Deputies shoot and kill man after knocking on the wrong door

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The life of one innocent person is not the price we should have to pay to catch any bad guy. The errors commited by these officers have become a common occurrence throughout the U.S., and if necessary the elimination of the SWAT and special operations drug teams to stop the deaths of innocent people. IMO we don't need special para military teams within any municipal police department.
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Okay, you want to grandstand about your personal perspective on police. That is fine, but at least get the information correct for your soap box.

IMO we don't need special para military teams within any municipal police department.
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That is nice, but irrelevant to the incident. This event wasn't being conducted by a special para military team within a municipal department. They were not special para military officers and it was a county department, not municipal.

The apartment door they knocked on was not a mistake. They did not know where their murder suspect was, but his motorcycle was in front of the department and so that is where the deputies knocked.

This wasn't a no-knock warrant conducted by SWAT officers at the wrong location or operating with wrong or dubious information. They were looking for their suspect and so they knocked on the door where the suspect's bike was parked.

So this situation really has nothing to do with your personal dislike for city cops, SWAT, or drug teams.

If the deceased pointed a gun at the deputies, then they could protect themselves just like we can. It doesn't matter if the person pointing the gun at them is the suspect they are looking for or not.

I wonder what was so danged important that they felt the need to do this at 1:30am.
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The suspect and another guy had attempted to kill man earlier in the evening and the deputies had been activily trying to find him since that time.
See video here...
http://www.infowars.com/deputies-knock-on-wrong-door-at-130am-shoot-kill-man-who-answers-with-gun/

Who is saying the cops didn't announce themselves?
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Also in that video, the reporter states that it was the authorities who stated that they did not identify themselves.

I personally believe that law enforcement officers have a duty to identify themselves when they are on official business.
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And no doubt they would have, if given the chance. They do not have to identify themselves to building structures, however, in this sort of circumstance.

I have had cops knock on my doors 3 or 4 times over the years, once at 2:00 AM because of a neighbor's 911 call that turned out to be a phone company electronic snafu (the neighbors weren't even at home and yet their phone called 911 several times as did about a dozen other houses in the neighborhood) and never have they announced their identity while knocking. They did when the door was opened, but I wasn't pointing a gun at them at the time.
 
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I'd rather the system be "handcuffed" and a few baddies get away than police killing with impunity in an effort to rid the streets of crime.

And I'm sorry Tom but I don't think its silliness to say "If they kick my door down I'm shooting". We have the right to be safe and secure in our own homes. Obviously if they identify themselves as police its one thing, but I have to believe that if someone kicks my door in its not at all unreasonable to assume they are there to do harm to me. They've already committed one felony, why give them a chance to commit another?

To the topic at hand, if the deceased did answer the door pointing the gun thats just bad tactics. I've answered the door several times with a gun in hand but not pointing it at whoever is on the other side.

How would this have played out if he hadn't answered the door and instead let them force their way in and (assuming they weren't in uniform and didn't id themselves as law enforcement) open fire killing all of them?
 
The story claims wrongdoing on both sides, which may be somewhat true. I wonder how "politely" the deputies were knocking considering people would likely be in bed. The failure to identify part really nags at me.
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The only wrongdoing I see on the part of the deceased homeowner is that he didn't shoot the two deputies before they shot him.

Police officers serving warrants have a responsibility to know where the [bleep] they're going. The deputies (or their superiors, if they were dispatched to an incorrect address) are 100 percent at fault.
 
Young.Gun.612 said:
And I'm sorry Tom but I don't think its silliness to say "If they kick my door down I'm shooting". We have the right to be safe and secure in our own homes. Obviously if they identify themselves as police its one thing, but I have to believe that if someone kicks my door in its not at all unreasonable to assume they are there to do harm to me. They've already committed one felony, why give them a chance to commit another?
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In today's society, having someone yelling "I'm the police!" and wearing a uniform means exactly nothing. Bad guys can (and do) buy uniforms over the Internet. The only valid identification, IMHO, is for the alleged officer(s) to stand by while I dial 9-1-1 and have the dispatcher verify to me that an officer has been sent to my address.

Unfortunately, I very much doubt that any officer would wait while the phone call is placed. And that's a problem ...
 
Known facts per story

1)No warrant.
2)No hot pursuit.
3)No identification by the police.

Unknown, If the Officers were uniformed.

To quote my former Attorney and now Superior Court Judge. "Cops lie and when they screw up they get their stories straight and lie".

This is a clear 14th amendment "equal protection" violation.
These cops were on a hunting expedition. Their intent was to take the suspect down hard. Unfortunately, they did the wrong guy. They should be criminally charged. If they are not, the feds should step in with civil rights violation.

My guess is that nothing will happen and the family will be left to fend for itself.
 
Police officers serving warrants have a responsibility to know where the [bleep] they're going. The deputies (or their superiors, if they were dispatched to an incorrect address) are 100 percent at fault.
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Not to take away from the tragedy or the fact that clearly horrible mistakes were made.

The police do not need a warrant to knock on your door.
 
We dont know really if the guy had the gun pointed at the officers, or someone else saw that? . Maybe the guy had the gun draw but hide in the back. And when he opened the door or started to open the door the officers pushed it very hard and then they saw the gun and shot him...and then they said the guy pointed the gun at them. Who know?

Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using Tapatalk
 
One time I did have an officer pounding on my door at 0 dark thirty, something like 2 or 3 AM...he was there because my phone was turned off, and my mother had passed away. My brother had called the local PD to check on me and let me know what was going on. I was armed, but the officer never saw it, plus he both identified himself and stepped back into the light from the porch light so I could see his uniform. I keep forgetting this one time it did happen to me - we tend to block bad memories, maybe?
In that specific case, the officer was polite, respectful and expressed his condolences as well.
 
Perhaps, if someone is pounding on your door a zero dark thirty, the thing to do is call the police and tell them...arm yourself and hunker down in your safe position and wait for a marked unit to sort it out.
 
So this situation really has nothing to do with your personal dislike for city cops, SWAT, or drug teams.
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I do not dislike cops, SWAT or drug teams and if I did I would not have worked with my local department for the past 22 years, but I do dislike the assumption that you have made.
 
Police officers serving warrants have a responsibility to know where the [bleep] they're going. The deputies (or their superiors, if they were dispatched to an incorrect address) are 100 percent at fault
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I must agree with that. The stakes are really too high to be making mistakes like this.

I would much rather see LE letting a few bad guys get away than to be shooting innocents. Of course, we may never know what the dead guy did with his weapon that provoked the shooting.

The fact that the cops didn't identify themselves is very disturbing to me...
 
Being this happened in my neck of the woods its all over the news. Other than stating the fact that LE had the wrong house not much else being said at this time. Family members are saying the victim should still be alive because LE screwed up. Other that what I have stated that has come out of local coverage all is quiet from LE. Opinion: LE should be held fully accountable. Just my opinion
 
LE is never held fully accountable. One poster above is someone who sat on review boards. To paraphrase his note to us: "LEO's brought before the board often took the easy way out and resigned". Uhh... there are not too many jobs where you can resign your way out of a murder charge. There are two sets of laws in the USA: One for them, and one for us. Ignore that fact at your peril.

Nothing will happen here other than "retraining". Mark my words.


Willie


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I do not dislike cops, SWAT or drug teams and if I did I would not have worked with my local department for the past 22 years, but I do dislike the assumption that you have made.
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I must have missed your love of the police in all the negative things you were saying about cops, municipal SWAT and drug teams, etc. After all, why would you go out of your way to get on a soapbox and monologue about all these things with which you have issues when they have absolutely nothing to do with the story being discussed?

Police officers serving warrants have a responsibility to know where the [bleep] they're going. The deputies (or their superiors, if they were dispatched to an incorrect address) are 100 percent at fault.
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As noted, these deputies were not serving a warrant. They were involved in trying to track down suspects who tried to kill another person earlier in the evening. They located one suspect's motorcycle and it was parked in front of an apartment and so they knocked on the door of the apartment. They weren't dispatched to the wrong address. If they were dispatched, they were dispatched to the address where the motorcycle was parked.

Were they at the correct apartment where the suspect was? Nope. They didn't know where the suspect was, but they knocked on the residence closest to the motorcycle. Maybe the suspect was there or maybe the occupants could tell the cops where the suspect lived if the occupants were familiar with the motorcycle's owner. I see no harm in that action.

If they are lookiing for the suspect and knock on a resident's door, should they shout out that they are the cops? Well if the suspect is nearby, then they have likely given him ample warning and time to get away.

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I think some of y'all are buying into the media hype on the incident. Just like when y'all don't like it when the media throws out hot button words such as "assault weapons" and the like, they are doing the same thing here with "wrong house" and "wrong person."

The deputies did not shoot the wrong person. They did not shoot the suspect for whom they were looking, but if their account is correct, they definitely shot the person they believed they needed to shoot at the time and that was the person pointing a gun at them.

Were they at the wrong house? They had no way to know until they knocked on the door. It was the location where the motorcycle was parked. So why not knock on the closest door?

It wasn't a bunch of paramilitary city cops and they were not serving a warrant. They were simply deputies following up on leads and when knocking on doors, law enforcement officers certainly don't always yell out who they are before the door is opened.

Did they shoot too hastily? That is certainly possible. Deputy spokesman Herrell states we should put ourselves in the deputies shoes. They were expecting to find the suspect and so when faced with the gun, took action.
http://www.wesh.com/news/central-fl...oor/-/11788162/15527202/-/euk6tg/-/index.html

While pointing a gun at law enforcement is never a good idea, it does happy when they knock on doors inthe middle of the night which is usually followed by a lot of shouting as to who they are, etc. They don't have their guns drawn and they aren't ready to shoot the occupant immediately, but in this case, it sounds like did have their guns out and were ready to fight and so were set off by seeing Scott with is gun that was reportedly pointed at them. In other words, they anticipated encountering a violent criminal and when that was apparently confirmed in their own minds by the gun, they took action. Had the cops been going door-to-door in the middle of the night trying to track down a lost child and knocked on Scott's door, for example, they certainly would not have been ready to shoot when the door opened.

If Scott pointed a gun at the cops, they are probably more than justified in believing that Scott had opportunity, ability, and intent to do them harm. They would in other situations as well. Even so, I do think this shooting could have been avoided. That does not mean that the deputies were at fault criminally, but based on Herrell's statements, it does sound like the family would have a good argument for a wrongful death suit.
 
While I agree with many of your points, DNS, I'd point out that choosing not to identify themselves AT 1:30AM could have been predicted to have several poor outcome possibilities.

Very few people assume the best when an unexpected knock occurs at that time of night.

It's safe to say that a significant percentage of the populace will answer a door armed, at 0130, if they answer it at all.
 
1. Don't open the door - demand ID.
2. It is not sensible to open the door to unknowns and point a gun at them.

We need more details. For all you know, the person pounding on the door is to tell you that your house is on fire. That's happened.

It's fine to emote but without more details, it's just emotions.
 
Double Naught Spy, you did not read my comment but IMO, you are just digging for a fight. Reread my comment, the first thing I stated was "State Attorney" then "Department Punishment" and then "Resigned". Why by being a member of review board make me a cop hater, I didn't violate the rules, they did and should be held accountable for their actions. By the way do you know why most officers resign in lieu of termination? They, in most cases, don't loose their certification and are able to find another position as a police officer elsewhere.
 
This thread is a whole lot of speculation, accusations, and silliness. It may be a good idea to just lock it while it's still somewhat civil. The reality is NONE of us knows exactly what went on so calling for a public lynching of the police officers is irresponsible to say the least. And yes, that's what many of you seem to be calling for.

I can pretty much guarantee this will end up in a trial of some sort, so let the courts figure it out.
 
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