In Georgia Police Kill You !

[FriendlyFire]

Meet 59-year-old David Hooks, the latest drug raid fatality

Phillip Smith at the Drug War Chronicle sums up the news reports detailing the latest casualty in the never-ending U.S. war on drugs.

A Georgia SWAT team shot and killed an armed homeowner during a September 24 drug raid sparked by the word of a self-confessed meth addict and burglar who had robbed the property the previous day. No drugs were found. David Hooks, 59, becomes the 34th person to die in US domestic drug law enforcement operations so far this year.

According to WMAZ TV 13, Laurens County sheriff’s deputies with the drug task force and special response team (SWAT team) conducted a no-knock search on Hooks’ home in East Dublin on the evening of the 24th. When the raiders burst through the back door of the residence, they encountered Hooks’ carrying a shotgun. Multiple deputies opened fire, shooting [and] killing Hooks.

According to his family, Hooks was not a drug user or seller, but was a successful businessman who ran a construction company that, among other things, did work on US military bases. Hooks had passed background checks and had a security clearance.

According to the family attorney’s account, Hooks was asleep when armed deputies arrived at his house at 1184 Ga. 319 just before 11 p.m. Sept. 24. His wife, Teresa, was upstairs in her craft room when she heard a car drive fast up the driveway, and she looked out the window.

“She saw several men all in black and camo with hoods on,” Shook said. “She ran downstairs, woke David and said, ‘The burglars are back.’ ”

Hooks retrieved a gun and headed out of the bedroom as the officers broke down the back door, Shook said. He said Hooks was not wounded at the door but behind a wall in his house.

“They may have seen him with a weapon, but it appears at that point in time it was chaos,” Shook said. “They were shooting everywhere. There’s a lot more to it than law enforcement has reported.”

He believes deputies fired 16 to 18 shots from multiple guns and assault rifles. Shook also questioned the wisdom of serving the warrant so late at night.

Four years ago, I described another fatality at the hands of a Georgia anti-drug task force — the death of pastor Jonathan Ayers. Eight years ago, a narcotics team from Atlanta killed 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston during a drug raid on her home, then attempted to plant drugs in her basement to cover its mistake. The team had been relying on a tip from an informant and did no corroborating investigation.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...test-drug-raid-fatality/?tid=trending_strip_5

OBAMA BIDDEN
So much for only keeping a shotgun and firing a few warning shots into the air, clearly heavier fire power is required by law abiding citizens

Seriously, what is wrong with America these days ?

 

[Kaitzilla]

No-knock breaking through the back door at night just before 11PM?

“She saw several men all in black and camo with hoods on,” Shook said. “She ran downstairs, woke David and said, ‘The burglars are back.’

The main fatal mistake these citizens made.

 

[JollyRoger]

No knock vs. castle doctrine is always entertaining.

 

[Rashiminos]

I wonder if SWATing will catch on among the breaking and entering types.

 

[kramerfan86]

No knocks simply should not be legal, especially when the dubious justification is the word of one burglar.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

No knocks simply should not be legal, especially when the dubious justification is the word of one burglar.

There is a burgeoning market for steel security doors, clearly.

 

[Berzerker]

I hate the drug war, it has turned society into a nation of suspects and trigger happy cops

 

[Kyriakos]

Any announcement by the PD on why their meth-addict burglar was viewed as a good source to base their hooded attack of that house at near midnight?

..

 

[Berzerker]

and the supreme court sez no-knock drug raids are reasonable searches and do not violate the 4th Amendment

the cops wont be raiding their homes

the Democraps and Repuglicans are turning us into a police state

 

[gay_Aleks]

And it's not even an effective police state. Nobody would complain if the US was at least as half as competent as the one envisioned by Orwell.

 

[Camikaze]

I don't understand how you could reconcile the separation of powers with the seeming pervasiveness of dubious no-knock warrants.

 

[aelf]

Now where's the law-and-order crowd?

 

[Sommerswerd]

When I saw the thread title I thought it was the nation of Georgia on the Black Sea... I was thinking "Well at least its not the US again" Silly, silly Sommerswerd... of course its the US again

 

[kramerfan86]

and the supreme court sez no-knock drug raids are reasonable searches and do not violate the 4th Amendment

the cops wont be raiding their homes

the Democraps and Repuglicans are turning us into a police state

The supreme court is a joke, I want one of them with a straight face to tell me the founding fathers would consider kicking in a citizen's door in the middle of the night to be "reasonable"

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Any announcement by the PD on why their meth-addict burglar was viewed as a good source to base their hooded attack of that house at near midnight?

..

You seem to be implying that meth addict burglars aren't considered to be good sources all the time. Good enough to get a warrant and go searching anyway. Executing no knock warrants is fun, so cops don't need a particularly good excuse.

 

[Sommerswerd]

No-knock breaking through the back door at night just before 11PM?

Executing no knock warrants is fun.

Especially in the middle of the night dressed all in camo. Why can't you just wait until daytime? Cause they wanted to hurry up and do it as soon as they got the warrant. Cause it's fun Why do you need camo at night anyway? Cause it's fun

 

[warpus]

Why do cops do no-knock warrants in states where castle doctrine is a thing, anyway? Aren't they worried that their officers are going to get shot in the face?

 

[Sommerswerd]

Why do cops do no-knock warrants in states where castle doctrine is a thing, anyway? Aren't they worried that their officers are going to get shot in the face?

The same political and judicial climate that favours stronger Castle doctrines also favours granting more no-knock warrants. So they are just natural bedfellows despite seeming contradictory or inherently volatile when comingled.

 

[warpus]

You'd think that the need for police officer safety, not to mention "your average citizen" safety would knock some common sense into these people...

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Why do cops do no-knock warrants in states where castle doctrine is a thing, anyway? Aren't they worried that their officers are going to get shot in the face?

They are in body armor and trained to shoot and provide cover for each other, and they vastly outnumber the targets. They are at minimal risk.

Most things that are really fun carry at least some amount of risk, and any honest cop will tell you that there is no rush like the rush of kicking in a door and waving automatic weapons at frantically screaming people. Unfortunately, like any other really great rush, it is addictive and addicts seldom consider the consequences of taking a hit.

This thing in Georgia is obviously bad news and all concerned would acknowledge it. The real disaster is that there are thousands of times a year where a door gets kicked in, a household gets terrorized, and the warrant is found to be erroneous...but since no one gets shot the police walk away saying "oh well, no harm done, where to next?" and it might get a very brief mention in the media, but probably won't.