The On-Going Paramilitarization of the Police...

[Guest032516]

This thread's for you, CJ7.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=J_I6ozi8KBc

I guess if this guy had just opened his gate, there would have been no problem, right?

Then Sheriff Joe Arapaio and actor Steven Seagall wouldn't have had to ram through the gate in a TANK.

To rescue roosters from a cock fighting ring. For a TV reality show. No fucking kidding.

Here is more from Andrew Sullivan:

http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2013/...complex-ctd-2/

And this is a must-read article from Radly Balko:

http://www.salon.com/2013/07/07/%E2%...ut_of_control/

Key quote:
------------------------------------------
"Sal Culosi is dead because he bet on a football game — but it wasn’t a bookie or a loan shark who killed him. His local government killed him, ostensibly to protect him from his gambling habit.

Several months earlier at a local bar, Fairfax County, Virginia, detective David Baucum overheard the thirty-eight-year-old optometrist and some friends wagering on a college football game. “To Sal, betting a few bills on the Redskins was a stress reliever, done among friends,” a friend of Culosi’s told me shortly after his death. “None of us single, successful professionals ever thought that betting fifty bucks or so on the Virginia–Virginia Tech football game was a crime worthy of investigation.” Baucum apparently did. After overhearing the men wagering, Baucum befriended Culosi as a cover to begin investigating him. During the next several months, he talked Culosi into raising the stakes of what Culosi thought were just more fun wagers between friends to make watching sports more interesting. Eventually Culosi and Baucum bet more than $2,000 in a single day. Under Virginia law, that was enough for police to charge Culosi with running a gambling operation. And that’s when they brought in the SWAT team.

On the night of January 24, 2006, Baucum called Culosi and arranged a time to drop by to collect his winnings. When Culosi, barefoot and clad in a T-shirt and jeans, stepped out of his house to meet the man he thought was a friend, the SWAT team began to move in. Seconds later, Det. Deval Bullock, who had been on duty since 4:00 AM and hadn’t slept in seventeen hours, fired a bullet that pierced Culosi’s heart.

Sal Culosi’s last words were to Baucum, the cop he thought was a friend: “Dude, what are you doing?”
---------------------------------------------------

Yup. You need a SWAT team to go to an amateur gambler's house to make a bust. You know how dangerous those optometrists can be.

[zerodahero]

[JCM800]

Originally Posted by ExNYer

I guess if this guy had just opened his gate, there would have been no problem, right?

if they're serving a warrant for illegal cockfighting I don't think the dude would have just opened the gate. not sure if the tank was necessary, but they got to get in somehow. also I didn't hear the guy deny the charges either.

[CJ7]

apples to apples eh ?

covert undercover sting or police actually knocking on the door

close enough if you're an idget

[MrGiz]

Originally Posted by CJ7

apples to apples eh ?

covert undercover sting or police actually knocking on the door

close enough if you're an idget

Speaking of idgets.... is betting on College Football a crime worth getting shot for?
Seriously. . . answer the question.

[CJ7]

nothing is worth getting shot

[Guest032516]

Originally Posted by CJ7

apples to apples eh ?

covert undercover sting or police actually knocking on the door

close enough if you're an idget

What's the difference?

After all, if you just do what the storm troopers tell you, no problem, right?

[CJ7]

Originally Posted by ExNYer

What's the difference?

After all, if you just do what the storm troopers tell you, no problem, right?

if I have to tell you the difference between the two, you'd never understand

GFY

[Old-T]

From the description this is a serious overreaction by the cops--and whoever else was involved, and I hope there is a way that the perpetrators from Baucum to Bullock and everyone who approved it is seriously punished.

Whether it fits the letter of the law or not, this is entrapment (bumping up the amount so they can increase the charge and the firepower). It is also another gross example of taking a truly victimless crime ($50 on an NFL game) and changing it to a capital offense.

Sick and sad.

[CJ7]

Originally Posted by Old-T

From the description this is a serious overreaction by the cops--and whoever else was involved, and I hope there is a way that the perpetrators from Baucum to Bullock and everyone who approved it is seriously punished.

Whether it fits the letter of the law or not, this is entrapment (bumping up the amount so they can increase the charge and the firepower). It is also another gross example of taking a truly victimless crime ($50 on an NFL game) and changing it to a capital offense.

Sick and sad.

very sad

the family received $2 million from the city, ... that would really piss me off

[Guest032516]

Originally Posted by CJ7

apples to apples eh ?

covert undercover sting or police actually knocking on the door

close enough if you're an idget

Oh, yeah. And in case you missed this part - which you apparently did - Steven Seagal didn't just drive the tank through the gate. He drove it into the guy's living room:
--------------------------------
"In 2010 a massive Maricopa County SWAT team, including a tank and several armored vehicles, raided the home of Jesus Llovera. The tank in fact drove straight into Llovera’s living room. Driving the tank? Action movie star Steven Seagal, whom Sheriff Joe Arpaio had recently deputized. Seagal had also been putting on the camouflage to help Arpaio with his controversial immigration raids. All of this, by the way, was getting caught on film. Seagal’s adventures in Maricopa County would make up the next season of the A&E TV series Steven Seagal, Lawman.
---------------------------------

[Guest032516]

Originally Posted by CJ7

very sad

the family received $2 million from the city, ... that would really piss me off

Did you read the article? Or skim it?

That's not for the Steven Seagal chicken raid that damaged property.

That $2 million was for KILLING the optometrist in his own home during the gambling raid.

Do you think that brings any comfort to his family?

[CJ7]

go pester IB , he doesn't give a shit either

[Old-T]

Originally Posted by ExNYer

Oh, yeah. And in case you missed this part - which you apparently did - Steven Seagal didn't just drive the tank through the gate. He drove it into the guy's living room:
--------------------------------
"In 2010 a massive Maricopa County SWAT team, including a tank and several armored vehicles, raided the home of Jesus Llovera. The tank in fact drove straight into Llovera’s living room. Driving the tank? Action movie star Steven Seagal, whom Sheriff Joe Arpaio had recently deputized. Seagal had also been putting on the camouflage to help Arpaio with his controversial immigration raids. All of this, by the way, was getting caught on film. Seagal’s adventures in Maricopa County would make up the next season of the A&E TV series Steven Seagal, Lawman.
---------------------------------

From the misfortune of actually having to spend time in the same room with him I can attest that Seagal is as big a jerk as I have ever met.

Most on here know how I feel about Rove, but the only thing that makes Rove worse than Seagal is that Rove has the power to ruin even more lives.

Think about the most egocentric jock, movie star, or politician you know--none can hold a candle to the size of Seagal's ego.

[JCM800]