Monday, July 09, 2012

On the 'attitude' post the other day, Updated

the officer saying When I was on SWAT our view is that "We will always win....even if we have to burn down your entire house by bombing it....we will win". reminded me of something.

Ever hear of MOVE? Nutty group in Philadelphia, and in 1985 the Philadelphia Police raid on them went bad; they actually did bomb the house:
A police helicopter then dropped a four-pound bomb made of C-4 plastic explosive and Tovex, a dynamite substitute, onto the roof of the house.
11 dead, and the whole damn block burned down. I wonder if the clown quoted above considers that appropriate, or possibly a slight overreach?
And, of course, No one from the city government was charged criminally.


A commission that investigated found that Goode and two other officials, police commissioner Gregore Sambor and fire commissioner William Richmond, had been "grossly negligent." The deaths of the MOVE children "appeared to be unjustified homicide," it said. Police had not taken them out of the house when they had the chance. They had used excessive force in firing 10,000 rounds of ammunition into the house. The plan to drop explosives was "reckless" and "unconscionable." And they let the fire burn until it was too late to control.

Update: in comments Keith notes something I'd heard but can't find any reference for: that not only did they drop a bomb, but it had a can of gasoline attached. Which makes it a big damned incendiary bomb dropped on an occupied house surrounded by OTHER houses that were also going to burn. Which to my mind makes the idiots who gave the orders and the moral cretins who carried it out murderers and arsonists. That nobody was charged is disgusting.

1 comment:

Keith said...

IIRC, the IED used against "Move" included a Jerry can of gasoline.