Posted on 01/18/2011 2:17:18 PM PST by darkside321
Utah police shot and killed a man within seconds of storming his parents' home, video of the raid shows. The police had a warrant to search for drugs, but found only a small amount of pot and an empty vial that had apparently contained meth.
Local media report that Todd Blair, 45, was a drug addict rather than a dealer, according to friends and family.
In the video, Blair can be seen holding a golf club above his head as police smash through his door. Within seconds, without demanding Blair drop the iron or lay down, Weber-Morgan Strike Force Sgt. Troy Burnett fires three shots into him. The local prosecutor has deemed the killing justified, but his family is planning a federal lawsuit, arguing that police had plenty of alternatives.
Blair's death raises the question of why multiple heavily-armed officers were sent to raid a drug addict -- and why Weber and Morgan counties in Utah would even need a "Narcotics Strike Force." Local police forces are able to keep to property they seize in drug raids, often without the necessity of a conviction, creating a perverse incentive to reinvest in military equipment and carry out additional raids.
The killer, Sgt. Burnett, had previously told a law-enforcement magazine that he and fellow officers were trained to shoot quickly and at close range. Burnett had previously put the training to use by shooting and killing an armed suspect in 2008.
"Maybe a month before this [2008 shooting], we did our qualification and this kind of scenario was played out in live fire training where we had to quickly draw and fire at close range," Burnett said at the time. "It wasn't quite identical, but it was close...
(Excerpt) Read more at worldnewsmania.com ...
Something is drastically wrong with this statement and this person. The only thing right about it is the 'killer' statement. If this were an American soldier in IRAQ or Afghanistan right now, he would be cashiered summarily poste haste.....
Nothing went wrong. That was the plan.
Cops should have stayed home that day. Didn’t do much “protecting the public.”
I guess they “felt that their life was in danger.”
Whenever you encounter a cop: MAKE SURE HE FEELS SAFE.
When I was a kid, it was the job of the police to make the public feel safe. Somehow or other, that got turned around.
“but found only a small amount of pot and an empty vial that had apparently contained meth. “
Total cost to taxpayers:
Fox door, broken glass, furniture : $1870
Salaries for the 50-60 jackbooted thugs and support team: $18,000 (including pension contribution)
Settling wrongful death lawsuit : $10 Million.
Enjoy.
Weber County UT? The same jurisiction that wants a blimp to spy on the citizens of Ogden?
They need to get their gunslinging deputies under control.
I saw this video and wanted to throw up.
Videos like this make me literally put 995 of law enforcement in the same category as the worst street gangs and zetas w read about in the news.
ML/NJ
You got your % the wrong way round.
We don’t hear the good stories, eh?
Maybe 2% are scum.
Swat, the new SS.
Sad isn’t it?
Used to live down the street from a State Trooper. He liked to stand in his front doorway naked, frequently.
Good thing the Jack Booted Thugs are keeping us safe from ourselves.
This case will go no where.
As long as an officer can remember to claim that he thought the golf club was a gun or it was a threat to his life 20 feet away, he has an iron clad union alibi to kill you.
When I was a kid, it was the job of the police to make the public feel safe. Somehow or other, that got turned around.
I used to believe that when I was younger, but no longer.
Cops = publicly financed street gang.
The only difference is that cops work for a different crime boss than the bloods or crips.
However, since they found a small amount of pot, they will consider everything justified and mom and dad will have their house forfeited.
Enjoy.
When your job is to carry around hammer, everything starts looking like a nail.
Every policeman who fired a shot on this raid should be hung.
Government is absolutely out of control.
ML/NJ
Next time I hope the home owner is waiting with a shotgun.
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