Sheriff Joe's SWAT team burns house down in search for "cop killer" bullets

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Two months previous to this, they lost a couple of LEOs in a shootout, another was wounded and still another crashed and was seriously injured responding to the call.
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/27122

So, they may have been a little keyed up at this particular event with the tear gas.

And, this may point to why there is no followup. Can you imagine the pressure applied to local journalists after they lost this case?
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/45684

sheesh. what a mess that county is.

Edit: and the hits just keep on coming...
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/70079
 
HI Wheelgun,

And to think the 1st amendment was designed to prevent government secrecy. So much the pity.

Two months previous to this, they lost a couple of LEOs in a shootout, another was wounded and still another crashed and was seriously injured responding to the call.
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So, they may have been a little keyed up at this particular event with the tear gas
Click to expand...
.

Same reasoning the gang-banger in Chicago used when a six year was killed at her birthday party.

sheesh. what a mess that county is.
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I'll take your word for it. As I said before - I've heard of too many abuses that have no excuses.

Selena
 
Officers wife,

I have seen both sides of the fence, as I am sure many have.

We only have the report of the paper, and the person who wrote it to go on regarding this account.

It would be prudent to not voice to many opinions regarding this event, since we are not really privy to the actual confrontation and what happened.

More information is needed before judgement is passed I'd say (for me anyway). I am going to follow it up, not sure how, but I'll contact a retired LEO I know, that moved to the location and see what he can dig up. Best I can do before any character assassination on my part. One way or the other.

Last but not least, it looks like the Sheriff may be more right, than wrong, if you are to believe the suit against him.


HQ
 
I think "Sheriff Joe" is a walking travesty of justice and I wouldn't put it past him to allow that kind of violent behavior, but I'd also like to hear all sides of this. If I'm going to hate on the guy, I want some solid evidence first.
 
It sucks that the guy's house was burned down and dog killed, but if someone phoned in a lie about me and my house was surrounded by SWAT, you better bet your A$$ I'm coming out with my hands up and let them see for themselves I am nothing but a law-abiding citizen.

Now, after they see I was not a threat and the situation is calmed down, thats a different story.
 
Hi Harly,

I would greatly appreciate any further details your friend could dig. Especially if this Kurd person was known for violent behaviors. That would at least give me reason to believe the show of force was necessary. The idea that deadly force is appropriate because there is evidence of a deadly weapon in the house irregardless of the character of the resident is a frightening implication.

While I agree there is not nearly enough information, the forefathers warned us repeatedly not to give our servants (i.e. the government) too much benefit of the doubt. I will admit I am reacting to this story emotionally, quite frankly I believe gang-bangers to be the true scum of the earth, when LEOs act like gang-bangers they need to prove they are not.

Selena
 
I don't want to seem like a cop-basher here, but the whole thing sounds like a keystone cop comedy gone horribly awry.

I know that both stories are tilted toward different points of view, but if the truth lies somewhere in the middle, then the Sheriff's office is probably going to be paying some very hefty legal bills.
 
If you don't come out of a house when the cops tell you to, they're coming in after you.
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Especially with a search warrant. In case everybody's not aware of procedures, a warrant is basically a court order commanding law enforcement to arrest, search, or seize whatever or whomever is named in the warrant. If I've got a warrant in hand, you're coming out of the house one way or another. I'm not saying that it couldn't have been handled differently, but a search warrant is nothing to be arguing with the police about. Make your case in court, not on the street. You may not like it, but that's the way it is.
 
Hi all,
I agree, Officers'Wife and with Grey also.
I am writing another friend and sending him the link. He is not LEO so I'll get his take on it also. Honest guy he will let me know what he feels.
Plus living in the area he might have read something later to help.

HQ
 
Did the suspect not come out in a reasonable amount of time, or did the SWAT team rush the action 2 seconds after announcing their presence with a gas canister?
 
The Wikipedia page on Joe needs to be updated with some of the citations provided here. Maybe where there is smoke there is fire.
 
I find it hard to believe a knocked over candle caused the fire instead of the multiple tear gas containers fired into the home.

Candles go out VERY easily and knocking one over usually extinguishes the flame, whereas tear gas containers are known to set structures ablaze.

I think the fire investigator is trying to cover the county's backside financially on this issue.



I can also understand somewhat the swat guys being nervous if they had intel (which turned out to be bad intel) that the guy possessed multiple fully automatic rifles and ammo.

It seems that they could have staked the house out and taken him down when he exited the house and it was obvious that he didn't have a rifle in his hands.



Unfortunately we are dealing with few facts here.
 
C'mon... Isn't anyone but a coupla folks above the shallow side of the bell curve?

What part of "he was busting either a burglar or a fence" don't you understand? Now go back to government school, and tell your teacher you're being screwed.

As for use of force - you give the toys to the departments, they use the toys...
 
I wonder if the faulty information was the result of the informant being told what to say to justify going in with guns a-blazin.
 
Unfortunately, I think this kind of thing is becoming more common. Every sheriff/police chief from every city or whistle stop thinks he needs a swat team to be in the big leagues. Instead of a couple of cops going to the front door and knocking, they send in the Keystone Cops. Got to show utilization on your high dollar assets or you might loose them.

I don’t think it matters what the real story is in this case. I see a case of grotesque over reaction by the cops.

How about if the legal bills and settlement of the civil suit come out of the budget for the swat team?
 
"Sheriff Joe" has been at several national Sheriff's conventions I attended. He isn't as popular among his fellow sheriffs as he is among the folks who have heard about him through his "tough on crime" publicity. Many other sheriffs seem to think "Sheriff Joe" excells mostly at self-promotion.
 
And how many of your neighbors would identify an AR-15 or semiauto AK47 clone that many of you own, as a machine gun? They see you heading to the range (or getting back) and call the cops to tell them you have "an arsenal of machine guns."

That's all it would take for a warrant, and some newspaper to print that you're a burglar or fence.
 
C'mon... Isn't anyone but a coupla folks above the shallow side of the bell curve?

What part of "he was busting either a burglar or a fence" don't you understand? Now go back to government school, and tell your teacher you're being screwed.
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Actually the way you are overreacting to this thread without more information, is a similar thing, to the over reacting the SWAT team did in your opinion.:confused:

The whole thing seems to be one article from the media and a next door neighbors story, and nothing to go by later. Failure to corroborate is as bad in your statement as it was at the scene of the incidence IMHO.

THR usually shuts these down and for good reason I can see.

:what:
 
Well, Let's See

I left the thread open to see if anyone would dig up the rest of the story.

Evidently very little new intel.

The guy who wrote the article is no longer with that paper.

The sheriff, who's in an elected office, continues to be elected.

I think we've gotten all the signal we're getting from this one.

The rest is noise.

(Apologies to Billy Shakespeare)
 
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