I’m flying on memory here, but…
In VA a few years back, we had a number of cops from different agencies pull one o’ them 3am drug raids on a house. When they entered the house, the (alleged) perp shot and killed one of the officers. When the homeowner went to trial the verdict hinged on whether the police announced themselves as such or not. The police said they did, the homeowner said they did not, and the jury agreed with the homeowner. The homeowner got off on the shooting, but I think he may have pulled time for drugs or something else? (Don’t remember if they actually found drugs in his house during the raid or not).
BTW, true or not, my boss at work said he knew one of the officers involved in the raid and said he told him nobody yelled POLICE when they hit the house.
My question/worry is…I’ve seen numerous shows where the police use various methods (flash grenades etc) to disorient the subject during a raid. While I see/have no reason for the police to raid my house (other than mistaken identity), if I’m sleeping and someone crashed into my house while using some method to disorient me…hey, I may come out shooting also, even if they are yelling POLICE at the top of their lungs! Heck…they just did something to disorient you, then expect you to wake up, overlook the flash grenade (or ?), and sort out the word POLICE possibly being yelled by a number of officers? (It may sound like unintelligible garbage iff’n they ain’t all yelling in unison).
At’s pretty long odds in my book…and I gotta tell ya…if I was on a jury when something like this happened…the homeowner is probably gonna walk.
BTW…sounds to me like the raid they pulled could have been handled like the Waco situation should have been. I remember seeing the local sheriff on TV telling that all they had to do was let him know they wanted Koresh picked up and he could have done it at the barber shop (they often got haircuts at the same time). Iff’n memory serves, the sheriff was taken off TV PDQ. Kinda sounds like the drug raid in VA could have been handled the same way?
Don’t get me wrong-I support the (good/honest/professional) police, but criminey folks…use your head for some o’ this stuff instead of taking a "Show ‘em who’s boss" approach!
BTW II…’bout halfway through 'The Great New Orleans Gun Grab: Descent Into Anarchy' and it’ll really make you think. It’s a shame most folks in this country won’t ever pay any attention to what happened down there.
In the book so far, the only enforcement agencies that acted with true professionalism have been the Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries and the 82nd Airborne!