Look at those glasses. Plus, at 92 who knows how good her hearing was. Just terrible.
Posted on 11/27/2006 4:15:07 PM PST by FreedomCalls
The confidential informant on whose word Atlanta police raided the house of an 88-year-old woman is now saying he never purchased drugs from her house and was told by police to lie and say he did.
Chief Richard Pennington, in a press conference Monday evening, said his department learned two days ago that the informant — who has been used reliably in the past by the narcotics unit -- denied providing information to officers about a drug deal at 933 Neal Street in northwest Atlanta.
"The informant said he had no knowledge of going into that house and purchasing drugs," Pennington said. "We don't know if he's telling the truth."
The search warrant used by Atlanta police to raid the house says that a confidential informant had bought crack cocaine at the residence, using $50 in city funds, several hours before the raid.
In the document, officers said that the informant told them the house had surveillance cameras that the suspected drug dealer, called "Sam," monitored.
Pennington on Monday evening said the informant told the Internal Affairs Unit hat he did not tell officers that the house had surveillance equipment, and that he was asked to lie.
The Chief still maintained that "Sam," the alleged drug dealer, "actually exists."
Pennington was joined at the press conference by representatives from various law enforcement agencies who are now looking into the shooting.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has also been called in to investigate.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation, at the request of the Fulton County District Attorney's Office, is also looking into the incident, including examining the home to determine how many gunshots were fired in the confrontation.
Kathryn Johnston was killed Tuesday night when she fired at officers seeking to serve a warrant. They had broken down the front door and exchanged gunfire with Johnston.
Police later claimed a man named "Sam" had sold drugs from inside the house to an informant, prompting the officers to seek a "no-knock" warrant. Such warrants are frequently issued so police can get inside a home before suspects can destroy or flush drugs.
Johnston --- described by neighbors and family as a frightened woman who had burglar bars on her windows and door and rarely let friends and neighbors into her home --- had lived at the one-story brick home near the Georgia Dome for 17 years.
The police chief said officers found marijuana inside the house but "not a large quantity." The officers were not wearing uniforms but had on bulletproof vests with "Police" emblazoned across the front and back. And they identified themselves as they burst through the doors, police said.
Johnston grabbed a rusty six-shot revolver and emptied it. Five shots struck the officers, hitting one of them three times. The other two were each hit once. The officers returned fire, shooting Johnston twice in the chest and elsewhere, police have said.
The three officers were released from the hospital the next day. They are on leave with pay.
Funeral plans for Johnston have not been made.
This action had a stink about it from the first, and it's rapidly turning to a stench. We'll see if any more "evidence" evaporates as the "investigation" continues.
Guess the consitutional notion of 'probable cause' has been shredded these days - along with so much else in the late document.
You didn't know because the police have changed their story.
Libertarian ping! To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.
Kent: Kent Brockman here for a follow-up with Springfield's favorite hard-luck family, the Simpsons. Folks, any words for the Christmas thief if he's watching?
Homer: Eh, yes… Kent. Uh, hello… jerk. We may never find you, and we should probably all stop looking. But one thing's for sure… you do exist.
Kent: Strong words, strong bewildering words.
I bet her hit to miss ratio for shots fired beat the hell out of theirs hehe.
Exactly what crossed my mind..
It's never going to get any better. Most conservatives in power don't have the courage to admit the WOD is a failure and most leftists are eager to expand the WOD to include a war against people who use tobacco, sugar, vitamin supplements, etc.
well said.
No doubt.
One fact lacking from all the reports I've read, is how many shots they fired. It just says they hit her twice in the chest "and elsewhere".
I have a feeling she went out like Butch and Sundance.
When judges, and their larval form - lawyers, are allowed to decide what the law is, and what the extent of rights are, then it's all about precedent.
The WOD provides an avalanche of bad precedents.
Her family lied. She was only 88. Listen to both sides of the story.
Ha ha ha.
Oh well...
FMCDH(BITS)
The fact that her family was wrong (I have no proof either way they lied) is only a side note. Not a huge difference between 88 and 92. It's quite possible she'd been telling people the wrong age for years.
This is the third thread I've seen on this the last couple days. I hadn't realized until now that it was an informant, not an undercover policeman, who is alleged to have bought drugs at that address. Big difference.
Let me get this straight. An undercover cop is to be trusted but a citizen informant is not to be trusted. Why would you trust a cop since they rely on citizen informants that aren't to be trusted. You got some irrational circular "logic" thing going on there.
If someone comes busting into our home, we are to wait and see if they are cops.
I am beginning to think she wasn't that good a shot, the cops pulled a "Lubbock SWAT" screwup.
Drugs screwup the thinking of cops and DAs as much as they do the druggies.
How stare decisis Subverts the Law:
...It is difficult to estimate how many unconstitutional legislative provisions are adopted each year by Congress, but a plausible number is more than 20,000, or about as many as the number of bills introduced each year. There is simply no way that the federal courts can handle all the cases that might arise under that many provisions. They are almost forced to rely on the presumption of constitutionality of statutes, but members of Congress are increasingly reluctant to restrain themselves from adopting legislation they know to be unconstitutional, but which is supported by some of their constituents, and passing the duty to the federal courts of striking legislation that should never have been passed in the first place.
they identified themselves as they burst through the doors, police saidIf someone comes busting into our home, we are to wait and see if they are cops.
Impersonating SWAT is increasingly being used to break into homes.
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