Posted on 09/15/2013 3:19:02 PM PDT by marktwain
TUCSON, AZ (CBS5) -
CBS 5 Investigates has learned that attorneys for Pima County have agreed to settle a case with the family of a slain Iraq War veteran, who was gunned down during a SWAT raid at the vet's home.
In the original claim, Jose Guerena's family demanded $20 million. The family's attorney, Christopher Scileppi, confirmed that the sides has reached an agreement, but that it still needed the approval of the county board of supervisors and the court. He did not say how much the family would receive in the settlement.
At issue was whether an innocent man was killed in the raid, and whether the detectives on the case had done enough investigation to warrant a SWAT team entry.
The raid took place on May 5, 2011 in a housing development outside Tucson. Video of the event shows SWAT members banging on the front door, announcing themselves and setting off flash-bang grenades in the backyard. After knocking down the front door, SWAT members fired more than 70 shots into the home.
A news release issued that day alleges that the SWAT members were confronted by Jose Guerena, who was carrying an AR-15 assault rifle and opened fire on the deputies. Four days later, PCSD released an updated version of the events, which indicated Guerena was carrying the firearm, but never opened fire. According to the second release, the gun's safety was on.
"Guilt by association. They thought that his brothers may be involved in some sort of drug trafficking organization, activity, whatever the case and they thought well, we'll just hit this house too," said Scileppi in November of last year, when CBS 5 Investigates first looked into the shooting.
Scileppi said Guerena and his wife believed they were the victims of a home invasion.
(Excerpt) Read more at kpho.com ...
Um... Maybe they were obama voters, except the victim since he was working 12 hr shifts.
These thugs need to be punished by jail time. Giving taxpayer money to the family will not stop these jackboots.
Oops! I missed the /s tag also.
shame on ME.
Quote from Guerena’s family atty:
“Guilt by association. They thought that his brothers may be involved in some sort of drug trafficking organization, activity, whatever the case and they thought well, we’ll just hit this house too,” said Scileppi in November of last year, when CBS 5 Investigates first looked into the shooting.”
How about this scenario from the corrupt a-hole Sherrif Dupnick who handled the Gabby Giffords case soooo well. An ultra lefty... this guy: The dope team focused on the entire family to tip off the one member who is their “pay-man” for graft. That one member is still free and “in business”-— There is a great deal more to this story than is being reported here.
A decent working Iraq US Veteran comes home from late shift at the copper mine, dead asleep and they execute a no-knock raid? Under what judge’s OK was this— what probable cause?
Outrageous.
Remember Dupnick is anti-gun— so this poor guy has one of the “to be banned” guns in known possession— he makes an example of him. All the while, like the good liberal— he’s on the take. This stinks.
A whole bunch of “FReepers” should be ashamed of themselves.
The lawsuits do nothing to change the minds of police, especially the SWAT fools.
They’re not paying the bill. The taxpayers are.
If the awards came out of their paychecks or pension funds, then it might change their minds.
The only thing that will change their minds is when these awards directly affect them. Most SWAT teams are both stupid, and not needed. Here where I live, we have a SWAT team. Guess how many times they’re used? Almost never. They should be disbanded completely, they’re just a dead weight on the county/city budget.
It needs to affect the taxpayers. Harshly. My only problem with the lawsuit is that they were only asking for $20 million. It should have been $20 billion. The vaunted taxpayers decided to keep these dangerous animals well fed and well armed. If you have a big attack dog, refuse to keep it on a leash and it mauls the lady across the street, you bet your ass you're on the hook. Same goes for the animals they gave badges and guns. The county should have been bankrupted requiring a tripling off taxes across the board. Bet those "support law enforcement" bumper stickers come off of cars in a hurry and cops find their neighbors a little less friendly to them after that.
Yep, I remember.
A whole lot of boot-lickers claiming that the kid deserved to get shot.
Sooner or later, “conservatives” are going to get their heads out of their rectums on this stupid “back law enforcement under all conditions” habit they have.
Most of these SWAT teams were set up without the taxpayers noticing. Some police chief decides that they need a SWAT team and that the next town/city over in the next county has one, so we all know what happens, right?
The police chief starts having penis envy of the next town over, and next thing you know, the taxpayers wake up one day to discover they have a SWAT team. It isn’t as tho this sort of thing goes on the ballot, you know. It’s all done administratively within the PD.
The lawsuits will get the local legislators in trouble with the voters. When the Mayors and City Managers get fed up with fending off the phone calls and spending more than planned for elections, then the Police Chiefs will hear about it.
If they elected Sheriff Dumbsh!t and his band of misfits, then the taxpayers should pay through the nose .... maybe they will choose differently next time ... if not they will surely pay again.
It isn’t as tho this sort of thing goes on the ballot, you know. It’s all done administratively within the PD.
I believe most of it is done with federal funding.
Perhaps someone with experience with this can say, but I know there are federal dollars available for lots of local police gear.
No, they won’t.
Listen, I’ve been tracking this type of issue and I’ve never, ever seen the taxpayers properly informed of the total costs of these sorts of settlements. Every legislator finds a way of burying these settlement costs into the general budget and rolling the costs forward in the next bond issuance.
The solution to this is for conservatives to stop backing the police. Cops already know that liberals don’t like them. Quit giving the police political cover for their cowardice and thuggery. Cut their budgets, regardless of whether they’ve done anything wrong. Cut their pensions, cut their equipment budgets, Republicans should stop programs to allow LEO’s to buy surplused military gear, dogs, you name it.
The cops should come away from this period of time with one, unequivocal assessment: “We screwed up, and now we’re hated by everyone.”
No need. My use of the abbreviated form of the sarcasm tag /s is responsible for your reply. Appropriately pointed out by ‘piytar’ earlier. You must have missed it also.
I don’t care if it never got a vote by the taxpayers. Two things need to have the foundations knocked out from under them: taxpayer apathy and this mindless “support law enforcement” mentality by the general public. Maybe when their beloved pets with badges start costing them enough in tax increases where it takes food off of the table, things will change. You sure as hell will never get those animals held individually accountable with those two things I mentioned above still in place.
I completely agree with what you just posted.
I’m just saying that the taxpayer typically (in the vast majority of cases) never voted for a SWAT team to be created, the taxpayers never get a vote on police compensation packages or pensions, nor on the militarization of PD’s. It just happens very quietly, then something happens.
The first step is to stop the “support the police” mentality. There’s no reason any more for the public to “support police.” They’ve become a standing army, their comp packages are eating the budgets of cities, towns and counties wholesale, their pensions are under-funded in the majority of states (which will come to light next year when the new GASB accounting rules kick in) and the officers themselves are increasingly acting like a bunch of armed lunatics running loose in the streets.
It’s time to put a stop to these abuses, and I think the best way to do it would be for gadflies to start an effort to give a full accounting to the taxpayers how much they’re paying in taxes per year for this crap. Then, with the baseline framework in hand, it will be easier to update the costs to the taxpayers every time a new comp package is negotiated, every time a judgement is handed down with the taxpayers on the hook, etc.
This will not happen unless members of the SWAT teams will be held criminally liable. Don’t forget that all similar lawsuits are settled with taxpayers money.
>> “A few dozen more successful lawsuits and maybe cops will think twice about using SWAT where the threat is minimal.” <<
.
I’m sure that you know better than that.
They’ll think twice when swat commanders go to jail for long enough to pay for a life casually taken. (40 years?)
.
Its obvious that the police here were overfunded. Time to get those budgets cut to size. The problem you run into, though, are the folks who think that a police presence makes them safer. Obviously this family would beg to differ. But the problem remains: most people are afraid of crime and (erroneously) think an increased police presence makes them more safe. So over time you need to change hearts and minds.
Happily we already have the tools to accomplish the objective. The Tools of Liberty. It occurs to me that if even 10% of the population chose to Open Carry, violent crime would largely be a thing of the past. And withit, the need for bloated police departments with the time and resources to play keystone kommandos.
Not one tenth of enough.
bankrupt that Commie Lib cesspool and start over. Spit
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