Posted on 07/14/2012 5:02:03 AM PDT by marktwain
Last week, Toledo police confiscated a handgun from a 92-year-old woman after she nearly blew away a police officer because she was afraid he was a burglar trying to break into her home.
The incident highlights the potential for fatal mistakes when private citizens exercise their Second Amendment right to bear arms. But police should return the weapon to its owner if she is not going to be charged with a crime.
Annie Huddleston's Indiana Avenue neighborhood is not the most dangerous part of the city. Residents of some blocks even describe it as quiet.
But other neighbors say gunshots are everyday occurrences, vacant and abandoned buildings invite criminal activity, and break-ins and robberies are common. They blame much of the problem on young people, nearly 2,500 of whom are said to belong to about 25 gangs.
This is the sort of neighborhood Mayor Mike Bell was talking about when he told inner-city gang members in April that elderly residents were "scared to open the door," and that people "fear living in our city." In 2011, 210 people were reported shot in the city, a 73 percent increase over 2010. "As a mayor," Mr. Bell said, "I cannot allow that to continue."
It takes time to turn tough talk into tough enforcement. It takes longer for criminals to get the message. Neighborhood residents have to help by telling police who and where the bad guys are.
Until Mayor Bell and Police Chief Derrick Diggs make good on the promise to "take our city back," residents of Toledo's mean streets are going to find other ways to protect themselves. For some people, that means owning a gun.
Ms. Huddleston has had at least two guns in her home. One was stolen in a 2006 break-in. The other -- a .357
(Excerpt) Read more at toledoblade.com ...
I'd like to know the whole story. When I go onto someone's property, I knock on the front door and if they don't answer, I don't try the back windows. Had the woman any reason to believe the police were coming to her house? Were they at the front door?
Home(oh) alert.
The Cop’s the good guy, here??
Ya sure had me fooled!
From the article:
[She] nearly killed police Lt. Randy Pepitone as he responded to her 911 call reporting that she thought she heard a burglar.She was afraid. She didn't respond to attempts by police to contact her. And when Lieutenant Pepitone tried to force his way into the home to check on her safety, she shot him.
But that would spoil the fun of no-knock warrants and that big heavy battering ram.
The ‘potential fatal mistake’ might have been on the police end. Maybe the officers involved should have their guns confiscated for a time.
Police should arrive in FRONT of the house with lights going and in uniform.
Did the Lt. arrive in plain clothes in a unmarked car? Lots of questions here. Hope he recovers.
Police Look-alike criminals are not new.
>>Until Mayor Bell and Police Chief Derrick Diggs make good on the promise to “take our city back,” residents of Toledo’s mean streets are going to find other ways to protect themselves. For some people, that means owning a gun.
When seconds count, police are only minutes away. A sane person’s PRIMARY means of protecting themselves should be a gun. When you go looking for “other ways”, that means getting a short spear or gladius!
The day is coming when a “no-knock raid” doesn’t end well for the home-intruding LEOs. Several of my former customers are LEOs and they hate those SWAT raids, occasionally on the wrong house.
Wow; it happened in this raid:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2906445/posts
I stand corrected.
And LT. Pepitone is also very stupid for trying to pry an old ladys door open without making it VERY CLEAR that he was the “police”. There will be a lot more shootings like this now that the “Castle Doctrine” is being created in many states. Older citizens (and young ones as well) are scared as they should be due to the amount of rapes, burglaries, breakins etc. happeingin all over this country. When Holders people don”t get prosecuted for crimes, guess it’s “Shoot first and ask questions later”.
They should at least give her husband’s .357 back plus a couple more including a shotgun.
According to another article posted on FR the cop was trying to force her door open without identifying himself. They didn't charge her because she was in the right. He was lucky, she hit him in the head but it just clipped him. Maybe next time he is trying to "check on an old lady" he will knock and shout police. She should sue to get her gun back and maybe charge the cop with a crime.
ping
“The incident highlights the potential for fatal mistakes when private citizens exercise their Second Amendment right to bear arms.”
No - the incident highlights the need for visitors to identify themselves and, if the door is not opened to them, to then GO AWAY.
There have certainly been a lot fo “stupid cop” stories lately—about cops who raid the wrong house, kill family pets, etc.
Yes, he is. I think the “Castle Doctrine” has a clause in it about not covering a Citizen’s right to shoot if it’s a LEO in the performance of duty, or something like that. But it sounds like Lt Pepitone wasn’t doing this one quite by-the-book. I wonder how the DA will spin it?
clearly the little old lady defending herself and her home from the unannounced intruder is the enemy of society.
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