The Policeman Is Not Your Friend, Part 321
William Grigg posted this outrageous story at the LRC blog. For those who think, “Sure, once in a great while there are a few bad apples in the police force, but these whiny liberals need to quit their bellyachin’,” I encourage you to read these stories I occasionally relay. I only pass on the most outrageous and most documented ones. In this case, in Phoenix cops enter a house where the homeowner is holding an intruder calmly at gunpoint. The guy’s wife told one of the cops outside what the deal was, but apparently the message didn’t get relayed. So one of the cops shoots the homeowner, and then when they realize their mistake, they plan to cover it up by saying the homeowner pointed the gun at them first.
How do I know? Is it the homeowner’s word against theirs? Nope. Unbeknownst to the cops, the phone was still sitting there, with the 911 operator recording it, after they shot the guy (6 times–in the back–2 of which occurred when the homeowner was on the ground). Oops. Then here’s what happened, according to the victim’s family:
“Tony believed he was going to die; the 911 tape records his plaintive goodbye to his family: ‘… I love you … I love you.’ Then Tony made what he believed was a dying request to the officers; he did not want his young family to see him shot and bloodied. Officers callously ignored his request and painfully dragged Tony by his injured leg, through the home and out to his backyard patio, where they left him bloodied and shot right in front of Lesley, Matthew and Zachary.”
The Arambulas say the officers later dragged Anthony onto gravel, then put him on top of the hot hood of a squad car, and “drove the squad car down the street with Tony lying on top, writhing in pain.”
…
The complaint continues: “Still not knowing that he is being recorded [on] the 911 tape, Sgt. Coutts interrupted Officer Lilly’s admission and apology with his assurance that the cover-up would commence: ‘That’s all right. Don’t worry about it. I got your back. … We clear?'”
After the shooting, the Arambulas say, the Phoenix Police Department treated them “like suspects in a drug bust,” denying Lesley, Michael and Zachary information about Anthony’s condition and denying friends and family members access to him at the hospital.
(To be crystal clear, I am not certain that the 911 people have confirmed the family’s account. I.e. I don’t know for sure if that news story is simply reporting the family’s charges of what the 911 tapes reveal, but it seems that this is an accurate rendition.)
Oh here’s another nice one from Grigg. A cop on video breaks a 15-year-old special ed student’s nose because…the kid didn’t tuck his shirt in fast enough.
