Posted on 11/22/2006 8:16:37 PM PST by AdamSelene235
ATLANTA -- Three Atlanta police officers were shot and wounded and an elderly woman killed at a house in northwest Atlanta Tuesday night.
The woman, identified by relatives as 92-year old Kathryn Johnston, opened fire on the officers from the narcotics division at a house at 933 Neal Street, according to officials.
Atlanta Police Asst. Chief Alan Dreher said at a news conference Wednesday that an undercover officer made a drug purchase at Johnston’s address late Tuesday afternoon from a male suspect. Officers were able to obtain a search warrant after that.
Asst. Chief Dreher said as they were executing the search warrant, the officers announced themselves and then forced open the door. Officials say the warrant was a “No Knock” warrant – meaning that the officers did not knock before forcing open the door, but they did announce themselves.
Dreher said as soon as the officers forced open the door, Johnston shot at the officers and the officers returned fire to protect themselves. One officer was shot 3 times – once in the leg, on the side of the face and once in his bulletproof vest. One officer was hit in the leg and another hit in their arm. All officers are on paid administrative leave pending an investigation – as is common.
Officials say they have not made any arrests in the case and they have not located the male suspect. Dreher said suspected narcotics were recovered from the home but they are awaiting lab results to confirm the items are drugs.
Dreher said a marked patrol vehicle was parked in front of the residence and the word “Police” was written across the front and back of the narcotics team’s vests. He also said only a matter of minutes passed between when officers arrived on the scene and when they forced open the door.
Asst. Chief Dreher referred to the incident as a, “tragic and unfortunate incident.”
The woman's niece, Sarah Dozier, says that she bought her aunt a gun to protect herself. Relatives believe Johnston was frightened by the officers and opened fire.
Her relatives say Johnston had lived in the house for about 17 years.
"They kicked her door down talking about drugs, there's no drugs in that house. And they realize now, they've got the wrong house," Dozier said. "I'm mad as hell." Officials say they had the correct house and that the warrant they had was legal.
She says the officers "shot her down like a dog."
Police say the investigation is continuing.
In a way I hope you are right because if not an innocent old lady was killed senselessly. In a few weeks she may be on this victim list though. I would have rather seen 3 LE not shot and her taken to jail if she was dealing.
Are you serious or seriously demented?
It's comments and attitudes like that which resulted in police being refered to as Pigs and while I don't adhere to that slur, whether your one or not, the moniker certainly fits you.
Whatever happened to *Innocent until proven guilty*?
This poor old lady is being vilified and has no chance to defend herself...anymore.
Oh, ok. I'm going to be surprised if something was going on there though. It's not that elderly don't do stuff like this but I would have thought we would have heard something about a relative living there or something.<<<<<<<<<<
I went to a house once where 88 year old Grandma was forced to spend most of her time in her bedroom. Her thug great grandson was a Crip who was using her house to sell drugs/guns. That particular granny couldn't have shot very well as she had bad eyesight, and she honestly had no clue what went on in her home. Thankfully, she was oblivious when the thug was taken into custody, and was shocked later to find out what had been going on.
She quite proudly advised me that "Melvin has lots of business meetings here with other young men from the community. He's very smart, and lots of people come by her to talk to him, all day and all evening". It was a pleasure to interrupt Melvin's business meetings at that location, permanently. The other relatives claimed they had no idea that Granny was a virtual prisoner in her home or that Melvin was dealing out of that house. You've got to wonder who all was asleep at the switch in these situations.
Not by me.
The police have a tough job in the war on drugs. To prove their case, they must collect evidence. If they knock and politely wait until the occupant reads the warrant, asks questions, and then finally complies to a search the drugs are flushed down the toilet. In the sixties and seventies, the tactics soon evolved where police made their obligatory statement of intent, then they battered the door down, and rushed to seize the evidence before it was flushed. On occasion they are greeted by occupants shooting at them. It's not an easy job. It seems she was more intent on using deadly force than the cops.
How about this strategy? Cop goes up to door, knocks, and asks to speak to occupant. If occupant is willing to talk, cop tells occupant about nearby crimes in the neighborhood, gives his card, and asks occupant to call if he sees anything. If occupant is unwilling to talk at the time, cop says, "No problem--I'll come back later". If there's a drug dealer inside who flushes all his drugs, well the cop just destroyed thousands of dollars worth of drugs without endangering anyone. Plus if the cop repeats this gambit one or two more times, any drug dealer is going to be loath to destroy his inventory over a false alarm. So at that point, the cop can serve a search warrant having thoroughly established his bonafides and convinced the crooks not to flush the evidence.
Yall didn't take her house, did you?
Or shut off the sewer:')
Since 1990 tobacco use has dropped 50%. Tobacco, specifically nicotine is highly addictive. How was the decrease accomplished? Education.
Exposing the WOD Hoax -- WOP (War On People)
The New LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) Promotional video:
"End Prohibition Now"
"Anyone concerned about the failure of our $69 billion-a-year War on Drugs should watch this 12-minute program. You will meet front line, ranking police officers who give us a devastating report on why it cannot work. It is a must-see for any journalist or public official dealing with this issue." -- Walter Cronkite LEAP"In four years we went from five founding police officers to a membership of over 5,000. We are no longer just police. Now LEAP is made up of police, parole, probation and corrections officers, judges, and prosecutors. We even have prison wardens, FBI and DEA agents who help make up our bureau of over 100 speakers. LEAP has members and supporters across the United States and in fifty-six other countries, which is fitting since U.S. drug policy has ramifications that affect the entire world.
"LEAP presents to civic, professional, educational, and religious organizations, as well as at public forums, but we target civic groups; Chambers of Commerce, Rotaries, Lions and Kiwanis Clubs, etc. The people in these organizations are conservative folks who mostly agree with the drug-warriors that we must continue the war on drugs at any cost. They are also very solid members of their communities; people who belong to civic organizations because they want the best for their locales. Every one of them will be voting in every election. Many are policy-makers and if they are not, they are the people who can pull the coat tails of policy-makers and say, "We have someone you must hear talk about drug policy."
"After making more than two-thousand presentations where LEAP calls for the government to "end prohibition and legalize all drugs--legalize them so we can control and regulate them and keep them out of the hands of our children," we have discovered that the vast majority of participants in those audiences agree with us. Even more amazing is that we are now attending national and international law-enforcement conventions where we keep track of all those we speak with at our exhibit booth. After we talk with them, only 6% want to continue the war on drugs, 14% are undecided, and an astounding 80% agree with LEAP that we must end drug prohibition. The most interesting thing about this statistic is that only a small number of that 80% realized any others in law enforcement felt the same.
"This also holds true for policymakers. In August 2005, five LEAP speakers staffed an educational booth at the National Conference for State Legislators in Seattle, Washington. We spoke with 450 of the 5,000 attendees on a one-on-one basis and 86% of them agreed that we should legalize drugs--only 4% wanted to continue the war and the other 10% were undecided. If we can show these legislators that they won't lose one more vote than they will gain by backing drug policy reform, they will end drug prohibition.
"The way to do that is to show them LEAP has a huge membership. By November 2008, we want to be able to say we have ten thousand members of law enforcement calling for an end to drug prohibition and a MILLION private citizens who agree this is the correct policy." -- About LEAP - Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
Point taken. I'm getting from the article that the cops had already made a purchase from this house and although they inconsiderately broke the door down, the woman started firing first.
How about automatic time for anyone that uses. You test positive and its 3 months in jail the first time. No exceptions. Keep extending it until the druggies off the street and the recreational users shape up. You wouldn't have any dope dealers then. There would be little interest in their product. Just my dopey Libertarian Opinion:')
The 1960's college communists didn't start calling the police pigs because of anything I said. They did that because they didn't like the idea that Orwell put the pig label on them in Animal Farm. It's just a cheap name calling trick, a tactic used mostly by communists in my experience.
Tonight the police said the guy who sold the drugs to the undercover officer was named Sam. There is a search out for Sam.
Uh huh. She doesn't seem to have had any relatives besides her neice. Maybe a boyfriend (rolling eyes)
Or....forget about the war on drugs and let people over 18 make their own decisions but have severe jail time for even 1st time offenders that put others in harms way, including diving while drunk. Night yall (chuckling)
Yall didn't take her house, did you?
<<<<<<<<
No, believe it or not the horrible jack booted raiders took up a collection for her, hooked her up with agencies who helped her and provided services to her, and continued to stop by and check on her long after she had somebody decent living with her. I believe groceries mysteriously appeared on her porch, as well. It never crossed anyone's mind to go after her property.
Taking property is not that easy or done nearly as often as the horror stories claim, at least not during the time I experienced. I had a case in 1992 which should have been an easy forfeiture of drug/gang proceeds found during a search, easily attributed to the arrestee. The guy went to federal prison LWOP and the paperwork went on for literally several years with no resolution or distribution to the agencies involved.
Nope!Too many mouths to feed!!
Unfortunately, many who call themselves Libertarians use drugs. They would have a problem with your suggestion, I think.
Night, kiddo. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. :)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.