Posted on 08/04/2008 6:56:51 PM PDT by Pinkbell
A white police officer was acquitted Monday in the drug-raid shooting death of an unarmed black woman that set off protests about how police treat minorities in a city where one in four residents is black.
The all-white jury found Sgt. Joseph Chavalia not guilty of misdemeanor charges of negligent homicide and negligent assault. He had faced up to eight months in jail if convicted of both counts.
Chavalia shot 26-year-old Tarika Wilson and her year-old son she was holding, killing her and hitting him in the shoulder and hand, during a Jan. 4 SWAT raid on her house. One of the child's fingers had to be amputated.
(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...
I’m sure we citizens would all face misdemeanor charges of negligent homicide if we shot an unarmed person.
The war on drugs and no-knock raids have to go. I’d have very likely voted to convict and color would not have mattered.
My wife is from Lima, and we lived there for ten years in the mid 80s-90s.
You would have violated your oath had you voted to convict this officer. The evidence that came to light during the trial made an acquittal a forgone conclusion; he was doing his job.
Where is the outrage about having kids in this situation to begin with? Putting the officer in this position. It is really sad that she died and the child is missing a finger, but my anger would be at her and her boyfriend. No child deserves to live like this. Police officers are in a lose-lose situation.
I thought that this might have taken place in a big city like Cleveland, but the story originated out in Lima, Ohio. Lima’s a little remote, and rather small compared to the big cities in Ohio.
Thanks. Not really enough information in the article to say, so your opinion is helpful.
Even the pit bulls. I’m suspicious of police who shoot dogs at the drop of a hat, but I think it’s true that drug dealers can keep some pretty mean pit bulls to guard their stuff.
You are probably correct. He was probably found not guilty because he lacked the intent to kill the woman.
He probably also lacked the experience and training to make instant shoot or no shoot decisions.
There was probably no compelling reason for the raid other than someone else made the decision.
Those weak charges are the real crime here.
How exactly is firing on an unarmed woman holding a baby “doing his job” Tony?
Pit bulls scare the snot out of me. Someone brought one into the vets office while we were waiting to see the vet, and the guy could barely control him. All I could think of was him clamping down on one of the other animals and not letting go. I seriously doubt that they would have shot the dogs if they didn’t feel the need to. I would assume in a drug house they aren’t lap dogs.
Was this the result of a negligent discharge? If he aimed and fired the weapon what exactly was his intent? If you use deadly force on a person, Killing them is EXACTLY what you intend. So either he's a schmuck with no trigger/muzzle control or he DID intend to kill her. Which is it?
Somebody's supervisor bears some responsibility here. Ergo, this officer was tossed to the courts by the prosecutor to avoid busting one of his long time buddies.
Still shouldn't have cops on duty who don't know how to control their startle response and shoot women holding babies.
Its all part of a tangled socialist mess-
We have welfare to "save" people from bad decisions, but that isn't sustainable because you can't just reward bad decisions forever without society collapsing..
So we've moved onto the second more fascist phase of socialism: Use force - even deadly force - to stop people from making bad decisions in the first place.
Yeah, they should be able to distinguish what that shadow is. And lets start training officers to wait until they have been shot and/or killed to respond. Then send out the literature that if you know there are kids around, don’t shoot. Every drug dealer will love that, they will just fill the house with kids. Lets put the responsibility where it belongs...with the persons who think it is fine to live in and have their children live in a drug house. Great place for kids, great parents.
So you see a shadow and hear gunfire, but yet you don't see any muzzle flash, how hard is that to tell if the "shadow" is firing at you? Oh no! I second guessed the POlice! I don't ask them to get shot before responding, I just expect that they know WTF they are actually shooting at or AT LEAST know that what they are firing on is ACTUALLY shooting at them.
This cop is anything but a good one, maybe he doesn't deserve jail, but he shouldn't have a job anymore, not as a cop anyway.
“You would have violated your oath had you voted to convict this officer. The evidence that came to light during the trial made an acquittal a forgone conclusion; he was doing his job.”
I suggest Wendy is pointing out that the job description (and the job) is in need of immediate revision - if not termination.
A little background, then a few facts.
Lima is conduit for drugs flowing into Ohio from Detroit. An active drug turf war is underway, with shootings and murders occuring nearly every week.
The subject of this raid, a Mr. Terry, had been arrested several times before, and had in fact shot at officers in the past. Being the scum that he is, he shacked up with a woman and her children, hoping to continue his criminal activites unmolested by police.
The Lima Police executed a raid to arrest Mr. Terry last January. When officers entered the house and proceeded upstairs to find Mr. Terry, he unleashed pit bulls to attack the officers. The defendant officer continued upstairs and saw the victim repeatedly ducking in and out of a bedroom doorway despite repeated orders to lie on the floor. When the pit bulls were shot, the officers on the steps believed they were drawing fire, and they fired their weapons.
You might feel otherwise; from watching this case closely, and knowing the urban warfare facing the Lima P.D. everyday, I think his actions were reaonable. The jury agreed.
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