Unarmed Pregnant Woman Shot During Drug Raid
A pregnant, unarmed woman was shot during a drug raid in Spokane on Friday morning and she remained hospitalized late last night as investigators pieced together what happened in the county's third officer-involved shooting in four weeks.
A Washington State Patrol detective sergeant shot the woman, who according to the sheriff's spokesman is 39 weeks pregnant, while serving a search warrant at the Victoria Apartments, 1405 N. Lincoln St., according to the Spokane County Sheriff's Office.
The Sheriff's Office is investigating the shooting along with members of the Spokane Police Department and the WSP.
Sheriff's Office spokesman Sgt. Dave Reagan confirmed that officers found no weapons in the home but did find quantities of drugs during the execution of the search warrant.
"During the entry, a female suspect inside the apartment became non-compliant with officers' instructions," Reagan wrote in a news release. "When she attempted to flee out a bedroom window, officers attempted to restrain her. During efforts to prevent her escape, a shot was fired and the woman suffered a minor wound to her upper torso. She fell out the window and received first aid from containment officers stationed at the back of the apartments."
He offered no further details about why the detective used deadly force, which law enforcement officers are trained to use if they believe their lives are in danger.
Reagan did not identify the woman but said she was a drug suspect and that a multiagency task force from the Moscow-Pullman area "had identified residents at the Spokane apartment complex as suppliers of crack cocaine sold in southeast Washington."
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ohs noes, its teh crack! shoot da bitch! She's crazy enough to jump out the window, what chance do the Containment Officers on the ground have of stoppin her?! WONT SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN>??!>?>!>?>?
The unborn children, or the ones who might smoke that crack? Gotta prioritize.
my rage typing inserted some closing tags that wiped out the remainder of my comment, dammit.
It went something along the lines of "What the Fuck. What the Fucking Fuckity Fucker Fuckingfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckingty Fuck." or WTFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF for short.
Profound indeed!
Passive aggressive troll is passive aggressive.
I made no claims to the originality or spiritual importance of my raving. Thanks though.
She was armed with an unborn baby, damnit!!!
An experienced mothu' can pop a kid out at 900 feet a second! - babies are the 347 magnums of muthu's!!!
No mention of whether she had triplets, the automatic weapon of muthu's...
As required by my critics, I hereby condemn this instance of police behavior.
For a change. 🙂
Interestingly, while clearly over the line, this is also less over the line (3 miles vs 200 miles - with 1 foot over the line being egregious - wanted to make sure people didnt think I thought this was barely over the line or something) than most Balko posts.
She's not going to have to put gas in her car, she's not going to worry about her rent...
+1
Well they had to do something... taking drugs during pregnancy is really, really bad for the unborn baby!
I heard they use lead-free ammo for shooting pregnant women.
They had to shoot the baby to save the baby...
What happened is a country persecuting her unarmed and non violent citizens for made-up crimes that do not involve victims or stolen/damaged property. That's what happened.
Also called "Contept of Cop," the punishment for it being carried out summarily, often the case being Death, with no appeals either to reason or morality being heard or entertained.
What happened is a country persecuting her unarmed and non violent citizens for made-up crimes that do not involve victims or stolen/damaged property. That's what happened.
Succinct, to the point and inarguable,
No further comments are required (including this one).
a shot was fired
This sounds like the cop had one of those magical evil guns which shoots itself.
It's still the same magicinal bullet from the JFK shooting.
...and no doubt we'll learn that mistakes were made but not that they were made by anyone.
Then again, maybe they mistook her engorged belly for a bomb belt.
Snuke.
Nuterus.
Bwomb.
Placentic explosives.
umbilical primer cord
the woman suffered a minor wound to her upper torso
Had a chance for a twofer with one shot and could't even kill ONE innocent "civilian" non-threatening alleged perp. Back to the range for more practice.
Most cops don't practice. You see, they're the ones with the FSM-given right to shoot people, so it's supposed to come naturally.
May His Noodly Appendage guide my hand.
"A shot was fired"
See, gun nuts? Guns DO kill people! The officer didn't fire his gun, a shot was somehow, mysteriously fired!
They must be still investigating to see if the unarmed pregnant woman had in fact shot herself in back while climbing out a window. Let's not jump to conclusions until the investigation is complete.
That's what jumped out at me. The passive voice..."a shot was fired." The bullet will be interrogated.
I was minding my own business and then found myself traveling at about 1200 feet per second before coming to a sudden stop.
He offered no further details about why the detective used deadly force, which law enforcement officers are trained to use if they believe their lives are in danger.
Hey, at least they didn't use the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch on her.
39 weeks? Pretty nimble for a woman that's about to give birth.
Fearing for your life can put some pep in your step.
Sounds like an ad for a new plasmid.
(sorry for the lame Bioshock commentary; this story is disturbing but not really surprising)
During efforts to prevent her escape, a shot was fired
Fucking passive voice bullshit. Way to totally avoid any responsibility for your actions, police.
I *HATE* passive voice anyway - it is way overused (see what I did there?). But seriously, especially in cases like this - a "shot was fired"? Bullshit! One of the officers drew his or her weapon, aimed it at the fleeing woman and pulled the trigger. A conscious decision "was made" to SHOOT AT this woman.
But of course the officer will be found to have "acted appropriately" and "followed procedure" in defending himself or herself from the serious threat presented by the retreating, unarmed pregnant woman.
Not necessarily. The officer could simply have lost control of his trigger finger after having been overwhelmed by surprise at seeing a woman 39-weeks pregnant scrambling out of a second-story window...
He (or she) should not have had his (or her) firearm out of the holster and pointing at the retreating "suspect" unless he (or she) was willing and intended to use deadly force to stop the escape.
I'm supposing you're being tongue-in-cheek, but seriously, a "new professionalism" officer should not be able to "lose control" of his trigger finger, what with all the training they supposedly get, which makes them superior at handling teh firearms compared to we lousy mere mortals. In fact, his "trigger finger" should not even be in the trigger until he is in fact ready to actually shoot.
In fact, his "trigger finger" should not even be in the trigger until he is in fact ready to actually shoot.
This. If its on the trigger the conscious decision to pull it has already happened.
Ditto, except "squeeze" the trigger, don't "pull" it (sorry, I can still hear my dad teaching me to shoot....:)
Perhaps cops should put their itchy trigger fingers someplace besides on a trigger.
Suggestions?
I've seen people get thrown off of my shooting range for not exercising trigger finger discipline (only putting the finger on the trigger when you're ready to squeeze it).
Surely this cop whose gun somehow fired will receive no action whatsoever.
He (or she)
It. I wonder whether they're human.
What, no dogs?
I dunno, have we seen what preggo looks like?
Funny.
Mean and uncalled for, but funny.
defending himself or herself from the serious threat presented by the retreating, unarmed pregnant woman.
Unarmed? There was a loaded cervix pointed right at his face!
Uteruses kill!
Especially when they are all hopped up on crack.
The crack is in the back.
BA DUM DUM
I swear, she had that thing pointed right at me and I saw the baby's head crowning! I didn't know whether she was going to let that thing fly right at me or what - it was a split-second decision; it was either me or her!
i repeat myself:
She was armed with an unborn baby, damnit!!!
An experienced mothu' can pop a kid out at 900 feet a second! - babies are the 347 magnums of muthu's!!!
No mention of whether she had triplets, the automatic weapon of muthu's...
If she didn't want to get shot she shouldn't have broken the law. Right?
Seattle Police positioning themselves for federal dollars as abortion providers.
Uh, this was Spokane, dude.
Ladies, ladies - there's room for everyone at the Abortion-Providers' Table! You're BOTH welcome here!
And once the victim has been sufficiently vilified, they can cop a plea where both sides drop all charges and pretend that they didn't see anything.
I wonder if this is another "I thought it was my tazer" episode.
Right, because tasering an unborn child is better then letting the mother carrying it jump out of a window...
See, if we legalize drugs, cops won't get to shoot people.... well not as many people. They certainly won't get to shoot as many brown people.
"A shot was fired"
It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly a shot rang out.
Ignoring what I posted upthread -
Did anyone else notice that the quantity of contraband is not mentioned? My bet, small time dealer or avid user.
We found ... SUDAFED!!
And her name was not on the list at the pharmacy!!
[horrified gasp]
My bet, small time dealer or avid user.
My bet:
The cops did a whip-around to see what they had in inventory for throw-downs, and dumped it all in her nightstand.
A cynic, not me of course, because I believe everything the gubermint says, and that it always has my best interests at heart, and there has never ever been proven that any police have ever lied, might wonder if the drugs found are just backup drugs carried by the police should just such an incident occur to justify themselves....
nah.
It's the woman's fault for not having a puppy the cops could shoot.
"Damnit, there's no dog! All right, go for the fetus, guys."
I thought you were only alowed to shoot at people coming IN the window not fleeing OUT the window. Oh right that is only for us civilians.
I was totally justified in using deadly force. If a uppity pregnant bitch had escaped from me I would have JUST DIED of humiliation. Can you imagine the other cops razzing me back at the station??? Making fun of my weight? Saying I got outrun by a girl? I would literally be mortified. Better to shoot her in the back.
"Saying I got outrun by a girl? "
considering how pregnant she was, isn't it correct to say, "outwaddled?"
O, sorry, I meant bipedalied challenged due to zygosity.
They should not have shot her. It shouldn't be that hard to restrain a 8.5 month pregnant woman. What ashholes.
Who are you, and what have you done with the real Juanita?
-jcr
This is actually the third police shooting incident here in Spokane in a month, a new record! In the three incidents, two were non-fatal (the pregnant woman and a drunk guy who got out of hand).
The third (and chronologically the first) involved a deputy in an unmarked police car who, while looking for prowlers, shot and killed a local preacher on his own (the preacher's) property.
The deputy immediately left on vacation for a week before he was interviewed by investigators.
Story here: Spokane deputy in fatal shooting went on vacation
Thanks, TopDog. Radly's nutpunch wasn't quite enough to make my Monday morning.
Glad I could help.
I should know better to read the comments here, my blood pressure medication is going to double the next time I go to the doctor's office (or quadruple, after Balko's reporting on the latest police clusterfuck).
So lets say I strolled onto someone's property and gave them a hot lead injection because I thought they were "suspicious". Would I get to go on vacation right afterwards? Because I think I would actually go straight to jail with no possibility of bail and on to a prison sentence with no possibility of parole.
Obviously, the preacher was in a big hurry to get to heaven. More time on this earth and the devil might have gotten to him. The deputy was just helping him out...protecting and serving.
Protecting us here, and hereafter getting us to the hereafter as soon as possible.
actually, the link was to a 74 year old guy who owned a (plant) nursery.
OK, change the above to the guy was interested in getting to the big greenhouse in the sky, before thript season.
He was a Baptist preacher and owned the plant nursery. My wife buys plants there all the time.
According to some reports, this is already the second person this cop shot.
On second thought, maybe he was trying to protect the unborn child. If she gets out of a two-story window there's a chance she could fall and lose the baby, so preventing her from escaping was truly a matter of life and death.
I was fired? I'll get a union lawyer to make sure the decision is overturned.
A Washington State Patrol detective sergeant shot the woman
That suggests that the woman did not grab the gun, which would have been a slightly less embarrassing explanation of what happened. So we're left with the question of why this detective sergeant saw fit to fire his gun.
Radley, you didn't point out this infuriating story (with a mildly happy ending) yet.
DEA agent beats holy hell out of a guy for not letting the agent pass him on the right. Local KC police force helps cover the whole thing up, get the local guy charged. The one honest, heavily decorated detective who testified for the defense at the trial gets fired, loses being fully vested in his pension. The guys who led the coverup have moved on to greater success as the police chief in Topeka, an Edwardsville councilman (after leaving the Police Department in 2007 after he pleaded no contest to four misdemeanors associated with a drunken-driving ticket-fixing scheme), the executive director of the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers' Standards and Training, and being a civilian adviser/contractor for the police force.
The DEA agent is still a DEA agent.
Stuff like this shows that the "few bad apples" argument that cops like to bring out whenever they get caught beating the hell out of an innocent is total horseshit.
If it is only a "few bad apples", then the "bad apples" should be punished (as opposed to promoted), and anyone on the inside who calls the "bad apples" on their bullshit should be promoted (and not run out of the department and/or punished and/or killed).
I mean, lets say a co-worker at your company brutally beat an innocent person and then charged that person with the crime of brutally assaulting the co-workers baton with their face or whatever excuse the police use. Would you cover for them? Because I sure wouldn't. They are on their own if they do that.
"She threw her titties into my hand, Your Honor. It was the weirdest thing I've ever seen."
Thanks