"Police shooting of New Bedford suspect was justified, DA says" by John M. Guilfoil, Globe Staff | March 9, 2010
The November shooting of a drug suspect in New Bedford by State Police was justified, the Plymouth district attorney has determined.
District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz’s office issued a report yesterday ruling that the Nov. 5, 2009, shooting of Thomas Garnett by two members of a State Police Special Tactical Operations team was in response to shots fired by Garnett, a reputed drug dealer whose home was being raided that day by a joint State Police and Drug Enforcement Administration task force.
“The two state troopers involved had probable cause to believe that [Garnett] not only posed a threat of serious physical harm to themselves and others present, but, further. that he posed an immediate deadly threat,’’ the report said.
See FLASHBACK below for the events of that day.
STOP team troopers executing an early morning search warrant on Garnett’s Shawmut Avenue apartment were told that Garnett, 32, was believed to be selling heroin and was known to possess several guns, the report said. Garnett refused to open the door for police, who forced their way inside. Garnett reached for a handgun and fired six shots, striking two police officers in their body armor, the report said. Police responded, firing several shots from their M-4 rifles, hitting Garnett 12 times. He died at the scene.
Six 9mm casings were found near his body, and a gunshot residue test confirmed Garnett had fired his gun, Cruz’s office said. Garnett did not have a license to carry firearms. Garnett’s girlfriend, Lila Perry, and the couple’s disabled 6-year-old son were in the apartment, but were unharmed. The report said police discovered an undisclosed amount of heroin, three more firearms, and three different calibers of bullets.
So WHO PLANTED IT?!!!
Cruz’s office investigated the shooting because some of the troopers involved were attached to Bristol District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter’s office, which covers New Bedford. Sutter told reporters on the day of the shooting that he felt it was inappropriate to investigate his own operation and troopers.
--more--"Here, see if you can spot the little police lies and add-on frame-ups since the incident, readers.
FLASHBACK:
“They’re family-oriented people, and I’m having a hard time believing this....
Officials said they had information leading them to believe he might have been armed, necessitating the special operations response during execution of the search warrant.
FROM WHO?
"MIGHT HAVE?"
So you JUST HEAR a RUMOR and it is SUIT UP and KICK the DOORS DOWN at 6 AM!?????
Couldn't be MORE DISCREET like nabbing the guy at a job site, huh?
Officials did not say yesterday whether drugs were confiscated, though at least two guns were found’’
So they FOUND NO DRUGS (otherwise they would have said so) and CLAIM they planted, 'er, "found" two guns!
ANY WITNESSES!!!!?
Related: Drug War Hits Home
This first case hit a room, folks!
"Police return fire, kill suspect in New Bedford" by Milton J. Valencia and John M. Guilfoil, Globe Staff | Globe Correspondent | November 6, 2009
NEW BEDFORD - A State Police special operations trooper was shot, and the alleged gunman was killed, during a heavy exchange of gunfire in a drug raid at the break of dawn yesterday. A mother and her developmentally disabled child were inside the house where the shooting erupted....
The 6 a.m. shooting occurred on Shawmut Avenue during the execution of a search warrant at a multifamily home as part of an investigation into drug dealing.
Sort of makes you wonder why they didn't break down Barney's door, huh?
The alleged gunman was identified last night as Thomas Garnett, a 32-year-old carpenter and the father of the disabled boy. The boy and mother were apparently on the second floor at the time of the shooting and were not injured. Neighbors seemed alarmed both by the predawn shooting and the fact that Garnett was the target of a drug investigation.
“They’re family-oriented people, and I’m having a hard time believing this,’’ said Judith McMullen, the property manager. She said she has heard no complaints of drug dealing.
“I don’t really understand what happened,’’ McMullen said. “It doesn’t seem likely. Maybe I’m missing a piece.’’
What, they "knock" on the WRONG DOOR again?
Yesterday afternoon, detectives assigned to the Bristol district attorney’s office, who were investigating the drug dealing, searched Garnett’s white Ford truck.
Officials said they had information leading them to believe he might have been armed, necessitating the special operations response during execution of the search warrant. Officials did not say yesterday whether drugs were confiscated, though at least two guns were found.
Bristol District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter said the shooting shows the need for toughened gun laws, particularly laws that allow for the immediate detention of a defendant found to have a gun.
Oh, what a CUI BONO STENCH as well as a TOTALLY FASCIST MIND SET!!!
Immediate detention of a "defendant?"
HE HADN'T EVEN BEEN CHARGED YET, fascista!!!!
All because the COPS MURDERED an INNOCENT MAN!!!!!!!!
“We have a situation where a state trooper was struck by gunfire - thankfully, he is safe and sound because he wore a vest - we have a situation where in the midst of the gunfire a woman and child were in the home,’’ he said. “If ever there has been an event in recent Bristol County history that captures the need for a change in law enforcement’s battle against illegal gun violence, this event captures it.’’
Sutter announced yesterday that he has turned the investigation of the shooting over to Plymouth District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz, to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest because his troopers were involved. The gunfight erupted when troopers tried to execute a “knock and announce’’ warrant at the home, meaning the terms of the warrant required them to make their presence known before entering. Garnett and the house had been the target of an ongoing drug investigation. No other family lived at the two-story building, neighbors said.
Drug detectives and members of the State Police Special Weapons and Tactics Team, armed with shields and wearing body armor, entered the front hallway when someone suddenly fired multiple shots at them through the wall from inside the apartment, said David Procopio, a State Police spokesman....
Oh, THAT IS WHAT the POLICE SAID? Any WITNESSES?!!!!!!!!
Still under fire and “fearing for the safety of the team, a trooper or troopers discharged their weapons,’’ he said. The trooper who was struck did not know he was hit until afterward, when he was checking his equipment.
So HE MAY HAVE BEEN HIT by a RICOCHET from his OWN SQUAD, huh?
For police, the episode was a frightening reminder of the dangers of executing search warrants, particularly the “knock and announce’’ warrants that are set by clerk magistrates and judges because of constitutional rights against unreasonable searches, but have been a source of concern for officers’ safety.
Yeah, A GUY is LAYING THEIR DEAD and the TONE of the AGENDA-PUSHING PAPER is the POOR COPS!!!!
This article IS TOTALLY REEKING of an APOLOGY for TYRANNY!!!!
“It’s dangerous police work, and it’s a difficult balance for officers to be as community-friendly as they should be and as safe as they must be,’’ said New Bedford police Lieutenant Jeffrey Silva. He was speaking of shootings in general because his department was not involved in yesterday’s raid, but said the potential for facing an armed encounter is an increasing concern among police....
This ABSOLUTELY REEKS and CUI BONO, huh?
Detectives spent the day searching for evidence in the area. Streets were cordoned off late into the afternoon.
Didn't they KNOW WHAT THEY WERE LOOKING FOR?
WHAT DRUGS was this guy ALLEGED TO HAVE DEALT and WHY is the STATE and MSM SILENT on the subject?!
Because there WERE NO DRUGS?!!!!!
Garnett moved into the home in the spring with his boy, who neighbors said was about 8 years old, and the boy’s mother. It was not known yesterday whether Garnett was married to the woman.
What difference would that make? Pfft!
In 2003, he served three months of probation for pushing a girlfriend during a dispute, but it was not know yesterday whether the girlfriend is the boy’s mother.
Oh, then HE DESERVED to DIE, didn't he?
Look at how the Globe DIGS UP DIRT on SOME PEOPLE, but NOT OTHERS, hanh?!!!!
Neighbors said Garnett, the woman, and the boy seemed like a wholesome family.
Then they PROBABLY WERE!!!!
Lydia Cambra, 87, who lives across the street, said she saw them outside. Neighbors said the boy is blind and hearing impaired....
The shooting rattled the middle-income neighborhood of narrow streets and multifamily homes....
Yeah, I'LL BET IT DID!!!!
A friend, Jay, who would not give his last name, said he knew nothing of the drug-dealing allegations against Garnett, and called him a family man.
Using the BARNEY FRANK EXCUSE, I see!!!!
“They just kicked down that door, and all everybody heard was a barrage of bullets,’’ he said.
Another neighbor, Brenda Lagasse, 47, said she heard a dozen gunshots and ran outside.
“SWAT was here, police were here, paramedics were here, and I overheard the police say they had a warrant,’’ she said. “He started shooting, and the cops retaliated, and that was that.’’
HOW COULD SHE KNOW THAT if she HEARD SHOTS and RUSHED OUT?
The Glob "witness" is FULL of SHIT!!!!!!!
The boyfriend of Garnett’s sister, Robert Overton, said in a telephone interview last night from Georgia that though he never met Garnett, he was well loved by his family. “My girlfriend loved her brother,’’ Overton said. “He was a nice, honest, sweet guy that all the family loved. They took [the news] bad.’’ Overton said the family left their home in Harlem, Ga., yesterday to fly to Massachusetts. He said no one in the family knew anything about a drug raid, only that Garnett had been shot.
--more--"Now, if this were only a one-time event I might cut the cops some slack; however, it seems to be a regular occurrence around here.
"Deadly force justified against Dartmouth man, district attorney says; Family files suit versus police" by John R. Ellement, Globe Staff | April 1, 2010
Bristol District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter found yesterday that Dartmouth police officers were justified in using deadly force last August against a 42-year-old man whose bizarre behavior had alarmed neighbors.
The father of Joseph M. Ramos Jr. has already filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the town, the Police Department, and the officers involved. The family says Ramos had a neurological disorder that made him incapable of struggling with police, as authorities contend.
See: Massachusetts Justice: The Dartmouth Death
But Sutter said in a statement that the officers’ actions were justified and did not violate any state law.
“The investigation has concluded that based on all of the circumstances involved and eyewitness accounts, the officers’ actions were necessary to defend themselves, and therefore the fatal shooting was justified and lawful, and did not violate any general laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,’’ Sutter’s office said.
How do you like the cover-ups, smug Bay-Staters?
Jeffrey A. Denner, the attorney for Ramos’s father, said yesterday the family remains convinced that the shooting was avoidable and that Ramos could not have challenged police in the way they describe. “The DA’s finding is not consistent with the mobility that we understand he actually possessed,’’ Denner said. He also said an investigation by his office has found that witnesses have a different account than the one provided by Sutter’s office.
They ALWAYS DO!!
Dartmouth police Captain Gary Soares yesterday said the officers and the department welcomed Sutter’s findings.
You would, too, if they absolved you of murder.
“We’ve always felt this was a tragedy for everybody concerned, and we certainly understand and sympathize with the [Ramoses],’’ Soares said. But, he added, “we always felt that the officers had no alternative at the time, given what they were faced with. It was dealt with by the numbers.’’
Soares said the two officers involved have returned to regular duties. “They are both back to work, and are dealing with it appropriately.’’
Remind me to stay out of Bristol.
Ramos was shot when police were called to the intersection of Milton and Fifth streets, near where Ramos’s family lived and where Ramos lived in a shack on family property. During the week that ended with his death, Ramos had begun knocking on neighbors’ doors, asking for someone named Mary while carrying a wooden stick with nails, which he said he was using to kill rabid animals.
When police arrived, Ramos was confused but calm as officers surrounded him. But according to Sutter’s investigative report, Ramos armed himself with a shiny object that police and neighbors thought was a knife. Ramos ignored orders to drop the object, lunged at officer Scott Brooks, who fell to the ground while Ramos made a stabbing motion toward his chest, Sutter’s office concluded.
With Ramos on top of the prone Brooks, officer Jared White released his police dog, which got between the two combatants before White called the dog off. Ramos rose to his feet, and then continued advancing toward White, despite being ordered to stop, according to Sutter’s investigation. When Ramos was less than 4 feet away from White, White fired his gun once, hitting Ramos in the chest and killing him. Police said they found a Phillips-head screwdriver in Ramos’s hand after he was shot.
This is ALL what the LYING AUTHORITIES CLAIM, 'eh, newspaper?
What are you guys, stenographers for fascists now?
Sutter’s office said its conclusion was based on interviews with police and civilian witnesses.
Ramos’s family contends he suffered from Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, which weakened his legs to the point where he could not have risen suddenly and surged toward police.
But Sutter’s investigation found that “Ramos’s neurological disorder (as reported by his sister) does not appear to have impeded his agility or movements on the evening of August 11, 2009.’’
The investigation could find no explanation for Ramos’s actions.
“Given the absence of drugs or alcohol in Ramos’s system at the time, and the absence of available information regarding Ramos’s mental health, it remains unexplained what motivated Ramos to act in such a bizarre manner,’’ the report said.
The report also said that “at any point, Ramos could have terminated the encounter by dropping the weapon and ceasing his aggressive conduct toward the officers, but he did not.’’And those OTHER WITNESSES that had a DIFFERENT ACCOUNT?
--more--"
I guess the Globe flak never got around to talking to them. Some "investigative journalism," huh, readers?
No wonder AmeriKa's newspapers are dying.
Also see: Slow Saturday Special: The Brookline Four
You know what they say about three strikes, right, readers?
