Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Teen Intimidates Family...Via SWAT

While Justice Kennedy may not see botched SWAT raids as fitting a pattern of abuse, a kid in California tried to use SWAT to intimidate -- and possibly kill -- an innocent couple:

MUKILTEO — A teen is accused of using a computer in his Mukilteo home to report a fake homicide in California, which sent a SWAT team to the house of an innocent couple and their two sleeping toddlers.
Money quote from the Orange County DA's office:

“And the SWAT team saw a man armed with a weapon at the house where they believed a murder had occurred. We’re thankful no one was killed. It easily could have escalated to that point.”
If the D.A. knows that SWAT can go into a situation and "easily" kill innocent people, you would think the tactic would be used only sparingly.

Cato's 'botched raid map' here. Radley Balko's must-read white paper on paramilitary police tactics and abuse here.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It's very similar to the comment made by the Logan Airport police commander when someone wore a homemade circuit board with flashing lights to the airport: "She's lucky to be in a cell as opposed to the morgue."

Are they saying it's not the excellent training and careful protocols of the police keeping you alive but luck?

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/09/21/woman_enters_logan_with_fake_bomb_police_say/