Another Isolated Incident

Police in Tennessee raid wrong side of a duplex, throw residents to the floor at gunpoint, manage to handcuff a recovering cancer patient. According to the residents and their neighbors, they then scratched off part of the address on the duplex to cover their mistake. They did get their guy in the end, though. He was selling pot.

(Via Pete Guither.)

Comments

[dwcarkuff]

Thank God, I was desperate for my next isolated incident fix.

[Rich]

Looks like the cops scratched the link, too.

[Radley Balko]

Sorry about that -- fixed.

[Mainer]

Any dogs killed ?

[GILMORE]

Funny how 'dogs killed' often becomes the nexus of interest for people, rather than the obscenity of the entire idea of stormtroopers harassing human beings in their homes...

[Mainer]

(that was sarcasm, dude)

[Family Pet]

Some of us think it's pretty important to not be shot for having owners who want to get high and forget about what evil shitbags hold over them forever and ever amen.

[Evan Helmuth]

hahaha. I am no great lover of cops. But I also live in the real world instead of just Rand's.

Obviously weed should be legal, but not all cops are "evil shitbags".

[Mad Elf]

The ones that aren't are enabling the ones who are by not speaking out. Really there is no such thing as a good cop, only varying degrees of bad ones.

[Veelin]

What about the members of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP)?

[Family Pet]

I was including the politicians who write the laws that make drugs illegal and the nanny-staters who want the politicians to write the laws 'cuz drugs are bad, m'kay. They are all evil shitbags. The cops who carry out the orders in hyper-dramatic fashion relative to the threat and their colleagues who apologize for them are just pussies who couldn't handle me without their arsenals. Apparently they need more than a newspaper across my nose cuz I'm a scary badass.

[Flatus Rex]

You should move in with me. I teach my pets via positive reinforcement. It may take longer, but you'll retain your innate personality.

[Ben P.]

I believe the general consensus -- and I can't say I disagree with it -- is that we stop applying 'evil shitbags' to the collective mass of LEOs when they stop applying 'second class citizen' at best and 'potential suspect' at worst to the collective mass of taxpayers who aren't LEOs.

In short, they stop being evil shitbags by default when they stop being justified in the worst excesses by default because we are presumed dangerous by default.

[Episiarch]

As much as I give a micro-shit about dogs compared to humans, unfortunately the dog killings seem to resonate more with people than the, you know, fucking violation of rights and liberty. So if that's what it takes to stop this shit, I guess that's what we'll have to work with.

[Family Pet]

As much as I want my owner to be free, I also don't want to get shot. I planned on licking my balls later and these bullet holes are crimpin' my style, yo.

[Bob Barker]

You still have your balls? What the fuck! Didn't anyone listen to me?!

[Yep , he's a man]

Geez, I was convinced you were a talking dog till you made the licking my balls remark.

[Veelin]

Well, killing a person's dog for gratuitous reasons is a violation of rights and liberty.

[K-Y]

I don't think that people want to stop these intrusions in order to protect the canine population vs. our civil liberties, but it is a detail that most people (who own completely un-dangerous animals) can relate to and illustrates the it's-coming-right-for-us attitude with which police wield their weapons.

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

I think it's a symbolic thing that kicks a lot of people's emotions. Killing the family pet is just a gratuitous act of plain meanness; it basically says "I can do anything to you I want". It has "fuck you" written all over it.

[Robert]

No, it says, "I can't do anything I want. I'm not allowed to kill you, so I'm going to take out my frustration on the dog."

[Tim]

Mistakes happen,
it's why pencils have erasers.

[swat billy]

Mistakes happen,
it's why M4's have erasers.

[Tim]

(that was sarcasm, btw)

[LibertyBill]

Just remember kids if you criticize the police your a commie terrorist nazi.

[Evan Helmuth]

wait...but you are unamerican though for saying that...right?

[sage]

manage to handcuff a recovering cancer patient.

Wow, that must have taken a lot out of the team. They should probably take the rest of the week off to recover.

[wylie]

I'm just wondering if their tasers were on the charger or something.

[Mokers]

I wonder if SWAT teams receive imminent danger pay bonuses. It could explain why they are always shooting things. Gotta pay off that new boat somehow.

[Madbiker]

Yes, they get "hazard pay." Dated a trooper for a while. He was part of the "Tac-Pac" a specially trained group of tactical patrol and entry officers. Rate of pay went up 20% when on TacPac duty. Fucker bought two brand new trucks and a 24' Boston Whaler within a year with that money.

[Madbiker]

PS part of the reason I hate cops is because I dated one of those douchebags for far too long. I guess I'm pretty damaged.

[Byron]

20% x TrooperPay = 2 x NewTruck + 24ftBostonWhaler

WTF?

[R C Dean]

I'm thinking quite a bit of "evidence" that was "seized" from "crime scenes" went into paying for all that rolling stock.

[robc]

As a cancer patient he was probably buying product from his neighbor, so that justifies it.

[R C Dean]

According to the residents and their neighbors, they then scratched off part of the address on the duplex to cover their mistake.

Someone needs to file a criminal vandalism complaint.

[DWCarkuff]

America's Heroes!!!

[P Brooks]

They did get their guy in the end, though. He was selling pot.

All's well that ends well.

Just as long as no officers were injured.

[Nick]

Just once I'd like to see some outrage from the newscasters that all this happened for a stupid reason to begin with, and recognize that if the guy was selling pot it was because other citizens want to buy pot.

[Warren]

This guys lucky it was just yokel deputies and not a professional SWAT team.

[Cheye Calvo]

Yeah, right.

[JD]

If you, like me, would rather read news than watch it, the story is also at
http://www.wsmv.com/news/22653173/detail.html

(Hint: If I wanted to watch TV, I'd be watching fucking TV instead of on the internet.)

[capitol l]

The duplex was under surveillance for a week, and they don't see two fucking front doors, mail boxes, meters,etc. Bet there was no surveillance, cops probably went to the bar and got paid for it. Double pay overtime.

[Flatus Rex]

They got TV on the Internet now.

[Anonymous Backstabber]

"I'm pretty sure if the mailman can tell there are two different addresses here, the police can too."

Don't count on it!

[iowahawk]

Why do you think they call it "marijuana"?

[Inigo Carmine]

""When they realized they were in the wrong part of the house, they took the handcuffs off the suspects and apologized to them," Taylor said."

Just to recap: The police did not choose to break into their home, toss them to the ground at gunpoint and handcuff them because they were suspects; they are considered "suspects" because the police chose to break into their home, toss them to the ground at gunpoint and handcuff them.

[Inigo Carmine]

I should note that another possibility is that police now use the term "suspect" instead of the old term "citizen".

[sage]

That's it. We are all suspects. Guilty until they say "you are free to go."

[Winter Soldier]

Is it wrong that, just once, I'd like one of these wrong addresses to be an abandoned home that just happens to be destroyed by a gas explosion mere seconds after the Special Weapons And Thuggery unit enters?

[Mad Elf]

I'm hoping they stumble upon a secret pirate ninja hideout.

[P Brooks]

not all cops are "evil shitbags".

Guess what- until the ones who "aren't" start treating their wayward brethren exactly as they deserve (hint: that does not include covering up for them), I will assume they are, in fact all evil shitbag criminals.

Have a nice day.

[Lyle]

Pretty stupid rational... they're all evil, shitbag criminals.

Real smart.

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

When so many members of a given organization demonstrate themselves to be violent, corrupt, etc., it really is dangerous to trust any one of them. They all wear the same uniform; how do you tell the good ones from the bad ones?

[Lamar]

Pot should be illegal because, c'mon, have you ever smelled what regular use does to your feet? It's criminal.

[Flatus Rex]

WTF???

[Lamar]

Sorry, flatus, you have no monopoly on bodily odor.

[deja moo]

Here's the way it can be done: A story in the local paper, the police had the suspects residence under surveilence, the suspect came out in the natural course of events, they detained him, searched the house (with a warrant), found the drugs case closed. No busting down the door, no screaming, no wrong address.

No link, local rag doesn't believe in the innertubes.

[dabnabbit]

I've spent the last year or so trying to decide if Libertarianism is a fit for me. I agree with you guys on a lot of points, but articles and comments like these are exactly why I hesitate, and also why I will probably stop visiting this site.
In fact the only two major disagreements that I can find between my own beliefs and Libertarian beliefs are constant cop bashing and the legalization of drugs. Libertarianism seems to be the party of 'I still wanna be a teenager even though I'm in my forties." Maybe that's why it isn't taken seriously.
Most of us grew up, guys, and quit fucking around.

[rabdammit]

Most of us in our forties would rather not transfer the paternalism of our teens to a government with even less a connection to us than our parents?

You don't want to do drugs? Great, non of us want to force them on you.On the off chance you do? Great. None of us want to stop you.

You want to love LEO? Same gig.

[The Angry Optimist]

dabnabbit - if you do not believe in body ownership, then you are not a libertarian. It is not for you.

Sorry, buddy, but we are not big-tent that way.

[Why the cop]

bashing? Isn't there has many good cop stories that are not published? They are only enforcing the laws on the books and not statutes that are self-created.

[Joshua]

This is where light is shown on the government abuse of power. If you have a good cop story where a police officer prevents the government abuse of power, or actively fights against it, please share it.

When police use SWAT tactics against non-violent crime many of us consider that going above and beyond the letter of your statutes that are not self-created.