Botched Paramilitary Raid in Flint, Michigan
AGITATOR BLOG
I have a whole section in my forthcoming paper about how these drug raids are unnecessarily dangerous for police officers, too. Here's an example from just last week:
A Genesee County sheriff's deputy was shot during a drug raid, but was expected to recover from his wounds, authorities said Friday.
Deputy Jeffrey Antcliff, 37, was hit once in the buttocks Thursday night by a .22-caliber bullet, which lodged near his spine, said Undersheriff James Gage. The deputy was taken to a hospital for treatment, Gage said.
Antcliff was part of a team of deputies who were executing a search warrant at a suspected drug house, Gage said. The team backed out of the house and surrounded it, and the suspect called 911 to report that he was being attacked.
Dispatchers told him that deputies were there and that he should leave the house with his hands up, which he did, Gage said. The man, the only person in the home at the time, was taken into custody.
The fact that the guy called 911 is a pretty good indication that he fired back because he had no idea the intruders were police. Of course, the police are trying to downplay that:
Authorities believe the 911 call was placed as a cover story, Gage said. Deputies identified themselves before entering the house and three uniformed officers were part of the team, Gage said.
Perhaps they're right. But to assume so would require a pretty substantial suspension of disbelief. You'd have to assume that this guy (1) knew the raiding SWAT team were police officers, (2) knowing that they were police, consciousy decide to take all of them on by himself, (3) decide after shooting one of them that taking them on wasn't such a good idea, then, (4) come up with and execute the scheme of calling 911to pretend that he believes he's under attack. And he would have had to have done all of this, and thought clearly enough to contrive the cover-up plan, all while police were trying to break down his door.
I suppose it's possible. But it isn't the most likely explanation. Uniformed or not, announcement or not, when you break into someone's home in the middle of the night, their first reaction is going to be self-defense.
theagitator.com |
