on 02/01/2019 4:38:19 PM PST by TexasGator (Z1z)
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To: GrootheWanderer

12 posted on 02/01/2019 4:39:48 PM PST by Vendome (I've Gotta Be Me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB0ndRzaz2o)
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To: Leaning Right

Gee.

Seems like that is exactly what happened...


13 posted on 02/01/2019 4:41:14 PM PST by Vendome (I've Gotta Be Me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB0ndRzaz2o)
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To: Leaning Right

“And the instant the door is smashed in, those cars should have to turn on their lights and sirens.”

They did.


14 posted on 02/01/2019 4:44:55 PM PST by TexasGator (Z1z)
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To: matthew fuller

“If the first action is the shooting of your dog, you know darn well that they are cops.”

Right. Cartels, gang bangers, common thieves etc have more humanity than that...they don’t get their rocks from shooting dogs like cops do.


15 posted on 02/01/2019 4:45:26 PM PST by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
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To: matthew fuller

BS. If I’m sitting around in my house and a bunch of heavily armed men come busting in the door and shoot my dog as she is doing her job of protecting her family, I guarantee that my first (or second, third, etc) thought is NOT going to be “Oh, it’s OK, they shot the dog first, so it must just be the police.”

I would have grabbed the closest firearm and started shooting back.


16 posted on 02/01/2019 4:48:33 PM PST by Lite
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To: Rashputin
Police work in plain clothes precisely because they don’t want to be recognized as police officers.

Sending the plainclothes officer through the door first, particularly if he opens fire immediately seems like a good way to start a gunfight with the occupants of the house.

In that kind of situation it is very likely that the occupants respond to the door breaching, shooting and dog killing based on fear and muscle memory more than reasoned logic. That is how police and homeowners get killed whether they deserve it or not.

There has to be a better way to apprehend that kind of suspect without such a risk to the police, and potentially innocent parties in the house.

17 posted on 02/01/2019 4:48:42 PM PST by freeandfreezing
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To: GrootheWanderer
The investigation included a "controlled buy" by a confidential informant who reported seeing a 9mm semi-automatic pistol and "a large quantity of plastic baggies" containing black-tar heroin at the house on Sunday. Police found neither of those things when they searched the house the next day after breaking down the door and setting off a shootout in which Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas were killed and five officers were injured.

Murder, mayhem and another middle finger to the freedoms Americans used to enjoy all because of what a "confidential informant" told police. Wave the flag at that one.

These people were murdered based upon the words of an anonymous tipster and a confidential informant.

I would rather legalize all drugs than under such a "legal" system. And I hate drugs.
18 posted on 02/01/2019 4:50:00 PM PST by LostInBayport (When there are more people riding in the cart than there are pulling it, the cart stops moving...)
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To: GrootheWanderer

“...Acevedo had no explanation for why police did not find the drug that was the justification for the search..”

Apparently there are three tiers of justice in this country..democrats, police, everyone else.


19 posted on 02/01/2019 4:50:54 PM PST by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
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To: Leaning Right
And the instant the door is smashed in, those cars should have to turn on their lights and sirens.

It is too late by then. At that point the gunfight is on. I doubt anybody in that house could have heard a siren outside after a 12 gauge shotgun round or two and a volley of .357 magnum rounds.

There is little need for dramatic door breaching raids unless it is to save hostages, or stop a mass murderer in action -- except of course when somebody is shooting up a country music festival in Las Vegas when nobody bothered to breach the door -- so the police should just arrange a safer way to apprehend suspected drug dealers.

20 posted on 02/01/2019 4:53:22 PM PST by freeandfreezing
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