Mississippi police officers shot a mechanic to death Sunday after the cops served an arrest warrant at the wrong residence, according to multiple media reports.
Not only did they try to server a warrant at the wrong address, they shot an innocent man while they were at the wrong address. His wife claims the police account of what went wrong isn't true. Someone got killed, no one got arrested.
Mississippi police officers shot a mechanic to death Sunday after the cops served an arrest warrant at the wrong residence, according to multiple media reports.
Not only did they try to server a warrant at the wrong address, they shot an innocent man while they were at the wrong address. His wife claims the police account of what went wrong isn't true. Someone got killed, no one got arrested.
If you're mad about this read the book " Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's Police Forces" by Radley Balko. This is not an isolated or rare incident.
The left lies about everything. Truth is a liberal value, and truth is a conservative value, but it has never been a left-wing value. People on the left say whatever advances their immediate agenda. Power is their moral lodestar; therefore, truth is always subservient to it. - Dennis Prager
If I heard someone unexpectedly banging on my door and yelling in a loud voice, I would most likely answer the door with a gun in my hand. Now if that someone happened to be the cops, and they were at my house by mistake, and they shoot me because I have a gun.......
Sadly, this is not that uncommon in the last 15-20 years. It really accelerated with the increased use of "no-knock" warrants in the "War on Drugs" which has created a conglomeration of 3 and 4 letter agencies and departments with ever increasing size and out of control budgets and tactics. As mentioned above in bblhd672's post, take a long hard look at what the militarization of our domestic police forces has accomplished--nothing as far as a decrease in drug use or availability (learned nothing from prohibition)--HUGE increase in spending by all levels of government--a SWAT team for every department of every size (everyone wants to be an "Operator" on an "elite unit")--far overstepping the protections of the 4th Amendment in regards to unreasonable search and seizure. There was an article in the Waco paper Monday detailing an "online prostitution sting operation" by the Waco PD over the weekend in which the Department spokesman spoke about the tremendous amount of manpower and time required to set it up and how successful it was and pledging to continue to keep doing them. I was underwhelmed when he said they had arrested a total of 9 people on Class B Misdemeanor Charges over a 3 day operation--which they considered very successful. I was then STUNNED when he said they had also "confiscated" 8 vehicles as a result of those charges. I knew that they could seize property used in an ongoing criminal enterprise such as drug trafficking, but this was a misdemeanor charge. I asked an LEO friend about it and he said they do it in McLennan county and many other places and seize vehicles saying it was involved in "human trafficking" and they are generating a LOT of $$$ for the department budget that way. That's just not right in my book--there was no human trafficking...there were no prostitutes--it was a fake set-up put on by the police dept. specifically to entrap people. Let's be honest--there has always been prostitution and there will always be prostitution. It's called the oldest profession for a reason. There IS "human trafficking" involved in SOME cases, but NOT when the Police Department is the one doing it.
"I looked out under the sun and saw that the race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong" Ecclesiastes 9:11
"The race may not always go to the swift or the battle to the strong, but that's the way the smart money bets" Damon Runyon
Ismael Lopez and his wife, Claudia Linares, were asleep inside their house across the street from Pearson when officers arrived.
Linares said her husband went to the door to see what was happening outside. That's when she heard gunshots and by the time she reached her husband, he was already dead.
"Bullet holes suggest they shot through the door," Wells said.
Officers said Lopez came to the door pointing a gun at them. Those officers claim to have asked Lopez multiple times to drop the gun before they started shooting.
But, neighbors said they didn't hear anything like that.
"I didn't hear yelling," neighbor Nicholas Tramel said.
Tramel's room is right next to the Lopez home. He said he never heard police tell Lopez to put his rifle down.
Wells implied that officers had reasons not to tell the truth in their account of what happened. Namely, because they could face consequences for shooting Lopez. He also said that Claudia, who was the only one on the property who could not be held responsible for shooting Lopez, did not hear any commands or instructions being given. In addition, Wells said Lopez never pointed a gun at the officers.
"There was a gun on the premises, but the man did not have the gun with him when police shot him," he said.
Wells said Claudia Lopez wants justice and for the world to know that her husband was a good man.
I understand the widow has hired an attorney. And I understand that attorneys do not always tell the truth. But if this is a true account somebody should be in jail. I support our LEO's, and have great respect for the job they do. But, they are not above the law.
Ismael Lopez and his wife, Claudia Linares, were asleep inside their house across the street from Pearson when officers arrived.
Linares said her husband went to the door to see what was happening outside. That's when she heard gunshots and by the time she reached her husband, he was already dead.
"Bullet holes suggest they shot through the door," Wells said.
Officers said Lopez came to the door pointing a gun at them. Those officers claim to have asked Lopez multiple times to drop the gun before they started shooting.
But, neighbors said they didn't hear anything like that.
"I didn't hear yelling," neighbor Nicholas Tramel said.
Tramel's room is right next to the Lopez home. He said he never heard police tell Lopez to put his rifle down.
Wells implied that officers had reasons not to tell the truth in their account of what happened. Namely, because they could face consequences for shooting Lopez. He also said that Claudia, who was the only one on the property who could not be held responsible for shooting Lopez, did not hear any commands or instructions being given. In addition, Wells said Lopez never pointed a gun at the officers.
"There was a gun on the premises, but the man did not have the gun with him when police shot him," he said.
Wells said Claudia Lopez wants justice and for the world to know that her husband was a good man.
I understand the widow has hired an attorney. And I understand that attorneys do not always tell the truth. But if this is a true account somebody should be in jail. I support our LEO's, and have great respect for the job they do. But, they are not above the law.
Attorneys may not always tell the truth. However, LEOs are not above fabricating a story to cover their 6s......has been proven time after time.
"Bullet holes suggest they shot through the door," Wells said. "
The local story says the police officers shot through the door. So, how did the police officers see the gun? The cops version of events do not pass the smell test.
So many prosecutions rely on an officers testimony. We tend to give our LEOs the benefit of the doubt in jury trials. LEOs caught lying, have far reaching effects. We tend to trust the LEO's testimony in courts against defendants in court because they are supposed to be the good guys. Everytime a case like this happens our confidence in their honors erodes. The lies do more damage to their honor than the actual transgressions.
Liberty''s Blog
"Today, we need a nation of Minutemen, citizens who are not only prepared to take arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as the basic purpose of their daily life and who are willing to consciously work and sacrifice for that freedom." John F. Kennedy
May this man rest peacefully. I hope that his widow sues the department and the city for everything they have. There's no excuse for this, and utter incompetence is just scratching the surface.
But there's only so many officer involved "incidents" such as this one, the one in twin cities from few weeks ago, and the shooting of Philando Castile to name just few recent ones that actually made it into the news rags, before BLEVE erupts.
We can only blame it on incompetence/lack of training for so long. My view has been that officers that I met who were either retired or near retirement had much greater respect for human life, training, greater level of proficiency, and a calmer disposition towards chaos then their younger counterparts. And I say this as a younger person.
The ones in the 25-45 bracket (which I fall into as well), tend to be too hot headed, too "tacticool", and way too overinflated in positions of authority.
That plus affirmative action, tattoo policies that prevent better trained and more rounded personnel to get hired, and requirements in many big city depts. to have a piece of paper 4 year degree rather then actual street smarts amounts to exacerbation of the problem.
Gone are the days of gritty officer, sure there are few out there, but many younger ones would fill their britches each time car backfires nearby. Not good.
Liberty wrote:So many prosecutions rely on an officers testimony. We tend to give our LEOs the benefit of the doubt in jury trials. LEOs caught lying, have far reaching effects. We tend to trust the LEO's testimony in courts against defendants in court because they are supposed to be the good guys. Everytime a case like this happens our confidence in their honors erodes. The lies do more damage to their honor than the actual transgressions.
In my experience, in life in general, the people I encounter run the gamut from "salt of the earth" to "scum of the earth" and everything in between. This holds true for the coworkers at every job I've ever held, fellow parishioners at church and for every police officer too.
Taken as a group, the police officer/s you encounter have about the same odds of being unscrupulous as the bank tellers or the roofing contractors you encounter.
Police officers are perfectly capable of lying or obfuscating. Some of them would never ever do that. Many of them are more likely to lie or obfuscate than not. All the others lie somewhere in between. They're just like everyone else.
Liberty wrote:So many prosecutions rely on an officers testimony. We tend to give our LEOs the benefit of the doubt in jury trials. LEOs caught lying, have far reaching effects. We tend to trust the LEO's testimony in courts against defendants in court because they are supposed to be the good guys. Everytime a case like this happens our confidence in their honors erodes. The lies do more damage to their honor than the actual transgressions.
In my experience, in life in general, the people I encounter run the gamut from "salt of the earth" to "scum of the earth" and everything in between. This holds true for the coworkers at every job I've ever held, fellow parishioners at church and for every police officer too.
Taken as a group, the police officer/s you encounter have about the same odds of being unscrupulous as the bank tellers or the roofing contractors you encounter.
Police officers are perfectly capable of lying or obfuscating. Some of them would never ever do that. Many of them are more likely to lie or obfuscate than not. All the others lie somewhere in between. They're just like everyone else.
Except "everyone else" doesn't get the benefit of the doubt when it's their word against a state sponsored enforcer.
The left lies about everything. Truth is a liberal value, and truth is a conservative value, but it has never been a left-wing value. People on the left say whatever advances their immediate agenda. Power is their moral lodestar; therefore, truth is always subservient to it. - Dennis Prager
warnmar10 wrote:
Taken as a group, the police officer/s you encounter have about the same odds of being unscrupulous as the bank tellers or the roofing contractors you encounter.
Police officers are perfectly capable of lying or obfuscating. Some of them would never ever do that. Many of them are more likely to lie or obfuscate than not. All the others lie somewhere in between. They're just like everyone else.
I understand the sentiment expressed, and agree that LEOs are people like the rest of us, and therefore some do stupid stuff. However, I think the odds of a LEO doing something like this are a lot less than "everyone else." Just like LTC holders, there are some who will break the law, but statistics show that as a percentage, they are much, much less likely to than the general public. I would like to think the same is true of our law enforcement officers.
Looking at the street view picture on Google maps, it appears the door was not glass, but had a small window to look out of. Either he opened the door and a gun was spotted or they just saw someone and fired. Tragic.
