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Talkin' 'Bout the Guns of Brixton Blues
The SWAT sagas continue...
In Montreal , it looks as if a "Cory Maye north" situation is shaping up. Basile Parasiris was home with his family when a paramilitary police team broke into the house with a battering ram as part of a larger drug raid. With son on the phone with 911, Parasiris exchanged fire with the raiding cops, believing them to be thieves. He shot two, killing one. Police returned fire, wounding Parasiris' wife. Police found no drugs in the home. Parasiris' gun was legal and registered. He's being charged with first-degree murder for the shooting of the dead officer, and attempted murder for the shooting of the wounded one.
Georgette Prince was making a quick run to the store last Thursday morning for orange soda and lottery tickets -- a venture that should have been an uneventful five-minute trip but became a terrifying 20-minute ordeal.
The unsuspecting Prince was caught in the storm of a SWAT team raid that had her in fear for her life.
``I thought I was going to be shot. I thought I was going to die,'' Prince recalled over the weekend as she sat in the living room of her Grace Avenue home.
She said she was just stepping out the front door of Mr. Pantry, a Copley Road convenience store, when her world became a frantic, frightening blur of guns, shouts and shoves of helmeted, armored men with guns.
``I didn't know what was going on,'' Prince said.
[...]
``I was holding the pop in my arms and was backing out the door, pushing it open with my back,'' Prince said.
``The next thing I know, I'm being shoved back into the store and someone is pointing a rifle at me, yelling at me to get back, get back and to get down on the floor.''
With the rifle trained on her and an officer clad in helmet and body armor advancing toward her, Prince went to the floor face-down. She said her hands were pulled behind her back and she was handcuffed.
``I was crying and telling them my son was outside in the car,'' she said.
[...]
Outside the store, Prince's son found himself in an equally frightening situation as he stared down the barrel of a rifle.
``I was just sitting in the car waiting for my mom'' when a SWAT officer pointed a rifle at him, Davonte said.
``He was looking at me through the rifle's scope and telling me to get out of the Jeep, get on the ground and put my hands behind my back,'' Davonte said.
The Perkins Middle School student said he complied and lay on the ground, which was wet from the morning's rain.
The officer ``asked me how old I was, searched me, then took me to the back of the jeep,'' said Davonte, who acknowledged he was frightened.
After questioning the officers involved, the sheriff's office confirmed the Prince family's version of the day's events for the most part, but noted that standard entry procedures were followed.
``We believe everything was done according to the book,'' said Keith Thornton, an inspector with the sheriff's office. He stressed that officers ``did nothing wrong and followed protocol and procedure.''
Capt. Richard Roach, who was at the scene as the tactical command leader, concurred with Thornton's assessment.
``It was a standard SWAT entry,'' Roach said. ``It is designed to be quick, loud and startling.''
The SWAT team raid corresponded with a shoplifting investigation.
The justification from the officers is absurd, but typical. Golly. As long as we follow "procedure," all is hunky-dory, right? Never mind the terrified woman and her son.
Yes, no one was shot. This time. But how can anyone in his right mind think this is an appropriate police tactic? There was no imminent threat, here. They could have nabbed the suspected shoplifter store-owner as he was coming or going. Instead, they had to play Rambo, blaze into a retail store, and terrorize innocent people.
|3.8.07 @ 8:20AM|#
Holy shit. I live only a few minutes away from Mr. Pantry. This
is the first I've ever heard of these para-military raids in Akron,
but now I know it won't be the last.
Fucking pigs.
|3.8.07 @ 8:36AM|#
From the article, it sounds like she wasn't involved in the
shoplifting ring. Not that as matters as far as the use of SWAT to
prevent the imminent danger to Twix bars, aspirin, and Milk, but do
you know if she was charged with anything, Radley?
Or was it one of those, throw her down with a gun in her face, cuff
her, scream accusations, demand a confession, only to realize she's
innocent and let her go as if nothing happened situations?
Where's Russ to tell us that because no one was killed, these
tactics are OK and equivalent to a uniformed officer asking her
stop and besides, the police get the practice they need for "real"
dangerous situations?
John M. Joy|3.8.07 @ 8:42AM|#
Perhaps we should let Inspector Thornton know how we feel about
his "protocol and procedure." Per the contact information on an
unrelated press release from his office:
INSPECTOR KEITH THORNTON SUMMIT COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE (330) 643-
5455 OR (330) 351-1501
JMJ
|3.8.07 @ 8:45AM|#
I think this sort of thing is partially responsible for creating an insurgency over here.
|3.8.07 @ 8:47AM|#
That's doubly awful. I love to meet the guy who though that "correct procedure" would include raiding a store to look for stolen goods during business hours while there are customers inside. Of course, that's what they do when they raid a bar looking for age/drug violations, so I guess it should be no surprise.
|3.8.07 @ 8:57AM|#
Basile Parasiris took out two trained paramilitary policeman who surprised him and wasn't wounded himself? While I'm sorry for the cops, he should get the legion of honor for single-handedly undermining the stereotypes about the French.
|3.8.07 @ 9:03AM|#
The circumstances as described here are pretty confusing: the store owner is suspected of shoplifting? In his own store? Be that as it may, shoplifting, in common parlance, is not a violent crime. Consequently, the cop who approved this exercise should be busily updating his resume, while on UNPAID "administrative leave."
|3.8.07 @ 9:12AM|#
I think any special that immunity that police have from being sued needs to go. They are civilians doing only what every citizen's job is.
|3.8.07 @ 9:14AM|#
Haven't read the Montreal article yet (can't pull it up from my work computer for some reason), but as for the Ohio case, I fail to see how it makes any sense. They "knew there was the potential for customers to be in the store", but they went in with the SWAT team because the target was violent and known to have guns. Well, that's great. Not only are you terrorizing any customers that might be in the store but you're also putting them at significant risk of being right in the middle of the crossfire between the target of the raid and the police. Just brilliant. Truly.
methodman|3.8.07 @ 9:18AM|#
With son on the phone with 911, Parasiris exchanged fire
with the raiding cops, believing them to be thieves. He shot two,
killing one.
Cop schadenfreude is the best schadenfreude.
Really - fuck 'em.
|3.8.07 @ 9:30AM|#
Somewhere, up the chain of command, is some poltiician who can be ousted at the next election for allowing this kind of caper to go on without punishment for those who planned and authorized such an operation. We need the ACLU and the Institute for Justice to take on out-of-control and excessive police tactics.
|3.8.07 @ 9:30AM|#
...for single-handedly undermining the stereotypes about the
French.
Abdul, while they do speak the language French-Canadians have not
had any association with the nation of France for well over two
hundred years. And when they did they tended to view that country
as a remote and indifferent colonial master.
It's sort of like applying the stereotypes of the English to
Americans because Americans speak English.
As to the event I had thought that this sort of thing might be
unlikely in Montreal since I thought they had significantly revised
their SWAT rules.
If any stereotype is blown it is the image of Canadians as
peace-loving folks with a live-and-let-live attitude towards
drugs.
|3.8.07 @ 9:31AM|#
The people in law enforcment are just monkeys. They are just
monkeys anymore. Further, their ability to be absolutely gutless
and ballless never fails to amaze me. Give me a gun and a badge and
I will go to any neighborhood in this country. These clowns can't
walk into a convience store without shoving assault rifles in
people's faces because "the safety of the officer is
paramount".
No it really isn't. The safety of the officer is important, but it
is not paramount. Perhaps these monkeys should think about the
whole "protect and serve" thing. Their job is to protect civilians.
That means that they are expected as part of their job to risk in
some rare cases sacrifice their lives for the general public. That
means that if SWAT procedures can reduce the chance of an officer
being shot are not justified if they corrispondingly increase the
chances of innocent people being shot. That is not how these people
think. They have the "rather be tried by 12 than carried by 6"
mentality. The bottomline is the police consider their lives more
important than not just the criminal they are pursueing but any
innocent people who happen to be in the way.
|3.8.07 @ 9:32AM|#
In all reality shoplifting is a greater burden on the
individuals in society than drug use. At least you can identify a
victim and assign a value.
I am telling you all these guys are OBVIOUSLY not that bright or
just so gung ho and overly empowered they just don't think period.
A few tip calls for properly selected homes given to the right
agencies on places to find drugs or now the new and improved no
knock standard shoplifter RAID. This is all it will take.
Its obvious they don't actually investigate anything they are now
just like politicians and react over the top without thinking. So
what are the odds they will know they are kickin down the door to
some politicians daughters home, all they see is the DRUGSSSSSSS.
As with anything its not how many people die or how invasive it is
to liberty and freedom that motivates change from law makers
because they don't suffer for the laws they create. Once they start
I assure you the laws will change.
Fight fire with fire. Oddly enough that is the whole problem with
the Raid tactics. They expect everyone to meet them with open arms
after they wake you up kicking in your door. Kumbahyah..
|3.8.07 @ 9:34AM|#
Plus, "Basile Parasiris" is not French, or French Canadian, or Quebecois: he's Greek.
|3.8.07 @ 9:43AM|#
How many of these do we need to officially declare Akron/Ohio/USA to be a police state?
|3.8.07 @ 9:47AM|#
The circumstances as described here are pretty confusing:
the store owner is suspected of shoplifting? In his own
store?
I assume the store owner was acting as a fence in this case.
|3.8.07 @ 9:58AM|#
"I assume the store owner was acting as a fence in this
case."
So the procedure to make a garden variety arrest on a petty
non-violent crime is now to kick down the door, and terrorize
everyone in a 100 foot radius and risk an accidental discharge and
the resulting risk of death? Walking in the store and telling the
guy he is under arrest just won't work anymore since we all know
that stolen goods fences are known killers who would think nothing
of turning a petty fencing charge into a capital one by shooting
the cop who came to arrest him. That is pathetic. Why would they do
that? I will tell you because they like to terrorize the people
they arrest. It is not good enough for them to just enforce the
law. No, they have to take this guy down and teach him a lesson.
What that says is that the police are more interested in
terrorizing the public than they are in doing their jobs.
|3.8.07 @ 10:01AM|#
It tells me that arrest statistics are more important than the lives of the public that are allegedly being protected.
|3.8.07 @ 10:02AM|#
While technically not shoplifting the store owner was a certain Middle Eastern gentleman, charging higher than a "fair" price, thus was guilty of price gouging, which is the equivalent of shop lifting from his customers.
|3.8.07 @ 10:02AM|#
Abdul, while they do speak the language French-Canadians
have not had any association with the nation of France for well
over two hundred years. And when they did they tended to view that
country as a remote and indifferent colonial
master.
Please do not confuse my sterotyping with facts.
|3.8.07 @ 10:04AM|#
That means that if SWAT procedures can reduce the chance of
an officer being shot are not justified if they corrispondingly
increase the chances of innocent people being shot. That is not how
these people think. They have the "rather be tried by 12 than
carried by 6" mentality.
Sounds like we need to have a lot more cops "tried by 12."
|3.8.07 @ 10:10AM|#
Basile Parasiris took out two trained paramilitary policeman
who surprised him and wasn't wounded himself? While I'm sorry for
the cops,
Why?
|3.8.07 @ 10:15AM|#
These tactics are absolutely necessary to continue the
preservation of the integrity involving the overall safety of
american society and the continuation of liberty and freedom for
all law abiding Americans. If a person cant see that they are
either liberal, anti-american or a law breaker themselves.
(or maybe homersexual or communist or a drug addict or some other
non christian godless unpatriotic terrorista)
can I get an Amen
|3.8.07 @ 10:25AM|#
R C Dean,
Cops aren't robots. They have families. Even when they screw up,
they still deserve a little respect. All the "F' them" comments
here go a little over the top. Believing that all cops are
trigger-happy inhuman monsters is believing in a cartoonish
stereotype (and that's form someone who jumped in to make a cheap
french joke) and oversimplifies the issue.
If it's wrong for the cops to think that all drug users and
shop-lifters are potentially violent and require the SWAT
treatment, why is it right for us to say "F' them" to cops who get
killed in the line of duty? Are the cops any less human?
|3.8.07 @ 10:27AM|#
I wonder if there is anyway of having the prosecutor disbarred for bringing a case like this against Parasiris, or Corey Maye?
|3.8.07 @ 10:27AM|#
"...the store owner was a certain Middle Eastern
gentleman...."
If that is the case, I'm surprised they didn't send the bomb squad
in to level the place, "just to be sure."
|3.8.07 @ 10:28AM|#
"Are the cops any less human?"
When they think that arresting a shoplifter justifies using a SWAT
team, they kind of set themselves up for that assumption you
know?
|3.8.07 @ 10:35AM|#
Plus, "Basile Parasiris" is not French, or French Canadian,
or Quebecois: he's Greek.
Thank you. I did not realize that.
Please do not confuse my sterotyping with facts.
I'll try to remember that. :)
Sensationalist|3.8.07 @ 10:51AM|#
All this agreement is getting boring. Where are the trolls when
we need them?
Come out, come out, wherever you are!
Egon|3.8.07 @ 10:52AM|#
My question is, Couldn't they have waited another 30 seconds for the Princes to leave the parking lot? Blocked traffic to prevent other customers from coming into the area? What was so all-fired pressing about making this arrest that it couldn't have waited? Maybe I missed something, but what did the Princes have to do with it in the first place?
|3.8.07 @ 10:58AM|#
If it's wrong for the cops to think that all drug users and
shop-lifters are potentially violent and require the SWAT
treatment, why is it right for us to say "F' them" to cops who get
killed in the line of duty? Are the cops any less human?
Abdul, stop trying to ruin our cop bashing with reasoned
arguments.
|3.8.07 @ 11:00AM|#
Shoplifters are all dangerious felons, look at Winona Ryder, won't like to take her down, without a whole SWAT team behind me. As for jaywalkers and people with ovedue library fines, there you had better just shoot them from a distance to be on the safe side.
|3.8.07 @ 11:00AM|#
People should start calling in tips of drug activity at local politicians houses. I think we'd see these raids stop real quick.
Egon|3.8.07 @ 11:02AM|#
Roach said it was understood that there was ``the potential for customers'' inside the store. But he said SWAT operations are done in a carefully coordinated and precise time frame.
``Once we are rolling, we are rolling,'' Roach said.
OK, now that is some bullshit. According to Eric Haney in "Inside
Delta Force," Delta trains to abort missions right up to the last
second. It's not fun and it's not easy, but it's necessary to adapt
to changing situations--like, say, innocent people in the
crossfire. In this case, I'm for SWAT being more like special
forces.
"Once we are rolling" my ass.
|3.8.07 @ 11:19AM|#
The reason the cops are being treated like robots is because
they are acting like them. None of the are questioning the methods
when they are being briefed. They are "cowboying up" instead. Egon
makes a great point, a raid can be, and should be, aborted if the
parameters have changed to where there is more risk for the public.
Also, instead of getting the mom & kid out of harms way, they
were treated like criminals, with rifles in their faces, thrown to
the ground, and cuffed. Yet another example of being robots,
everyone is a criminal until they are proven innocent.
Nick
|3.8.07 @ 11:20AM|#
Cannot agree with Abdul. While everyone is human and makes mistakes, your actions and attitudes after the mistake make all the difference in whether I forgive you or say "f'em".
mediageek|3.8.07 @ 11:35AM|#
"Cops aren't robots. They have families. Even when they
screw up, they still deserve a little respect."
Respect is earned, not given. There is nothing in either of these
stories that compells me to give respect to any of the authorities
involved with these utterly shameful activities.
LarryA|3.8.07 @ 11:37AM|#
What was happening was Operation Milkman, an investigation
of a multimillion-dollar, multicounty shoplifting ring that led
last Thursday morning to raids at nine businesses and the arrests
of nearly two dozen people in Summit, Portage and Medina
counties.
Summit sheriff's deputies and Akron police swooped down on Mr.
Pantry and seven other small neighborhood stores in Akron,
confiscating allegedly stolen goods and arresting the stores'
owners.
In these massive raids all the officers synchronize watches and hit
the door as the second hand ticks past twelve. Regardless of what
is happening at each scene. Dumb. Dangerous.
It would be much safer to wait a few minutes until
the store is clear, then have one uniformed officer step in the
door and say, "Put your hands on the counter. I'm going to arrest
you. If you reach for your piece my partner is going to shoot you
with her shotgun."
Dan T.|3.8.07 @ 11:37AM|#
The more frequent use of SWAT teams wouldn't be necessary if
guns weren't as easy to come by as buying a pack of cigarettes.
Anyone can purchase a gun these days.
The terrorized civilians in this story can thank the NRA for their
ordeal.
|3.8.07 @ 11:49AM|#
Cops aren't robots. They have families. Even when they screw
up, they still deserve a little respect. All the "F' them" comments
here go a little over the top. Believing that all cops are
trigger-happy inhuman monsters is believing in a cartoonish
stereotype (and that's form someone who jumped in to make a cheap
french joke) and oversimplifies the issue.
If it's wrong for the cops to think that all drug users and
shop-lifters are potentially violent and require the SWAT
treatment, why is it right for us to say "F' them" to cops who get
killed in the line of duty? Are the cops any less human?
Abdul,
Why is it right? While it can be said it is never "right" to take
pleasure in the death of others, the idea of just desserts applies
here. Here is a member of an armed group whom either through his
own ignorance (which it can never be stated enough, is never an
excuse for violent behavior) or through his own ** participated in
the violent attack on an innocent household. At no point during the
execution of the attack did the officer question the validity of
the data or the necessary use of force in this case. No on location
information reconnaissance was made to see who was in the home. A
simple infrared scan would have indicated the presence of
children.
So while it may be unfair to think all cops are like this, it is
also unfair for all cops to think every house holds nefarious drug
dealers and weapons smuglers. We are using as much proof and logic
in our "F" them comments as they do in their raids.
I will always be wary of cops. I will never in my life trust a
single cop no matter how nice he seems, on duty or off. Why?
Because I don't know what type of cop I'm dealing with and they
have the guns.
|3.8.07 @ 11:53AM|#
Dan T.
Or the NRA can be thanked that people like Mr. Parasiris are able
to defend themselves against un-invited assailants on their home
and family. The use of SWAT teams does not negate the need for good
intelligence and a minimal level of on-scene reconnaissance (like
infrared cameras, which would have easily told them how many
people, where they stood, and their approximate age/build).
One hopes cops are not uneducated ex-high school football
stars/drop outs, and would be able to easily tell when SWAT raids
are warranted given the amount of technology at their disposal. But
time and time again they show that they don't have this level of
intelligence.
|3.8.07 @ 11:58AM|#
Cannot agree with Abdul. While everyone is human and makes
mistakes, your actions and attitudes after the mistake make all the
difference in whether I forgive you or say "f'em".
Well, the action and attitude of at least one cop in Montreal after
his mistake is that he's dead. He's the one who I have a tough time
saying "f'em" towards. Sure, you can criticize the departmental
policies, spokespeople, apologists, etc. But this guy won't be able
to apologize, reflect, show remorse or even continue making the
same damn mistake over and over again.
|3.8.07 @ 12:00PM|#
Dan T. | March 8, 2007, 11:37am | #
The more frequent use of SWAT teams wouldn't be necessary if guns
weren't as easy to come by as buying a pack of cigarettes. Anyone
can purchase a gun these days.
The terrorized civilians in this story can thank the NRA for their
ordeal.
What explains the Canadian story, Dan?
M|3.8.07 @ 12:10PM|#
Dan T. - Would you have the government provide enough armed guards in enough places at enough times to protect an unarmed citizenry from violent predators?
|3.8.07 @ 12:18PM|#
If it's wrong for the cops to think that all drug users and shop-lifters are potentially violent and require the SWAT treatment, why is it right for us to say "F' them" to cops who get killed in the line of duty? Are the cops any less human?
Of those two groups, which contains people acting like wannabe
storm troopers, running around storming buildings and pointing guns
in peoples' faces for penny-ante offenses and asserting that it's
not possibly their fault if perfectly innocent suspects get
shot?
Fuck these police.
|3.8.07 @ 12:25PM|#
But this guy won't be able to apologize, reflect, show remorse or even continue making the same damn mistake over and over again.
Some consequences of stupidity and arrogance are
irreversible.
Unfortunately for the rest of us, deaths like this get used to
justify SWAT tactics.
|3.8.07 @ 12:30PM|#
Akron cops have never been considered terribly friendly or
easygoing, that's for sure. This kind of thing pisses me off and
tarnishes my generally positive view of the Akron area.
There's a definite sore spot regarding the city's police force
right now. The City is something like 40 officers short of being
"fully staffed", whatever that means. To take care of that, Mayor
The Don practically dictated by fiat an income tax increase (it
will go on a ballot many payers will never see, as they only work,
but don't live, in Akron). Some of the expected increased revenue
is to go to hire full-time cops.
Now in the interim, for the summer, the The Don - in one of his
smarter moments - has proposed hiring part-time officers to cover
the increased demand while they go about training the expected
full-timers. Naturally, the FOP in Akron is all up in arms,
accusing The Don of "union busting". Never mind these guys are
members of the Reserves, the Retired, the already part-time, the
Sheriff's Dept., the University Police or neighboring communities'
forces (and thus probably already unionized). They're already
trained to State standards.
So that was a bit of a tangent...
KoWT|3.8.07 @ 12:37PM|#
people get the government that they deserve
it takes a special kind of population to tolerate liberal use of
SWAT tactics in serving warrants on suspected scofflaws
a class warfare disconnect or something
|3.8.07 @ 12:41PM|#
alpha male,
Good call. You beat me to it on the Basile Parasiris is Greek
thing.
"Orange soda and lottery tickets"
LOL
all kinds of stupid,
What's so funny? The kid needs to eat a healthy breakfast, right?
:)
|3.8.07 @ 1:02PM|#
Abdul,
I'll stand with you. "F'em" is the wrong attitude. It dehumanizes
your opposition. It dehumanizes you to your opposition.
What if SWAT forces raided some guy who was not engaged in illegal
activity or was engaged in an illegal but victimless activity, this
guy recognized that he was being raided by the police, and he chose
to fire upon them, would you still say fuck'em about the
police?
(By the way, Firefox spellchecker does not recognize "victimless."
Interesting.)
|3.8.07 @ 1:12PM|#
[quote]an uneventful five-minute trip but became a terrifying
20-minute ordeal.[/quote]
Wow, lucky her. When I was an innocent bystander in a NYPD raid
last year it was a 5-hour ordeal. Though admittedly only about the
first 5 minutes were terrifying.
|3.8.07 @ 1:20PM|#
Sorry, Abdul, but I just can't work up any tears for anyone (cop or not) who is killed by someone acting in defense of their home and family. Period. Full Stop.
|3.8.07 @ 1:22PM|#
What if SWAT forces raided some guy who was not engaged in
illegal activity or was engaged in an illegal but victimless
activity, this guy recognized that he was being raided by the
police, and he chose to fire upon them, would you still say fuck'em
about the police?
If it was me or them, I'd open fire. And the way these SWAT teams
act, you'd have to say they are putting your life and those of your
family in immediate danger.
Bob|3.8.07 @ 1:28PM|#
"How many of these do we need to officially declare
Akron/Ohio/USA to be a police state?"
Given the context, do we bump that up to North America?
But about the Akron case, if it's stolen goods and the owner of the
store and shoplifting, it's really ahrd to put
together. I could imagine the store owner stealing from delivery
trucks or warehouses and selling in his store, but shoplifting
goods from other stores to sell in his own??? How much could you
make doing that?
methodman|3.8.07 @ 1:40PM|#
I still don't understand how Mr. Parasiris made it out of this alive. Isn't the whole point of a SWAT team to have a massive and overwhelming amount of firepower?
|3.8.07 @ 1:42PM|#
The more frequent use of SWAT teams wouldn't be necessary if
guns weren't as easy to come by as buying a pack of cigarettes.
Anyone can purchase a gun these days.
Don't mean to be insulting you Dan, but this comment is one of the
more stupid ones you've put up on this forum. If you'll notice the
first raid occurred in Canada, where the gun laws are
much, much stricter than those here in the States.
Indeed, Canada bans "assault weapons" and "Saturday Night Specials"
and has mandatory registration of all guns. Everything the NRA
opposes.
The terrorized civilians in this story can thank the NRA for
their ordeal.
Considering the NRA doesn't lobby in Canada (that's primarily the
duty of the National Firearms Association, an unrelated Canadian
group), that's a big accomplishment.
Dan T.|3.8.07 @ 1:46PM|#
For everyone who didn't take the time to click on the link to
the whole story:
According to Prince, another customer, a man, ran toward the
cooler when officers barged in and she saw the owner of the store
at the counter.
``He had a gun on his hip... ,'' Prince said. ``I was just hoping
he didn't do anything. I was thinking if the owner made any kind of
move, I was going to get killed.
The owner was armed, with a gun on his side and was purportedly
dangerous. Once again, if he never had the gun in the first place
the SWAT team would have been unnecessary. But the right-wing
slackjaws on this site don't seem to get that.
And, oh yeah, there's this:
He said one of the officers picked up Prince's lottery tickets
from the floor and gave them to her.
``An officer apologized to her for the unfortunate situation,''
Roach said. ``He explained to her that she was just in the wrong
place at the wrong time.''
Thornton said a letter will be sent to Prince apologizing for the
fact that she was ``caught up'' in an unfortunate
situation.
|3.8.07 @ 1:59PM|#
Yes, I'm sure the letter will make all that unnecessary bullshit
that happened to her go away.
Dan, you're either trolling or incredibly naive (I'd say it's about
70/30).
|3.8.07 @ 2:04PM|#
Sorry, Abdul, but I just can't work up any tears for anyone
(cop or not) who is killed by someone acting in defense of their
home and family. Period. Full Stop.
Look, I'm not saying that Parasiris did the wrong thing. It sounds
like he did the right thing and prosecuting him for his reaction is
wrong. He reasonably, but wrongly, believed that the cops were
criminals. So how do you know that the cops in this case weren't
also acting under reasonable, but wrong, beliefs? Even Parasiris
regrets it himself.
Parasiris's brother, Nick, said the family is sorry for the death
of Tessier, a father of two adolescent girls - but maintained his
brother had no idea it was police in his house
There's no reason to be less charitable than the guy who was
actually involved in the incident.
|3.8.07 @ 2:06PM|#
But the right-wing slackjaws on this site don't seem to get
that.
I actually had the opportunity to see a family of right-wing
slackjaws in the wild on my birding trip last summer.
It was breathtaking.
Classical Conservative|3.8.07 @ 4:38PM|#
I get hard whenever a cop is killed. I love it. No I am not pro-criminal (circumventing the straw man) but if pedophiles, cops and murderers get taken down; I rejoice.
|3.8.07 @ 4:55PM|#
I relinquish this thread. I don't want to win a thread about
rejoicing over police officers deaths.
Classical Conservative,
Grow up. Grow a heart.
You're sick in the head.
John M. Joy|3.8.07 @ 5:00PM|#
I concur, actually.
There's a difference between noting "so-and-so earned a
well-deserved Darwin Award" and being happy about it.
JMJ
|3.8.07 @ 5:11PM|#
Don't get me wrong. I'm not rejoicing over the dead cops here. I wish they weren't dead. But its really hard for me to say that they weren't killed in self-defense, and that means it wasn't wrong to kill them.
|3.8.07 @ 5:12PM|#
The owner was armed, with a gun on his side and was
purportedly dangerous.
Yeah, why would anyone who is trying to run a crime magnet like a
quick-stop store ever need a gun.
|3.8.07 @ 5:27PM|#
R C,
Ya see, Dan probably already thought of that, but being trollish
and/or really believing that a gun may not be a useful tool to such
a proprietor, he said what you quoted.
Classical Conservative|3.8.07 @ 5:43PM|#
Classical Conservative,
Grow up. Grow a heart.
You're sick in the head.
I have a heart, it just isn't a bleeding one.
Classical Conservative|3.8.07 @ 5:44PM|#
There's a difference between noting "so-and-so earned a
well-deserved Darwin Award" and being happy about it.
And I'm literally happy. I'm taking my womanfriend out for coffee
(I don't drink, it is degenerate) to celebrate.
Classical Conservative|3.8.07 @ 6:36PM|#
I think we have a twisted, ironic troll on our hands.
bj, is that you?
Of course, anyone who has a minority viewpoint is a troll.
|3.8.07 @ 6:43PM|#
How is posting a reductio-sarcastic post presenting a minority
viewpoint?
Or do you literally sprout wood when a cop is killed?
|3.8.07 @ 8:20PM|#
Dan T:
Actually, it is harder to buy firearms today than it was before the
Gun Control Act of 1968. The first SWAT teams were formed in
1969.
|3.8.07 @ 8:27PM|#
methodman wrote:
I still don't understand how Mr. Parasiris made it out of this
alive. Isn't the whole point of a SWAT team to have a massive and
overwhelming amount of firepower?
These were CANADIAN cops.
Note the score:
trained, prepared assailants with element of surprise: 2 KIA
untrained, surprised defenders: 1 WIA
The difference is like a chase between a cheetah and an antelope.
The deer is running for her life, the cat is only running for her
lunch.
The cops were attacking for their jobs. The victim was defending
his wife.
|3.8.07 @ 8:44PM|#
For a blast from the past, consider the kgBATF assault at Waco.
I think that it would have been amusing if the ninjas had swarmed
into the building, then after half an hour or so, the TV crews had
taped the Branch Davidians answering the door with "Cops? What
cops? You say that they came in HERE . . ?"
I still remember that one ninja, whimpering to the reporters "We
thought we were attacking a CHURCH . . !"
Ponder the statement, and what he unwittingly revealed about his
agency.
LarryA|3.9.07 @ 11:54AM|#
The more frequent use of SWAT teams wouldn't be necessary if
guns weren't as easy to come by as buying a pack of cigarettes.
Anyone can purchase a gun these days. The terrorized civilians in
this story can thank the NRA for their ordeal.
Gunlaw Britain on the side of the criminals
By Simon Heffer, The Daily Telegraph (UK) February 17,
2007
"It is one of the great paradoxes of modern life that since the
clamp-down on gun ownership after the hideous massacre at Dunblane
in 1996, there are far more firearms in circulation than ever: and
most appear to be in the hands of criminals, held without the
knowledge of the police. The law actively persecutes licensed gun
owners, while apparently letting the unlicensed ones run out of
control."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2007/02/17/do1703.xml
Guns for hire at £250 a night
by Robert Mendick, The Evening Standard (UK) February 16,
2007
"The ease with which firearms are available routinely on a rental
basis emerges after a series of shootings in which three young men
have died in south London in less than two weeks."
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23385772-details/Guns+for+hire+at+%C2%A3250+a+night/article.do
Gun Laws that Constrain the Law-abiding
by Steve Lee, The Daily Telegraph (UK) February 16,
2007
"We have, post-Dunblane, what are said to be the toughest gun
control laws in the world. They have actually proved strikingly
ineffectual.
"Gun crime has doubled since they were introduced. Young hoodlums
are able to acquire handguns - either replica weapons that have
been converted, or imports from eastern Europe - with ease. With no
dedicated frontier police, our borders remain hopelessly porous.
The only people currently incommoded by the firearms laws are
legitimate holders of shotgun licences, who are subjected to the
most onerous police checks."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2007/02/16/dl1601.xml
The U.S. based National Rifle Assoication does not influence laws
in Great Britain.
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