Man Impersonating DEA During Home Invasion, Shot, Killed

Gun Watch ^ | 25 July, 2018 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

At about 1 a.m. on July 18th, 2018, in Alquippa, Pennsylvania Brionna Hicks stepped outside on the porch of her home to smoke a cigarette. Her mother was upstairs with three children. Her brother, Anthony Farley, lived in the other half of the duplex.

Two men, wearing shirts with DEA printed on them, ran up to the porch, yelling DEA! and DEA survellance! They tried to handcuff Brionna. She fought them and started screaming. From post-gazzette.com, 18 July:

Her mother came downstairs and was confronted by a tall man wearing something white on his head, according to the complaint. The man pointed a gun at the mother and told her to lay face down on the stairs.

The two men then tried to drag Ms. Hicks out of the house, she said, at which point her brother, who lives in the adjoining half of the duplex, came to the front door.

The unidentified man shot her brother, Anthony Farley, in the neck.

Mr. Farley returned fire, striking the man, according to the complaint.

Brionna's brother, Anthony, ended up in the hospital. He will recover. His assailant ended up dead, on the porch.

The gunfight took place between the two doors pictured on the white duplex. It appears to be about 20 feet.

This illustrates a growing problem of criminals impersonating law enforcement officers to gain an advantage over their victims.

It was less of a problem when most police were uniformed and used official vehicles. Now many raids are unannounced, or use almost no warning in the service of a warrant.

One of the primary purposes of a warrant is to inform the person in charge of the premises to be searched that the officers doing the searching are doing so under due process of law. A search warrant protects both the owner of the premises and the police. Proper service of a search warrant also prevents searches of other premises or places not on the warrant.

An owner of premises does not have to allow police onto the premises unless they have a warrant.

The war on drugs has vastly expanded the use of "no knock" warrants, which have been issued promiscuously in recent years. The mere ownership of legal firearms has been used as a premise to issue a no-knock warrant.

It has become much harder for citizens to know if the people breaking down the door are police or criminals. If the police do not announce themselves, and wait for a reasonable time to have the person in charge of the premises look at a warrant and determine that it is valid, and what may be searched for, how is a person to know if the invasion of their home is occurring under the rule of law?

I was involved in a situation in Australia where premises were searched. The officers with the warrant were not present. A resident asked for the paperwork. It could not be produced. The resident refused them entry. The officers waited until the paperwork was present. They were allowed entry, and conducted their search.  That is the way most warrants should work in the United States.

U.S. courts have ruled that some warrants need not to be present for the person to be served and the search conducted. How is the person to know if the officials have a valid warrant or not, if they cannot see the document?

In many cases, they do not know.

Police officers have been killed when they have attempted to serve warrants without sufficient notice. Homeowners who have shot police officers have been found not guilty by juries.

Criminals that disguise themselves as police or other law enforcement are another reason use of no-knock warrants should be severely limited, and sufficient time given to occupants to respond to an announcement by police.

©2018 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

[hanamizu]

A former student was involved in something like this. He and couple of friends found a lost police officer’s badge. They then used it to “raid” a local dope dealer hoping to find money & drugs. Ended up killing their target, his mother, & his brother. Triple murder. Leader of the group got the needle, the two younger ones got 45 years. He’ll be getting out in 10 or 15 years. He was 20 when sentenced and will be 65 when released.

[the OlLine Rebel]

Black on black. This will not be widely reported. Not news-worthy.

[the OlLine Rebel]

And he does not really discuss how actual police discovered they were not DEA.

It’s not a real news article though. Closer to a blog.

[the OlLine Rebel]

Uhmmmm...non-sequitur?

[Boogieman]

Keeps you from having to sit and do this all day:

[logi_cal869]

This is the same guy (Weingarten) who posted that “2A empathy” crap article the other day, missing that that author’s whole point was to manipulate the public against 2A supporters.

Not very impressed with Weingarten...

[Mears]

““Police officers have been killed when they have attempted to serve warrants without sufficient notice-——”

-

Just curious,I know nothing about serving warrants-——what would be considered sufficient notice?

A call?

Again,I have no agenda here I just wasn’t aware that notice had to be given in advance.

[equaviator]

I’d rather do that.

[60Gunner]

This illustrates a growing problem of criminals impersonating law enforcement officers to gain an advantage over their victims.

How is this behavior any different from what the BLM did at Bunkerville? Or what ATF and the FBI did at Ruby Ridge, Waco, or Oregon?

How is this behavior any different from that of the agents who took Elian Gonzalez?

Our federal "law enforcement" agencies act like this anyway. It's perfect cover for criminals who see the "real" agents getting away with it and want in on the action.

[Bonemaker]

Not a lawyer but I think they can get no-knock entry authority under certain circumstances...that’s where the problems usually occur. But normally they should knock, announce their office and present the warrant. Y

[Mears]

Thank you——I was unaware of the “no knock” warrant.

.

[marktwain]

Sufficient notice is a knock on the door and sufficient time for a person to respond.

The courts have not defined what sufficent time would be.

[Eagles6]

Very common here in SW PA especially if someone has dogs.

That said, Aliquippa has gone downhill since Joe Namath left.

[Bodega]

It strikes me as being kind of odd that the house and yard are fenced in.
*********************
You own dogs? SMall children? Neighbor’s dogs are a nuisance? Aggressive other children? I have fenced my house and yard in under those circumstances.

[equaviator]

Nosy neighbors and dogs who don’t mind their owners letting them do their business on anyone’s lawn but their own.

[Big Red Badger]

You brought up the
Real problems.