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.

[sit-rep]

I must come to some of your broad brush coverage defense. A lot are saying the wrong thing, not intentionally. Lets look at it from this perspective. An LEO should be a professional should they not? Then why ten rounds? Why not just one. Two max. Okay, I'll even give you the old "one to the head, two for the chest" dialog. But that's it. There was a yahoo in the dynamic entry team, plain and simple. This is where the argument is. The fact that he had about 300 bucks worht of pot is not the issue. The fact that he may have brandished a weapon I must raise a skeptical brow....Ten rounsd man??

[jonascord]

I'll type slow so you can catch up. I'm asking about the dog that didn't bark. That there are absolutely ZERO "unjustified" LEO involved shootings within the last, say, ten years defies belief. You don 't suppose it's because the Blue Wall protects it's own, regardless of guilt, do you?

With as many knuckle-dragging thugs in blue as I've known, none have EVER shot some one they shouldn't have? And you are puzzled as to why no one trusts you? If just once a department would throw a dumb-as-a-post screwup to the wolves because he thought he was God with a Gun and blew away some hapless stoner, the rest of the world might not treat your kind as dangerous armed retards with a self annointed licence to kill.

[Know your rights]

4th hit on the page: "A videotape shows members of an elite Newark police task force planting a gun on a suspect and illegally seizing his car" - http://www.hypocrites.com/article7706.html

[7thOF7th]

I submit that the know facts of this case do not bear your premise out. Using the term execution is false and unsupported by the current facts. If the Police have lied it must be established not implied. What is know is: a legal search was conducted under the authority of a warrant, an occupant in the house attempted to use a gun on the officers and he was shot a number of times. These are the facts as we know them and until evidence is shown which indicates these facts are inaccurate, or untrue, they are what they are! What was done unlawfully? What facts establish your accusations? This whole event was textbook.

[Know your rights]

I draw the limit at alcohol. Why make anymore bad stuff legal?

Why not make more bad stuff illegal? By your logic, only good could come of banning alcohol.

(See if you can respond without the cat pictures.)

[Know your rights]

[A No-Knock Warrant] doesn't give you any time to hide or dispose of evidence.

Hidden evidence can be uncovered (pretty easily in the case of drugs, by a trained dog) ... and disposed-of drug evidence is no longer available for sale ... so why is preventing these things worth the risk to innocents posed by no-knock raids?

[7thOF7th]

Don't let your fingers get ahead of your brain! You conspiracy theory people never cease to amuse me. Sure there have been "bad cops" in the ranks and there have been prosecutions to that effect. The point is that people like you use this as the norm verses the exception. Thousands of law abiding persons perform the much maligned duties of protecting you and yours day in day out! If one chooses to generalize everything into acceptable packages for their own agenda and rational, how will real truth be found. Open your mind til it hurts and realize "Good is Good and Bad is Bad"!

[G32]

[Antonello]

So now the guy goes from suspected petty weed dealer to hostage taker all because of a Concealed Carry Permit. Riiiight.

No, he would become a potential hostage taker by virtue of allowing the situation to expand to a public area. You are advocating placing the public at unnecessary risk because you seem to think suspected criminals should be allowed to enjoy a safe haven by designating their homes as out of the jurisdiction of arrest warrants.

Additionally, your method relies on a lot of hope that the suspect will behave in a predicted manner. What that fails to consider is that while the cops are waiting outside for him to decide to go buy those smokes, he might notice the stakeout. Or visitors might come by, see the cops, and tip him off. Or he might just stay inside all day, tying up the agents for an indefinite amount of time.

The point is, they had him in a situation where potential risk to innocents was minimized, they knew where he was, and had control over the timeline. From that point on, waiting only introduces unpredictable complications.

But I suspect you really don't care about any of that. More likely you are simply using this incident as an excuse to rail about perceived oppression by what you consider a totalitarian agency.

[Antonello]

...A videotape shows members of an elite Newark police task force planting a gun...

So this raid in Sunrise was carried out by an elite Newark police task force? Isn't that a little out of their jurisdiction?

Or did you mistakenly think I was engaging in debate beyond the incident this thread is about?

[BADROTOFINGER]

It's clearly time for the war on some drugs to go, and for marijuana and anything else like it to be legalized on the same basis as booze is.

You just kinda swerved into something that I have been saying for years. It took a constitutional amendment to outlaw booze. Why isnt an amendment required to ban pot? No one ever asks that question...JFK

[eastforker]

"The point is, they had him in a situation where potential risk to innocents was minimized, they knew where he was, and had control over the timeline"Thats what it is all about right, control?At most he was a mini pot dealer, really needed killin didn't he!

[jonascord]

I'm asking for cites on THREE murder or manslaughter prosecutions in the last ten years, brought by a department against an officer, where the department was NOT in CYA mode, and the perp did not walk. I would be less inclined to sneer and wave the tinfoil flag if I had proof to the contrary.

[Doe Eyes]

No, he would become a potential hostage taker by virtue of allowing the situation to expand to a public area. You are advocating placing the public at unnecessary risk because you seem to think suspected criminals should be allowed to enjoy a safe haven by designating their homes as out of the jurisdiction of arrest warrants.

Soon, these discussions will be about illegal tobacco smokers.

I look forward to the discussions.

[tacticalogic]

really needed killin didn't he!

Apparently the fact that he's dead makes that self-evident. The only thing left is to seize his property, arrest his mother as an accessory and put her in jail so the rest of the town's residents can pay to take care of her. It'll serve them right for not killing him sooner.

[Sandy]

2 oz of pot is a bit much for personal consumption.

Hardly. When I was a smoker I regularly bought a quarter lb at a time. It was cheaper that way.

[Sandy]

No way in hell does somebody pull a gun over 2 ounces of weed, unless he's scared for his life. Any money it's a drop gun. Just wait, we'll soon be hearing that the gun either had no serial number or had been used in some crime.

[eastforker]

Your statement has a bazaar ring of reality in it. It seems like when some one higher up in LE makes a certain determination about a citizen he is from there foreward doomed, like he is branded, doomed for destruction.

[muir_redwoods]

"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."

Well, there's two ounces of demon-weed that won't be causing death, addiction, destruction and...

Oh, wait...

[microgood]

This whole event was textbook.

Really?

The police said they announced themselves. Several neighbors say they did not. The fact that the guy committed suicide by cop for two ounces of pot also stinks to high heaven and would lead me to believe the neighbors were right and the cops did not announce themselves.

If the cops lied about the break-in what else did they lie about?

The guy had 10 bullets in him. Are these cops blind or just stupid?

If this is textbook I would hate to see it when it goes bad.