Posted on 01/07/2009 8:07:02 PM PST by marktwain
A family whose lives were shattered by a mistaken police raid a year ago have been awarded a $612,498 settlement by the city of Minneapolis to make amends.
-------------------------cut-----------------
"It's only a mistake for them, but it changed our lives forever," Moua said Friday at a news conference held at Heffelfinger's office. "We want what's best for our children. It's a miracle we survived that night. No amount of money can fix what we went through that night."
Acting on wrong information from an informant, a SWAT team broke into Vang Khang's north Minneapolis house last December expecting to find gang members and illegal activity.
But Vang thought the SWAT team members were criminal intruders and shot through his bedroom door to protect his wife and six children, ages 3 to 15. Three officers were hit, but were not injured because they were wearing protective gear. The family also escaped injury even though police fired at least 22 rounds.
Police later admitted that the raid was a mistake and apologized to the family. Heffelfinger said police, who were looking for black suspects, should have realized that a Hmong family resided at the home, at 1321 Logan Av. N., because of various Hmong-related "ornaments and other things" both on the outside and inside of the house.
Moua said Friday her children are still afraid of the police. She said she is trying to turn that around, to make them to believe that most police officers are good and are there to help, rather than harm.
"I told them not all police are bad," she said. "I don't want my kids to be afraid of the police."
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
The Hmong lived - and still do live - primarily in Laos and southern China, and were greatly helpful in what was then called “The Secret War” waged against the communist Pathet Lao, contemporaneous with the war in Vietnam. The hill tribes of Vietnam were referred to under the collective rubric “Montagnards.”
I wonder if they use human fertilizer on the strawberries. ;0)
Thank you for the clarification.
...by the taxpayers, unfortunately.
How galling that the police awarded eight medals for this screwed up raid.
No knock raids are out of control, and we have out of control paramilitary police just chomping at the bit to play with their new taxpayer supplied toys.
And for what benefit? If anyone compiled all of the innocent victims of these raids we would see the insidious nature and stupidity of the whole concept.
The Fourth Amendment used to mean something.
BTW, the Hmongs are featured prominently in the new Clint Eastwood film, “Gran Torino”.
The award should be supplemented by a 20% share of the earnings for everyone who organized, authorized, of participated in the raid, for the rest of their lives, including future careers and pensions.
That kind of culpability might make a real difference in this enthusiastically mindless storm trooper behavior. Picking a buck from the pockets of each other resident of the City won’t make much difference.
There was a case somewhat like this a few years ago, I believe in Michigan. The homeowner defended himself and killed one of the invading officers. He was acquitted, and the cops were angry about it.
Easy. Look at the cop
If it's Harvey Keitel or Al Pacino, then = bad cop
If it's Ethan Hawke or Colin Farrel then = good cop.
If you are not in a movie, then you're on your own.
it’s ok . you’re Hmong friends here.
nothing like a good pun...
and that was nothing like a good pun...
LOL
it was pretty Laosy
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.