Posted on 08/30/2015 3:28:02 PM PDT by Sir Gawain
Tampa Bay, FL A Florida family seeks justice after their son Jason Westcott, was killed by members of a SWAT team, during a drug raid on his house which yielded only $2.00 worth of marijuana.
An internal investigation absolved officers of any wrongdoing though police only found .02 grams of marijuana in Westcotts home.
They have IA, they have internal investigations but when you police yourself, you have that veil of concern by the outsider, said attorney T.J. Grimaldi.
On Tuesday, attorney T.J. Grimaldi, representing the family of Westcott, informed the city that family would be filing a lawsuit, after finding numerous glaring inconsistencies in police statements in the aftermath of the killing.
We have developed and seen what we view to be significant inconsistencies with the way that the police department portrayed this case from the get-go all the way to its conclusion, he said. We have put the city and the police department on notice that we are going to be filing a lawsuit, Grimaldi said.
(Excerpt) Read more at thefreethoughtproject.com ...
how can police brutality be dismantled thru-out the US? i’m not talking about them turning all squishy but something has to be done & reform is needed on these jerks who kill people and dogs without significant forethought-they all seem to be frikkin’ trigger happy
Aha! A drug fiend! Death is too good for him!
Lawsuit? After a guy gets killed and the thugs with badges get away?
$2.00 worth of pot? Sounds like three roaches and some seeds.
Hmmm. As I thought. Victim of police was white which is why no big national stories. So sharpton and jesse can stand down.
If you live in Florida, sign the petitions to legalize marijuana. The police enforcement of this law has led to more arrests, SWAT raids and imprisonment for minor possession than any other laws.
That hooligan was smoking the pot... it sounds like he got less than he deserved
/s
But wait! There’s more!
The informant who triggered the raid falsely told the police that the victim was a dealer. And now...
________________________________
A 50-year-old felon and drug addict, Ronnie Bodie Coogle, was the principal Tampa Police Department informer against at least five suspects this year. He conducted nine undercover operations. In their probable-cause affidavits, his handlers called him reliable. Even Tampas police chief praised his track record.
Coogle said they were all wrong. He said he repeatedly lied about suspects, stole drugs he bought on the publics dime and conspired to falsify drug deals.
This happened a year ago, a CI told the cops he was growing the stuff, and when they entered the home Jason picked up his gun before he was shot. There is always more to a story than what it seems at first blush.
/johnny
End the WOD and you end the reason for much of this.
Standard ops for Nazi Drug warriors! They didn’t arrest any SS for crystalnacht either!
Holy cow. Swat teams are sometimes as dangerous as criminals.
Kind of tough to go strong and hard against pot when the GOP-e is in the back pocket of the drug lobbyist.
just saying, it depends who’s ox is being gored.
We are a totalitarian fascist state and the police are doing things like this to terrify the population.
Was he pointing a gun at police when he was shot?
Should not the CI bear some responsibility for this? He admitted that he lied to the police.
I would also pick up my gun against home invaders.
Exactly
Once upon a time they would simply get a warrant, knock on the door, talked to the guy like civilized people, and take it from there.
unless the perp is a known mad dog, why go directly to army man mode?
Modern police training is criminal.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.