Posted on 02/16/2022 4:35:52 AM PST by Kaslin
The Minneapolis police officers who killed Amir Locke stormed into the apartment where he was sleeping before dawn on Feb. 2, shouting orders. They said they took that approach to "decrease the risk for injuries."
That strategy is dubious even when cops are confident that the home they are invading is occupied only by criminal suspects. It is beyond reckless when they have no idea who might be there, especially in a country where citizens have a constitutional right to armed self-defense.
Locke, a 22-year-old aspiring hip-hop artist who was planning a move to Dallas, was staying with his cousin in the meantime. The Minneapolis SWAT officers who woke him up that morning as he slept on his cousin's couch were assisting the St. Paul Police Department by serving a "no-knock" search warrant seeking evidence for a homicide investigation in which Locke was not a suspect.
Body camera video shows the officers quietly unlocking the door to the apartment at 6:48 a.m. before charging in while shouting, "Police -- search warrant!" and, "Get on the ground!" An officer kicks the sofa where Locke is sleeping under a blanket, which seems to rouse him.
Seeing a gun in Locke's hand, Officer Mark Hanneman immediately fires three shots. Nine seconds have elapsed since the cops entered the apartment.
The Minneapolis Police Department claimed Locke pointed his gun "in the direction of officers." But the video shows the gun pointed toward the floor with Locke's index finger on the barrel rather than the trigger. CARTOONS | Bob Gorrell View Cartoon
Here is how Benjamin Crump, a lawyer representing Locke's family, summed up the situation: "Strange people bust in his house, awaken him from his sleep, and he reached for his weapon, which he had a Second Amendment right to, to defend himself." Locke's father said, "Amir did what ... any reasonable, law-abiding citizen would do to protect himself."
Rob Doar, a senior vice president at the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, agreed. "Mr. Locke did what many of us might do in the same confusing circumstances," Doar said. "He reached for a legal means of self-defense while he sought to understand what was happening."
Interim Minneapolis Police Chief Amelia Huffman suggested that Hanneman's decision to shoot Locke was likewise reasonable in the circumstances. "The officer had to make a split-second decision," she said, based on his assessment of whether "he needed to take action right then to protect himself and his partners."
If this situation sounds familiar, that's because the same basic scenario has been playing out in cities across the country for years. Cops who burst into a home, hoping a sudden, overwhelming and discombobulating show of force will "decrease the risk for injuries," can easily be mistaken for violent criminals.
That's what happened during the 2020 Louisville, Kentucky, drug raid that killed Breonna Taylor, an unarmed 26-year-old EMT who, like Locke, had no criminal record. Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, responded to the middle-of-the-night home invasion by grabbing a gun and firing a shot at the intruders, which provoked the hail of bullets that killed Taylor.
Local prosecutors initially charged Walker with attempted murder of a police officer but dropped that charge a couple of months later, implicitly recognizing that Walker had a strong self-defense claim. At the same time, prosecutors concluded that charges against the officers who killed Taylor were not justified, and Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron concurred that they too had acted in self-defense.
To avoid lethal confrontations like these, reformers frequently propose banning or restricting no-knock warrants. But the Taylor case shows that solution is inadequate.
The Louisville cops banged on the door of Taylor's apartment for about 30 seconds before breaking in and claimed they also announced themselves. She and Walker still did not realize the intruders were police officers.
What's needed is a fundamental reevaluation of "dynamic entry" tactics, which should be reserved for life-or-death emergencies. Routinely deploying them when police execute search warrants is an invitation to tragedies like Locke's senseless death.
Dynamic entry might make sense in a hostage situation. But otherwise, I don’t why a siege couldn’t be initiated. Cut off food, water, electricity, wait for the guy to come out.
“The Minneapolis Police Department claimed Locke pointed his gun “in the direction of officers.” But the video shows the gun pointed toward the floor with Locke’s index finger on the barrel rather than the trigger.”
It is so, so beyond time for police officers to face criminal charges for this sort of dishonesty.
Sounds like if that situation has, can, and will lead to innocent deaths then maybe police ought not cause that situation to occur! You know, that whole protect and serve thing? End no-knock warrants for anything other than life and death hostage situations.
And enemies of the Deep State.
Nixon was a terrible President.
He closed the gold window killing our dollar and instituted the War On Drugs killing our Constitution.
Or just wait until he comes out to go somewhere and arrest him then.
Agreed
What’s needed is a fundamental reevaluation of “dynamic entry” tactics,
***Send in a robot. Duhh. Cameras recording and uploading to the cloud. Loud announcement of police presence. No risk of life or injury for the robot. The cops know whether the targets will comply. Threats are cornered, immobilized. Plug up the toilets so that drugs can’t be flushed. Arm the robots with stun guns, tasers, tear gas.
Art. 15.25. MAY BREAK DOOR. In case of felony, the officer may break down the door of any house for the purpose of making an arrest, if he be refused admittance after giving notice of his authority and purpose.
Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, Chapter 15, Arrest Under Warrant.
“It is so, so beyond time for police officers to face criminal charges for this sort of dishonesty.”
Yep.
L
“Dynamic entry might make sense in a hostage situation.”
Other than that, whoever came up with no-knock, and orders it, should be subjected to it about once every six months.
ya fergot to mention Chyna ...
Waiting for the usual characters to drop in and claim it was a justified shoot because black + hip hop = he was going to earn it and deserve it pretty soon anyhow.
Because that would cost the city a lot more MONEY. It is all about the MONEY. Dynamic entry no-knock should be banned. You have correctly named the sole allowable use.
Until someone (or several someones) succeed in suing some police organization for mega millions of dollars, cities will NOT change their policies.
Let’s see...
Out of a sound sleep, within 9 seconds I could retrieve my weapon, acquire the target, and hit mid mass.
But I’m still dead.
5.56mm
“Art. 15.25. MAY BREAK DOOR. In case of felony, the officer may break down the door of any house for the purpose of making an arrest, if he be refused admittance after giving notice of his authority and purpose.”
Well they do... They yell authority and purpose as they knock the door down and enter. What they do not do is give the occupants time or opportunity to accept or refuse admittance.
Reverse the situation and an average citizen is in prison. You can't have one rule for citizens and another for "those in authority." Right is right and wrong is wrong.
"Tyranny is defined as that which is legal for the government but illegal for the citizenry."
-- Thomas Jefferson
"Because power corrupts, society's demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases."
-- John Adams
Just like what should have been done with David Koresh.
Too many cops want to play GI Joe in America.
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