Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Ok, we've got a string of law enforcement idiocy to look at

First, from that wonderful place New Orleans:
The last acts of Adolf Grimes will likely result in manipulation of fact and torquing of reality to dovetail with a preordained conclusion in a heated debate over responsibility. Adolf Grimes was shot 14 times, including 12 times in the back, according to Orleans Parish Coroner Frank Minyard. Violently killed in the streets of New Orleans while waiting on his cousin. The first homicide of 2009 in New Orleans. Gunned down by New Orleans police officers. 48 spent brass casings were recovered from the scene.
Plainclothes cops. That many shots fired. And their stories changing:
In the "Superintendent's Major Offense Log" for crimes between 6 a.m. 12.31.08 to 6 a.m. 1.1.09, an unnamed officer in car #4144 wrote in the gist for report #A00426-09 for a code 108 (officer's life in danger) that "officers approached a suspicious vehicle, the subject inside the vehicle pointed a gun at the officers. Officers fired at the subject. The subject expired on scene."

There was no mention of the subject firing a gun, only pointing it at the officers.

Then the next day in the Superintendent's Log, a "Sgt. McMullen" in car #4150 revised the early report, now saying "Officers approached a suspicious subject. The subject fired at the officers, the officers returned fire striking the subject. He expired on scene."

This time the report said the subject fired a gun
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Just bloody wonderful.

Next, Wisconsin DNR says "Do what you're told, peasant. No questions."
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has a simple, blunt message for hunters in Wisconsin: When a DNR warden asks you to give up your legal firearm, do so, plain and simple, no matter what.

What's more, that goes for all citizens, the agency has asserted. Citizens with firearms, the DNR argues, should always do exactly what law enforcement officers tell them to do, regardless of the circumstances of the situation
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Along with this crap, it seems that the way a lot of cops are dealing with there being legal open carry is to arrest anyone open-carrying for 'disorderly conduct', including
In West Allis, in August, in a scenario eerily similar to the one Lawhern outlined, West Allis police drew their weapons and arrested Bruce Krause, who was wearing a holstered legal pistol while planting trees on his own property.
Which is bullcrap. It's police playing "We don't care what the law says, do something we don't like and we'll screw you over." Here's hoping Kraus' fighting back helps stop this crap.

Colt CCO is being screwed over. Again. This is the kind of crap that happens when rights are subject to approval of/idiocy of bureaucrats who can't be bothered with anything except having their blank spaces filled in.

And finally, there's some real questions in this shooting:
According to a statement later released by Bellaire police, officers approached Tolan and Cooper under the mistaken belief that their 2004 Nissan Xterra had been stolen.

Police said an argument broke out as the officers tried to detain and question the two men, but family members said both Tolan and Cooper complied after officers ordered them, at gunpoint, to drop to the ground.

Drawn by the commotion, Tolan's parents came outside. His mother, Marian Tolan, told police she was the homeowner and that her son's car wasn't stolen, said Berg, the family's attorney. He said Sgt. Cotton grabbed the 55-year-old woman and threw her against her garage door. When her son rose slightly from the ground to protest, Cotton fired, striking him once in the abdomen, Berg said. At least two other shots missed and somehow wound up in the ceiling of the home's front porch
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That 'mistaken belief that the car was stolen' is going to need some explanation. I'm not particularly struck by the 'racial profiling' claim; that's often thrown out with no justification, so I'll hold opinion on that. This has a very 'iffy' feel to it, and I'd be interested to see the results of the investigation.

1 comment:

SordidPanda said...

Internal investigations will always find "no fault of the agency or the agent" and that "systems have been emplaced to ensure this scenario doesn't happen again".

I have no faith in government investigating government.