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Sheriff: SWAT Team Necessary Because Man Is a "Self-Proclaimed Constitutionalist"
Reason ^ | 1/8/08 | Radley Balko

Posted on 01/08/2008 5:11:23 PM PST by LibWhacker

World Net Daily reports:

Nearly a dozen members of a police SWAT team in western Colorado punched a hole in the front door and invaded a family's home with guns drawn, demanding that an 11-year-old boy who had had an accidental fall accompany them to the hospital, on the order of Garfield County Magistrate Lain Leoniak.

The boy's parents and siblings were thrown to the floor at gunpoint and the parents were handcuffed in the weekend assault, and the boy's father told WND it was all because a paramedic was upset the family preferred to care for their son themselves.

The boy had apparently fallen and bumped his head. His father, who says he was a medic in Vietnam, says he examined the boy, determined he was fine, and saw no need to take him to the hospital. A paramedic called by neighbors forced his way into the home, then called police when the father refused to let the son go to thie hospital.

The police then sent social workers, who according to the Associated Press reported "a huge hematoma and a sluggish pupil." That night, they sent in the SWAT team.

As it turns out, the kid was fine. After the raid, a doctor examined him, and told him to drink some fluids and take a Tylenol.

I'm even more troubled by the explanation for the aggressive tactics:

The sheriff said the decision to use SWAT team force was justified because the father was a "self-proclaimed constitutionalist" and had made threats and "comments" over the years.

However, the sheriff declined to provide a single instance of the father's illegal behavior. "I can't tell you specifically," he said.

"He was refusing to provide medical care," the sheriff said.

However, the sheriff said if his own children were involved in an at-home accident, he would want to be the one to make decisions on their healthcare, as did Shiflett.

"I guess if that was one of my children, I would make that decision," the sheriff said.

But he said Shiflett was "rude and confrontational" when the paramedics arrived and entered his home without his permission.

Shiflett also home schools his kids. By the sheriff's own admission, then, the show of force was more about Shiflet's political beliefs and desire to be left alone than any real child neglect. "Constitutionalists," beware.


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Colorado
KEYWORDS: 2ndamendment; adrenalinecowboys; badcopnodonut; banglist; beserkcop; ccw; constitutionalist; donutwatch; jbt; jbts; necessary; rkba; selfproclaimed; softfascism; swat
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To: Secret Agent Man

Sounds consistent with what I’ve read.


81 posted on 01/09/2008 4:26:03 AM PST by ItisaReligionofPeace
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To: slowhandluke

Oh, I don’t think the father is a jerk. Of course, I can imagine he’s probably a bit anti-social, but there is no law against being ornery.


82 posted on 01/09/2008 4:29:11 AM PST by ItisaReligionofPeace
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To: anyone

http://www.crossroad.to/text/articles.html
If anyone has not been to this website, read these articles - especially ones under Global Management System, Mental Health, Education, Losing our Freedom


83 posted on 01/09/2008 7:48:09 AM PST by Esther Ruth
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To: LibWhacker
The kids black eye...
Post Independent

84 posted on 01/09/2008 7:51:26 AM PST by Slicksadick (Go out on a limb........Its where the fruit is.)
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To: Future Snake Eater

Ping - you probably already saw this, but wow...


85 posted on 01/09/2008 7:55:44 AM PST by Kaylee Frye (everything's shiny)
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To: JimRed
Point being that the individual LEO is not always in a position to decide if an action is constitutionally right or wrong. Picture the SWAT officer asking "Wait a minute, Captain, is it constitutional for us to get this perp?" before every job.

What is the captain for? In your view the LEOs ought to act like robots, from top to bottom, and simply act like a sub-routine in a computer program. Does that include the sherrif who asked for a warrant on the basis of what some paramedic told him? Include the judge in that too.

86 posted on 01/09/2008 11:48:33 AM PST by TigersEye (Crusty is as Crusty does.)
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To: pandoraou812
Thanks for the ping. Garfield county is very rural and very conservative.

Take a look at the flyer below and read closely what the FBI, pre-9/11, considered red flags for "domestic terrorists."

KeepAndBearArms.com -- The Phoenix Federal Bureau of Investigation created a flyer some time back during Clinton's Presidency, asking the recipients to help them fight domestic terrorism.



87 posted on 01/09/2008 12:49:54 PM PST by TigersEye (Crusty is as Crusty does.)
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To: TigersEye

WOW


88 posted on 01/09/2008 5:14:11 PM PST by pandoraou812 ( Its NOT for the good of the children! Its BS along with bending over for Muslim's demands)
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To: TigersEye
So the oath I swore
"to protect this nation(constitution) against all enemies both foreign and domestic"
puts me on the FBI hit list as a Right Wing Extremist !

I'll bet many of us swore that oath.


89 posted on 01/09/2008 5:20:58 PM PST by Uri’el-2012 (you shall know that I, YHvH, your Savior, and your Redeemer, am the Elohim of Ya'aqob. Isaiah 60:16)
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To: TigersEye
Garfield county is very rural and very conservative.

I'll bet that there are many Illegal Aliens in Garfield county
who service Pitkin County (Aspen)

90 posted on 01/09/2008 5:24:17 PM PST by Uri’el-2012 (you shall know that I, YHvH, your Savior, and your Redeemer, am the Elohim of Ya'aqob. Isaiah 60:16)
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To: Brad from Tennessee

no he wouldn’t. He would be charged with murder. They had a warrant, which is a liscnce to spit on your rights. However, if one of the cops had shot any of the family they would face harsh discipline, like a 2 week suspension with pay. Doubt me? Try googling “cato raidmap”


91 posted on 01/09/2008 5:31:20 PM PST by When do we get liberated? ((Ok, Im the official Pit Bull Defender/If you can't stand behind our troops, stand in front of them.)
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To: XeniaSt
I'll bet many of us swore that oath.

I haven't officially done so but that's where I stand.

92 posted on 01/09/2008 5:32:40 PM PST by TigersEye (Crusty is as Crusty does.)
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To: JimRed

Alot of people at Nuremburg used that defence too. Someday we will hold law enforcement accountable for their actions.


93 posted on 01/09/2008 5:32:58 PM PST by When do we get liberated? ((Ok, Im the official Pit Bull Defender/If you can't stand behind our troops, stand in front of them.)
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To: XeniaSt
We have plenty here in Larimer co and neighboring Weld co where there are 400 documented members of MS13. Greeley is the huge city there.

On another thread on this story, Garfield County (Colorado) Sheriff defends decision, someone described Garfield co as more liberal than I had thought.

94 posted on 01/09/2008 5:37:10 PM PST by TigersEye (Crusty is as Crusty does.)
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To: When do we get liberated?
He would be charged with murder initially but they shouldn’t get a conviction. We had a case like this when I lived in Brevard County Florida in 1989. Police raided a drug suspect but had been given bogus information about a large quantity of narcotics and firearms in the man’s home. The police with a no-knock warrant, crashed unannounced into the house in masks and black uniforms setting of flash-bangs. The suspect shot and killed one of the SWAT team members. No drugs were found. No weapons were found except the pistol the suspect shot the cop with. He was charged with first degree murder initially, then it was changed to manslaughter. The suspect’s lawyer wouldn’t entertain a plea deal. The case went to trial and a jury acquitted the man. Later, he got some undisclosed settlement from the city for the raid.

I’m sure it has gone the other way in other cases.

I will check out the site you mentioned.

95 posted on 01/09/2008 5:50:01 PM PST by Brad from Tennessee ("A politician can't give you anything he hasn't first stolen from you.")
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To: TigersEye; joanie-f; Travis McGee; B4Ranch; Harvey105

I’ve heard about this FBI pamphlet but this is the first time I have actually seen it. It is an outrage, pure and simple and those responsible for its issuance should have been fired.

Do you know whether or not this abomination has been withdrawn or not?

And some wonder why distrust of the federal government is at an all time high.


96 posted on 01/09/2008 6:11:36 PM PST by Czar ( StillFedUptotheTeeth@Washington)
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To: Brad from Tennessee

Very informative link!

According to eye-witness testimony, we have some official liars, who besides being officials of law who are both lawless and without judgment.

Then they lie about this citizen’s behavior to cover their own folly!


97 posted on 01/09/2008 6:17:08 PM PST by mbj
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To: wastedyears
I want to see cop sympathizers explain this.

Oh, they'll be here soon enough.

98 posted on 01/09/2008 6:19:10 PM PST by meyer (Illegal Immigration - The profits are privatized, the costs are socialized.)
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To: Czar

99 posted on 01/09/2008 7:13:40 PM PST by Travis McGee (---www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com---)
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To: Czar
It was withdrawn shortly after it was issued. That was in the '90s. Someone released a copy to the public and it didn't go over too well. No one was fired that I know of. Probably just told to use a little more discretion when passing around inter-departmental training techniques.

It used to be that you could find this on patriot and gun enthusiast sites and indeed you can see that I linked to keepandbeararms.com. But when I Googled it today I found it being used on numerous troofer and liberal Christian nutcake sites as evidence of GWBs evil plans.

100 posted on 01/09/2008 9:26:57 PM PST by TigersEye (Crusty is as Crusty does.)
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