It's good to see the Rutherford Institute take on a case involving the pernicious double standard between law enforcement and the general public:
On November 6, 2006, Sgt. Hale, a 25-year-old Virginia resident who served two tours of duty in Iraq and was honorably discharged the previous January with a service-related injury, was in Wilmington to participate in a "Toys for Tots" event and housesit for a friend. At approximately 4:00 p.m., three unmarked law enforcement vehicles with DSP and WPD officers pulled up to the house and numerous officers stormed the porch where Sgt. Hale was sitting with a mother and her two children.
The complaint alleges that even though Sgt. Hale was unarmed, offered no resistance and made no threatening motions, he was tasered three separate times by the officers, rendering him immobile. While paralyzed from the electric shock, Sgt. Hale was allegedly ordered to put his hands in the air; when he failed to do so, he was subsequently shot three times in the chest. The lawsuit alleges that law enforcement agencies had no evidence that Sgt. Hale was violating the law or was wanted on any outstanding warrants.
I wonder where that mother and her two children were when an unarmed man was tasered three times and then fatally shot. Think about that one for a second. You have a case where not only did the police brutalize and murder an unarmed war veteran, but they probably did it fast enough that the mother was not able to shield her children from the violence that was being unleashed against an innocent man in front of them. Probably a good lesson on one of the facts of life that even many adults will not embrace, that we have a system of government in this country that is for all intents and purposes out of control.
The reason I bring this case up is that it is the closest thing I have seen in a very long time of a pure example of law enforcement out of control, when it comes to these sorts of raids and uses of force. I don't need to bring up the existence of systematically screwed up departments, officers who act like thugs outside of work, etc. Those are things that have existed since the beginning of professional law enforcement in the United States. What stuck out to me about this case is that not only do you have a clean-cut, honest, law-abiding war veteran with no history of violence of criminality or violence getting murdered by the police, but it happened in a way that simply cannot be justified. The headline could literally read, "police officers murder law abiding citizen for no reason" and it would actually be an appropriate headline.
The reason I am not giving the police any benefit of the doubt is that the Rutherford Institute is a very conservative group. For them to take on a case like this is an indictment of the situation; they are not cop haters like the ACLU.
What would help in a situation like this, though, would be if they could bring private prosecutions to bear. If the Rutherford Institute could not only sue the hell out of them, but secure the death penalty for the officers involved via the same lawsuit, we might see more justice in cases like this.
makes me freaking sick. I'd love to hear the rationale of the cops on this one. I can't think of a single justification for tasering an compliant individual. Remind me of that South Park episode with Uncle Jimbo hunting... "he's heading right for us!"
As well it should make you sick, Mr. Hill ;)
In all seriousness, they'll just claim that they were worked up in an adrenaline rush or something equally asinine, and the prosecutor will believe it. That's usually how things like this end up working themselves out.
Is there an excuse? Of course not, but then they don't need one where they think they can get away with it in front of the public. Just look at that case about the recent beating of a female bartender by a Chicago pig--err cop. That was the second time in recent weeks that something like that happened. This post from Radley Balko explains it all about that case and what it shows us about the system screwing up.