Hello Freedomphiles! Do you remember the Freedom File I posted back in January about the mother who was killed with her baby in her arms during a no-knock paramilitary police raid? Here’s a refresher:
Of course, when these police departments got all these cool weapons, they wanted to use them. Fuck, wouldn’t you?
The outcome of this tendency is that police and civilians are put into highly-charged and dangerous situations unneccessarily. That brings us to the story that prompted this blog:
Toys on the front porch of 218 E. Third St. were the tip-off children may be inside. Police officers also knew the man they were after, Anthony Terry, 31, had been in prison and had numerous run-ins with police officers including a time in which he tried to use a weapon on an officer.
Still, they decided to go forward with the nighttime raid just after 8 p.m. Friday.
The result was deadly.
A SWAT team officer shot and killed Tarika Wilson. Her 1-year-old son, Sincere Wilson, also was shot. He was at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus in stable condition Saturday evening. His aunt, Tania Wilson, said he was shot in the shoulder and hand and that the bullet blew off a finger. He had surgery Saturday, she said.
Five other children were inside the home with two adults, Garlock said.
Two dogs were also killed in the raid.
"I think it’s important for the public to know the Lima Police Department has literally been involved in thousands, not just hundreds, thousands of raids over the years," he said.
This is exactly what I am on about, here. This town only has a population of about 40,000 people, and they’ve done thousands of these raids. This sounds to me like thousands of people have been put in harm’s way by the very people charged with protecting them, all because they got some wicked new toys.
"Because of the fact there were toys on the outside of the residence they were concerned about the fact there could be children inside and they were taking every precaution when they made entry," he said.
Every precaution? How about waiting until the suspect left and arrest him peacefully, rather than bust in on a woman and her six kids with assault rifles, flash-bang grenades, and a bunch of screaming Rambos? Douchebags.
Well, one of those screaming Rambos just had his day in court. The Toledo Blade reports:
An Allen County grand jury today indicted a Lima police sergeant on two misdemeanors for shooting 26-year-old Tarika Wilson to death and injuring her 14-month-old son during a Jan. 4 drug raid at her home.
The special grand jury, which met last Wednesday and Thursday under the direction of Special Prosecutor Jeffrey Strausbaugh of Defiance County, indicted Sgt. Joseph A. Chavalia, 52, for negligent homicide and negligent assault.
Sgt. Joseph Chavalia, the veteran officer who fired the fatal shot, pleaded not guilty to negligent homicide in Tarika Wilson’s death and to negligent assault in the injuries to her 1-year-old son, whom she was holding. If convicted of both charges, the maximum penalty would be eight months in jail.
Way to go. Eight months for shooting an innocent woman through her baby? Negligent homicide is typically defined as when someone dies through the inaction of someone who should have known better. What was the inaction in this case? Sgt Chavalia failed to prevent his possessed finger from shooting a woman and her baby?
I’m going to go to Lima and have a negligent bankrobbery, I think. If I had known that I was going to rob that bank, I certainly would have stopped myself.
Another interesting thing from the article:
Terry, 31, was later indicted for three counts of trafficking in crack cocaine, six counts of permitting drug abuse, and four counts of trafficking in marijuana for incidents occurring between September 2007 and Jan. 4, the day of the raid. He is scheduled to go to trial April 1 in Allen County Common Pleas Court.
What the fuck is this Orwellian charge of "allowing drug abuse?" Is that like negligent drug dealing? That’s double-plus good.
