Posted on 06/05/2012 7:15:46 AM PDT by Islander7
Police in Aurora, Colo., searching for suspected bank robbers stopped every car at an intersection, handcuffed all the adults and searched the cars, one of which they believed was carrying the suspect.
Police said they had received what they called a reliable tip that the culprit in an armed robbery at a Wells Fargo bank committed earlier was stopped at the red light.
We didnt have a description, didnt know race or gender or anything, so a split-second decision was made to stop all the cars at that intersection, and search for the armed robber, Aurora police Officer Frank Fania told ABC News.
Officers barricaded the area, halting 19 cars.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
I've known of plenty of robbers...that weren't violent..in the real meaning of the word.
Thank you for being the Voice of Sanity in this thread. This event sounds exactly like an active shooter event where everyone runs out of the building with their hands up. We know someone in the group is the shooter, but who is it? Obviously everyone must be detained until we determine the answer. In this case we have an armed bank robber who pointed his gun at customers and employees and then ended up among a large group of motorists. Police did the same thing they would have done for the active shooter scenario, and they did it right. Here are a couple of articles with more information about what really happened, without the emotional claptrap included:
http://kwgn.com/2012/06/04/armed-bank-robbery-caught-on-camera/
http://kdvr.com/2012/06/02/aurora-police-searching-for-bank-robbery-suspect/
The folks who always start shouting about “jackbooted thugs” in every police thread need to get the whole story before opening their mouths, IMHO.
“for my own safety” has become the all encompassing excuse for a multitude of sins.
The worst thing is it has become accepted by the courts and is about as good an example as any of just how far this nation has fallen.
Another is the huge increase in police forces. The town I grew up in Had a police chief, a single cop and maybe a few part time ones. I think they only had one car.
Now the same town is the same population and I never visit without seeing a bunch of cop cars basically doing nothing but looking for speeders.
As far as I know the population wants it that way, they think they are somehow safer with all those cops around. The fact is they are not.
Some of the problem is, however, that there are just too many criminals in this country. Lawyers are a close second in terms of blame, IMHO. There really is no easy answer. The Constitution could not have foreseen what this country has become and, of course, following generations have screwed everything up.
Not now. Thanks, that made perfect sense
I have volunteered a search, but it was from a very nice cop and I had a witness. On the other hand, if I was in some situation such as that in Aurora, seeing people indecriminently getting cuffed, I would properly advise the LEO he would need a warrant. I do not work so well when pushed or threatened unnecessarily.
No, I wouldn’t give up ten minutes of freedom. I wouldn’t be handcuffed. I wouldn’t accept the insult, to be treated as a criminal, to get this guy off the street.
I’d give up ten minutes of my time gladly, if asked politely. I wouldn’t give up my freedom and my dignity.
Furthermore, if I was driving near this man, he was still no threat to me. Bottle me up in a roadblock with him, and he well could be a threat to me, as could police bullets. The police put everyone they stopped at the risk a gunfight and death. Ten minutes of freedom, the rest of your life...
And I’m still not convinced they caught the robber - they apparently caught a guy with some handguns, but they aren’t saying they recovered the money, they aren’t releasing his name, they aren’t saying how they knew he was in the intersection.
“Citizen” in Rome was a very specific limited term.
Remember Paul surprised his captors by claiming citizenship.
In such a situation, focus on a single question: “am I free to go?” Keep asking until you get “yes” or “no”.
Yes: leave.
No: cooperate, and plan what you’ll do with the big pile of money when you win the suit for wrongful imprisonment.
Yes. I sort of figured out that was what you meant. They weren’t big on crucifying “citizens,” which was a highly specific term of the times.
DENVERChristian Paetsch, age 45, was arrested Saturday evening by members of the Aurora Police Department and the FBIs Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force, the United States Attorneys Office and the FBI announced today. Paetsch was charged today by criminal complaint with one count of armed bank robbery and one count of using or brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. The robbery took place on Saturday, June 2, 2012 at 3:46 PM at the Wells Fargo Bank located at 15301 East Hampden Avenue in Aurora, Colorado. The defendant allegedly used a firearm during the course of the bank robbery.
No description or even sex of the purported “robber,” yet the cops consider this a reasonable tactic - and apparently all the innocents involved agreed to the extent that not a one denied permission to search.
And as proof they got the right person, the cops only crow over “two found weapons.”
What the hell has happened to our country???
I don’t know if there were any follow up threads on this incident, but I just came across this. . .
January 24, 2013
Citizens caught in chaos of unusual bank robbery dragnet take police to court
A former music school teacher is facing 7 to 14 years in prison for holding up an Aurora bank last summer. Christian Paetsch pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday.
But the innocent people caught in the search immediately following the bank robbery are just now beginning to search for justice.
It was a scene in Aurora that looked like something straight out of the movies, but this real life drama is about to play out in the courts.
University of Denver law professor, Justin Merceau said, This is the sort of thing that, if litigated correctly, it could go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court because it is an open question.
On June 2, 2012, Aurora police shut down the intersection at E. Iliff Ave. and S. Buckley Rd. while searching for an armed robber who had just held up a Wells Fargo Bank.
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