Posted on 03/22/2006 4:42:00 AM PST by fanfan
THE OTTAWA Police Firearms Task Force yesterday swooped down on a Navan Rd. homeowner suspected of having a cache of illegal weapons, shot him and his dog with a Taser and left without finding any weapons.
Yvon Richer says he was returning from an early-morning snowmobile ride on his 50-acre property in the city's southeast end at around 9:15 a.m. when a vehicle pulled into the driveway and a voice behind him screamed, "Get on the ground!"
He looked back at a police officer with his weapon drawn and as many as 40 others, some of them in tactical gear, lining the street.
'RELIABLE TIP'
They blocked off Navan Rd. between Mer Bleu and Renaud roads after receiving a "reliable tip" that the 60-year-old electrician, father and grandfather had a cache of weapons, and possibly dynamite stored in his 125-year-old farmhouse.
Richer was fumbling in his thick snowmobiling jacket for his keys to open the door when he was struck by a Taser dart. Shot twice, he has four puncture wounds and numerous bloody scratches to his face.
As the high-voltage charge zapped through his body, he was forced onto his belly on the wet gravel driveway. He felt a knee in his back and a foot on his head holding him down as a third officer cuffed him and emptied his pockets.
Two officers dragged him to the edge of the road where he was forced to his knees and told to rest his head on the bumper of a vehicle.
"I felt like crying. I was raised with the people around here," he said, of the spectacle which was witnessed by neighbours he's known for years. "Who has the power to do that?"
At one point, Richer said he was asked if he had dynamite or guns and whether his brother or neighbours had weapons. Paramedics removed two of the darts -- the others had been removed by police -- and offered to transport Richer, who was complaining of numbness in the arms, to hospital.
The rundown home which he calls "his shack" has been in the family for three generations but is being sold to corporate interests which plan to tear it down.
Inside is evidence of a police search. The cupboard doors have been removed, the couch cushions are flipped over and he admits his marijuana plants are gone.
ORDEAL ENDED ABRUPTLY
Richer said the entire ordeal ended as abruptly as it began.
"Nobody said anything. They dropped me off and they were gone," he said.
It wasn't until later in the day that he even realized his 12-year-old German shepherd, Sheba, had also been tasered.
According to police the dog had "converged" on the officers. Staff Sgt. Mike Laviolette said officers fired on the man when he failed to comply with their instructions.
"He didn't come at them or anything but he didn't do what he was supposed to do which was he was trying to get back in the house," said Laviolette. He said the Taser "wasn't even a direct hit" as Richer "was wearing clothing and it didn't immobilize him completely."
Laviolette said a warrant was obtained by the task force, set up in early January to oversee the gun amnesty program and the Gun Crime Stoppers hotline.
He wouldn't say whether police were also looking for dynamite but noted a quantity of drugs was found on scene. Police continue to investigate and it's not clear whether any drug-related charges will be laid.
Richer said he's exploring legal action against the police.
bingo
The criminals have hacked into the gun registry, and target gun owners for break ins.
This guy didn't have guns. Sounds more like a neighbor or ex-friend called crime stoppers to make a false report.
It could happen to any of us up here.
Just because they have not been found does not make the information wrong or a lie. Obviously you have not heard about Iraqi general Georges Sada saying that they hauled them out to Syria, by planes and trucks, prior to our invasion.
GWB was not the only one that had the "reliable tip", Chirac warned that if we invaded that Saddam would use his WMDs. The British had the same information. Also, there were the Migs that were hidden under sand that were modified to distribute WMDs in spray form.
Agreed.
However, it is also pretty obvious that GWB made a serious tactical error in making the threat of WMDs the most prominent reason given for invading. This was done because it was an easier sell politically. However, when WMDs weren't found, this left him looking like the invasion wasn't justified.
Decisions made for political reasons often turn out to be political mistakes.
Clear JBT action here. In San Jose at least we were originally told that Tasers were the great new weapon and philosophy, to be used as a replacement for the gun when an officer is in a shoot-to-kill situation.
It was about a month before we started hearing stories like this one -- first thing they do on the scene of an investigation / warrant / crime in progress is start shooting that Taser like a kid with a squirt gun.
There is NFW they needed a 40-man SWAT team to get a guy out of his house, and there's NFW they needed to Taser him within seconds of his arrival on the scene.
Agreed.
What information would that be?
An anonymous call to a tip line?
I would sue their pants off as well. BUT, I would have followed their directions to the letter and I would have laughed my butt off when they started asking about dynamite and illegal guns.....providing of course that I knew neither existed.
When you resist police you make their tough job harder and give them latitude for antics like this.
When you follow all directions they give and then they find nothing I am all for owning them to the tune of $$$$$ and even jail for offending parties involved in the raid.
If people do not follow orders given by police then you do so at your own risk.
Cops have a really hard job, I offer it is better to help them than it is to oppose them. When you cooperate and help them, and then find out they did wrong.....NAIL EM!
You'll note that I did NOT say, "Given the way they received the information, I thought they acted appropriately.
Learn to read.
Who has a better chance of a successful, and more fruitful, civil lawsuit -- this guy or you?
True, but even if we found some, or all, it could still be considered a political reason as the impotent, useless UN would not abide by their own rulings. People would still have complained that we did it without the UN, without trying to expend all political options, we were lucky that they did not use them on us and that had we had UN backing they would not have. There would most likely be other BS reasons to make it political.
Learn to read.
The article said the Police acted after receiving a "reliable tip". Note the quotations.
You said Given the information they had,
Learn to be less rude.
I had a friend who lived in an apartment complex the warrant for a drug investigation was for number 203. They hit number 302. They shoot the resident with a taser and cuffed the family then found out they hit the wrong number.
"Who has the power to do that?"
Any asshat with a gun and badge. Lucky thing he wasn't in Denver, he'd be dead.
" For some reason cops dont like to wear thier uniforms so they can be recognised they like to play wannabee soldiers and Ninja's"
It's the "in" thing all across this great land. You never know when you need to go tactical at a moments notice. We've even got the Mall Ninjas wearing them hear. Tac pants and a Smokey-the-Bear hat. I see these lard-butt Sheriff's deputies out in the sticks wearing BDU's with their bellies hanging over their belts. They're mostly really nice guys but it just looks stupid.
"How does a single entity converge on ANYTHING?"
Remember the BLOB?
"There is NFW they needed a 40-man SWAT team to get a guy out of his house, and there's NFW they needed to Taser him within seconds of his arrival on the scene."
If you gots the SWAT team you gots to use it. We had a 65 year old woman here that shot at our local SWAT ninjas from her house with a .22. The woman was mentally disturbed but they just couldn't give her a little time to calm down. They shot her dead with a 12 ga. and an AR-15. Good work Ninja boys and girls.
Ping
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