Posted on 11/21/2007 7:28:37 AM PST by TSgt
LAWRENCEBURG, Ind. -- A SWAT team raids the wrong home in Lawrenceburg, Ind., now the homeowner wants some answers.
Police said they were led to the Village Apartments on the trail of fugitive Sean Deaton.
Convinced he was inside apartment 407G, the Lawrenceburg SWAT unit surrounded the building.
"It looked like they were ready to go to war," one neighbor said. "Some of the ones out here had AR15's and shotguns."
Neighbors said police spent hours, ordering Deaton to surrender. But when that didn't work, they responded with tear gas and forced entry.
"It looked like my apartment was on fire. The smoke was just blowing out of my windows," Kayla Irwin, the tenant of 407G said.
Irwin, a single mother of two, said she is unable to live in her apartment and didnt even know the man police were searching for.
Now, she said, she has been left with the mess and no apology.
"It's all covered with poison. I don't know where to start over with two kids," said Irwin. "How do you start with replacing the items that your kids have had since the day they were born?"
She said one of her pet guinea pigs was also killed during the incident.
Neighbors said the police action was simply overkill.
"Overpowered. In my opinion it looked like they were enjoying what they were doing. They did not need to do all this," Emanuel Brightwell, an Iraq veteran and neighbor said.
Irwin said she appealed to the police, but hasnt gotten anywhere.
"They basically just said, sorry for the inconvenience. Go ahead and clean it up. Clean up our mess," Irwin said.
She said she's had to borrow everything from family in the week since the incident. She also said she can't stay in the apartment because of the acrid gas residue.
An assistant chief and another officer were at the Village Apartments talking to Irwin within 30 minutes of Target 5 asking them about the incident, telling her that they would try to get some money so she could clean her clothes and furnishing on her own.
"This is the first time this has happened. I'm surprised the incident has not been remedied. We will take care of it the best we can," the assistant chief said.
Until the incident is remedied, the manager of the apartment complex said he has put Irwin, her kids and her pets in another apartment.
I mean, just look at the overkill in these cases where nothing is found, or so little is found they can’t bring charges.
SWAT needs to go after the KNOWN gang hideouts. The KNOWN drug houses. The KNOWN criminal hangouts. It is well known where these places are in the police community in any city. Instead they go after the wrong people, or they get the right person and get a teeny bag of something that they can’t charge anyone with.
From the article:
She said one of her pet guinea pigs was also killed during the incident.
Neighbors said the police action was simply overkill.
“Overpowered. In my opinion it looked like they were enjoying what they were doing. They did not need to do all this,” Emanuel Brightwell, an Iraq veteran and neighbor said.
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How can it be overkill when NO dog was shot? NO dog - not one!
A guinea pig hardly counts.
These brave SWAT teams need the exercise, so give them a break!
It should be noted by everyone in the US that no police department, no law enforcement organization has any duty to protect you, the individual, against criminals, unless a “special relationship” exists - eg, you’re under arrest.
Failure to protect you, the individual, from criminal predation, even when the police have explicitly told you that they are “on their way” results in no liability upon any law enforcement organization for their failure and your loss/death/etc.
This has been upheld in numerous court cases at the state, appeals, state supreme court, US court and US court of appeals level all over the country.
One of the most blatant court cases to illustrate just how useless law enforcement is from the perspective of the individual citizen in trouble is Warren v. District of Columbia.
The courts have held the position that the police discharge a duty to the public at large, not individuals.
they were looking for a fugitive under exigent circumstances if i am reading the story right. mistakes are more likely, but the risk is usually worth the reward with proper due diligence. guys like this need to be apprehended.
I wouldn’t either, but since they haven’t already thrown me to the ground, you can bet I would be doing anything I could to prevent something bad from happening.
I am not saying there is any great way out of this kind of situation. But it seems to me if they are talking and not breaking in, they may also listen. Not saying they will, but if you’re saying that SWAT officers are too hyped up to listen and take in information from citizens while doing their job, then we can’t have SWAT officers anymore.
And the way they are being used today, I wouldn’t be against getting rid of them.
You’re exactly correct, and my term of art is not an accident.
The court cases I’ve read lead me to the position that you have stated: the police have a duty, as seen by the courts, to enforce laws, not to “keep the peace” and certainly not to protect individual citizens from the predations of criminals.
I’m merely repeating the position that the courts have held.
the chief said it would be taken care of and i’m willing to give them a little time to do it. i have learned the media sensationalizes this kind of story without giving the other side.
A few states still have High Sheriffs, in the old English tradition, who is the chief law enforcement officer of the state and is over the county sheriffs. Modern police forces are mainly an extension of the old constable and watchman.
“Easy for someone to say who doesnt put their life on the line bringing in the bad guys.”
Except that they DON’T put THEIR lives on the line... they put OUR lives on the line with their barbra streisand tactics. THEY have body armor and military-grade weapons. We serfs are not permitted such things. They have tear gas generators and armored vehicles. They have all sorts of intel, yet they cannot find the right address. No, it’s OUR lives, the American Public, that are at risk, not Officer Vicious. (There never WAS an Officer Friendly...)
Why do the police need SWAT units, tasers, and all this other crap they have? Also why don’t they have an obligation to clean up after themselves.
This past year 114 people have died while being tasered by police. God knows how many innocent people have been terrorized and their homes and belongings destroyed.
Fourteen years ago, my home got broke into and I scuffled with the intruder and got stabbed in the arm (6 stitches).
The local police investigating covered my entire kitchen in graphite, removed framing from around my back door, and took a half dozen floor tiles (with my blood on them), all evidence. They never caught the guy and I had to have a new floor installed, a new door installed, and all the walls in my kitchen painted to cover the graphite from the fingerprint team. The intruder actually did no damage to my home, the police did a few thousand in damage. Not to mention time and inconvenience.
Maybe so....It would have been nice if they had said that.
Only problem with that is they likely didn’t announce which apartment they were surrounding, just the whole building... so how would she KNOW it was hers? I bet when they started hollering over their bull horns they didn’t say, “Hey, fugitive in apartment 407G, come on down here,” did they? So if you’re hunkered down in fear for your life, how are you gonna KNOW it’s YOUR apartment they’ve targeted?
We, as a society, never did get a chance to endorse that “officer safety” notion. The cops did it for themselves, without consulting us. Witness Columbine and too many other incidents...
Your post:
“Vast majority of these incidents are the result of trying to enforce the insane WOD that is OVER 40 years old and lost decades ago
The really sad thing is that NOTHING was learned from PROHIBITION”
That’s where you’re wrong. What was learned from Prohibition was how to protect the “illegal” drug business from direct political interference. By interference I refer to any effort to regulate as contrasted to simple prohibition.
How successful has the industry been in its efforts? well, no major political party dares demand radical reform of the drug laws - the evil but remunerative business will continue in apparent perpetuity.
Done!
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