Man killed by Sunrise police in drug raid had 2 ounces of marijuana

http://www.newsday.com/ ^ | August 10, 2005 | Brian Haas & Kevin Smith

[freepatriot32]

SUNRISE -- Police seized 2 ounces of marijuana at the home of Anthony Diotaiuto after shooting him 10 times, according to information on the drug raid released Tuesday.

Also Tuesday, while many friends and relatives of the 23-year-old bartender and student mourned him at a Davie funeral home, others appeared at a Sunrise City Commission meeting to demand an explanation for the fatal raid

"Do 2 ounces of marijuana constitute a death warrant?" asked Sunrise resident William de Larm, a friend of Diotaiuto's.

[7thOF7th]

Why don't you check the CCW permits in the State, I would imagine this is why the police used the rapid-knock warrant.

[Buzwardo]

Simple reasons for simple minds.

Uhm, and this means what in the current context? Don't like the response so you get out the pejorative frame?

This guy was a dealer in possession of a firearm. I suppose we are supposed to expose ourselves and rely on the honor of criminals eh?

No, a felony stop on the way to work would have sufficed. Could use your logic to justify tasering jaywalkers.

Do you understand what context means?

Yep. Do you understand there are options other than kicking down a pot suspects door at oh-dark-thirty and pumping him full of bullets. Think if the guy was grabbing a phone instead of a gun it'll say so in any report?

[G32]

The cops should be given an award for taking a drug user/dealer off the streets. Sorry if you don't like it, but that's how it should be. I hope the city never has to pay a DIME.

[freepatriot32]

But the police DO NOT carry drop guns, you have seen way too many movies

http://www.google.com/search?q=planted+gun&btnG=Search&hs=WQe&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&client=opera&rls=en

[longtermmemmory]

I guess it depends on the amount of time it takes to pick up and point a gun.

The autopsy will confirm if there was any pot in his system.

So far the only thing which is not disputed is that he did have 2 oz. of pot, he did run from room A to room B, and there was a gun in room B.

What is in dispute is whether he actually had the gun in his hand or was only reaching for it.

[TKDietz]

"Alcohol can at least be used moderately without the risks."

So can pot. You talk about it as if it were meth or something. I know lots of people who smoke pot and not really any who have "wrecked their lives" with it. I suppose some probably would have accomplished more if they didn't waste their lives away being stoned all the time, but the people I've seen really wreck their lives with substance abuse have been alcoholics or hard drug addicts. Probably the one of the biggest if not the biggest biggest "life wrecking" risks of using marijuana is the life wrecking that can come along with being arrested for it. Plenty of people use marijuana in moderation though and live fine, productive lives. I bet you know plenty of people like that yourself but you just don't know that they enjoy a little marijuana in private from time to time. I suspect most of these people you claim to know who have wrecked their lives with marijuana were doing a heck of a lot more than just smoking pot.

[Sir Gawain]

You made the assertion. I'm awaiting your evidence. Speculation and opinion don't count.

[eastforker]

We are all crimminals to some degree, with all the laws on the books we all break laws from time to time. Does your being an LEO exempt you from the same treatment this guy got?Take your blue wall and shove it where the sun doesn't shine. Just cuz you have a badge and can flash it to avoid the hassles the rest of us have to put up with does not make you any better.

[tumblindice]

Calm down, girls: you're all pretty.
2nd that emotion, Vring! And reminds me that I need to get that Laser-lyte from the Guide I've been coveting.
I don't do it now, but if cops mistake my home for a pot-smoker's home, I'm going to defend myself.

Here's a classic example of prohibitionist circular reasoning:
Marijuana should remain illegal.
Why?
Because it's a bad thing.
Why is it a bad thing?
Because it's illegal.

http://www.crimelibrary.com/ness/nessmain.htm

[thoughtomator]

That attitude belongs in a war zone, not in a civilian police officer's uniform. In the USA we have a presumption of innocence until convicted by a jury of one's peers. Obviously your presumption is precisely the opposite. You don't belong in a police uniform, and I'm ambivalent over whether you even belong in this country.

[7thOF7th]

The policy would be to make the arrest when and where it posses the least risk to the public. That means a public confrontation is not an option. The action was the correct course.

[longtermmemmory]

Does anyone have anything that contradicts he did sell to an undercover narcotics officer?

[microgood]

The cops should be given an award for taking a drug user/dealer off the streets.

They should never be allowed to touch a gun again.

Sorry if you don't like it, but that's how it should be.

Those idiots better hope they never do this to a member of my family.

I hope the city never has to pay a DIME.

They will be lucky to get out of this for under 10 million.

[7thOF7th]

I understand the presumption of innocence but we are not talking about a trial we are talking about apprehending a suspect in known possession of a weapon. All precautions are relevant here.

[Nov3]

2 ounces is a LOT of pot. A dealable quantity, even if he didn't have his baggies and scale out.

Get a clue before you try to talk on a subject. You are embarrassing yourself. Two ounces of pot isn't anything.

[darkangel82]

But hey, for 2 ounces the penalty is death? I guess you are far more conservative than I.

That's not conservative, that's fascist.

[G32]

It's a felony in most places.

[dennisw]

I doubt he ever pointed a gun at the police. Go see the 3 minute video from local TV station at the beginning of this thread

[calex59]

Man was not a felon. He had been convicted of nothing. Innocent until proved guilty still holds, and yes there is a lot of comparison between the way some of our police departments act and Nazi Germany. Ruby Ridge springs to mind and Waco, both were actions of a government out of control.

No knock warrants are also actions of a government that has lost sight of our Constitution and the rights of Americans every where. To repeat, this man WAS NOT a felon, he did not deserve to get shot over a bag of dried weeds. If you think so you had better go back to school and study the constitution again.

[thoughtomator]

Do you also approve of the method used to deal with the Branch Davidians?

The use of a SWAT team, and an early-morning forced entry into a civilian's home, in a case where a person is not even suspected of a violent crime is completely out of proportion and cannot be justified. The actions of the police officers did far more damage than taking no action at all would have - there was no violence at all except for the police violence.

Murder charges are appropriate.