Posted on 02/18/2014 11:24:16 PM PST by chessplayer
How did an 80-year-old man end up shot to death in his own bed by Los Angeles County deputy sheriffs? Reason’s Zach Weissmuller takes an in-depth look at the death of Eugene Mallory, who died in a hail of bullets triggered by supposedly challenging the deputies with a gun in the hallway of his own home during a meth raid. Only Mallory didn’t get shot in the hallway — he got shot in his bedroom, and the bullets came before the deputy warned him to put his gun down. Did Mallory pick up the gun at all? And what were deputies doing by raiding the house in the first place? Mallory’s widow wants answers:
Deputies approached the house, and what happened next is where things get murky. The deputies said they announced their presence upon entering and were met in the hallway by the 80-year-old man, wielding a gun and stumbling towards them. The deputies later changed the story when the massive bloodstains on Mallory’s mattress indicated to investigators that he’d most likely been in bed at the time of the shooting. Investigators also found that an audio recording of the incident revealed a discrepancy in the deputies’ original narrative:
Before listening to the audio recording, [Sgt. John] Bones believed that he told Mallory to “Drop the gun” prior to the shooting. The recording revealed, however, that his commands to “Drop the gun” occurred immediately AFTER the shooting.
When it was all over, Eugene Mallory died of six gunshot wounds from Sgt. John Bones’ MP-5 9mm submachine gun. When a coroner arrived, he found the loaded .22 caliber pistol the two deputies claimed Mallory had pointed at them ON THE BEDSIDE TABLE.
Mallory had not fired a single shot. The raid turned up no evidence of methamphetamine on the property.
The raid was conducted on the strength of a confidential informant and an investigator who claimed to have detected a “strong chemical odor” while downwind of the house. That apparently justified a military-style raid on the property, even though Mallory had no criminal history, let alone any indication of violence.
So thats the total basis of an armed SWAT raid?
Someone smelled some solvent? Remind me not to thin paint.
The .22 was the cops throw down weapon.
It didn’t belong to the victim.
This was murder.
This has already happened. I can't quote you chapter and verse but I do recollect seeing a story on this very subject on FR within this past week. A guy was acquitted of murder for killing one of these jackboots busting down the door of his home.
I should add that the story I read may have referenced an instance in this happened, i.., it may not have occurred very recently.
Add to that list the Police Commissioner, the head of the SWAT department, etc.
‘Meth raid gone bad’??? There wasn’t any meth to begin with!
Arizona is now considering a law that information received from unlawful, unwarranted organizations, like the NSA, is to be inadmissible in state courts.
It seems to me that this law needs to be expanded so that anonymous tips given to the police *cannot* be used to justify a violent SWAT raid, without other evidence presented to a judge who then issues a written warrant.
The way things have become is like the Democrats’ indictment of Justice Clarence Thomas, that evidence does not matter as long as the accusation is serious enough.
Which is ass-backwards to how the law should behave.
Once again, an innocent man was murdered in cold blood by an overly-aggressive, machinegun armed, possibly steroid drugged police officer, with or also likely without a written warrant. Seriously, to repeatedly shoot an elderly man in bed, then lie about it, is beyond the pale.
In effect, this officer committed 1st degree, premeditated murder, which in the absence of any mitigating circumstances should qualify his actions for the death penalty.
Standing and applauding...while they're at it; they can outlaw drug/sniffer dogs. The damn things are wrong 55-60% of the time, according to a piece in the Chicago Tribune.
Didn’t Indiana just pass a law allowing citizens to defend themselves against the police in such raids?
This sounds more like Nazi police tactics, developed to incarcerate Jews in the middle of the night rather than the investigation of a peaceful 80 year old man with no previous criminal record for a questionable (at best) warrant.
The cops, the supervisor, the judge - the entire scurrilous lot of them - should be going to jail for this wicked murder.
Yes, I remember reading about that recently. It makes lots of sense to me. Something has to reel in these Gestapo police; maybe fear of getting their a##es blown away will temper their enthusiasm for scaring their inferiors.
Drug dogs. Haw-haw. While travelling between Az and Ca, a drug dog “hit” on my mother’s car.
It has never had so much as a lit cigarette in it, let alone any sort of illegal substance.
We were held up for nearly an hour while the dog repeatedly went through the car, its handler egging it on with the word “dirty” every 10 seconds.
Oh, the “officers” at the fruit stop also demanded our passports (we’re Canadian), even though we were 100 miles from Mexico. Our driver’s licences were not considered adequate, even though I have an “enhanced” DL that is accepted at the Cdn/USA border in lieu of a passport.
If these guys are going to enforce the law, should they not at least KNOW it, and FOLLOW it themselves?
What do they mean by 'hit'? Are they like a 'pointer'? Did you have a cat in your car? They are NOTORIOUS for 'hitting' (whatever that means) on any room/area containing a cat.
The dog did whatever its “I smell drugs” action was. No cats, and none of my dogs had been in the car for over a year.
It was nothing more than an intimidation and fishing expedition.
Your post was quite revealing...people are being subject to terrifying ‘no-knock raids’ (many resulting in death) based on the testimony of a frickin’ DOG??? I was told by an attorney that the use of these dogs are very controversial. Really? Then end it.
The dog made whatever the secret, nuanced "hit" gesture was. Only the trained dog handler can properly read the dog, so he is the final judge and jury when the dog hits. It works out great, the dog either hits or doesn't according to the general mood of the highly trained dog officer. If the dog tells the officer to tow your car into the shop and cut it completely apart only to find nothing, that means you previously had illegal drugs in there and you are under arrest.
I trust those dogs, it's the handlers interpreting for them who I don't trust.
If you haven’t already been,Ping.
That is because it is/was. In a just world, they would face execution also, but as it is , promotions and bonuses for all involved.
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