Detroit PD Executes Child, age 7

At about 1 A.M. Sunday morning, apparently a 7 year old sleeping child had a police flash bang (an incendiary device) tossed upon her, catching her on fire, and was then shot and killed by an officer’s bullet during a warranted raid of a home in which the sought suspect was not present.  The child’s father was “detained” and handcuffed in a puddle of his daughter’s blood and Detroit P.D. seems bent on at least partially blaming the child’s grandmother for having had a negative but prompt reaction to having complete strangers assault her home, toss in grenades, and burst through her door en mass.

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

This entry has nothing to do with my most common topics on animals and animal seizure EXCEPT that you should all read it so you know what to expect when the SWAT team arrives to take your animals as this is the same process used whenever officers want to do surprise searches these days.  In the process, they put us all at risk.  Do not dismiss this as poor, violent Detroit.  It can and does happen everywhere, including the very best neighborhoods.  You should always have been concerned and fighting against this and, if you haven’t been, you should get off your butt and start fighting against these abusive police/government tactics.

On Friday afternoon, at 3 P.M., Jarean “Blake was gunned down ‘in particularly brutal fashion in front of a store — and in front of his girlfriend,’” although the department described it rather less dramatically and it barely warranted 3 paragraphs on the day it happened.  That it warranted just 3 paragraphs is shameful in itself.  That it is now being revised by the police department for spin is despicable.

Investigators identified the suspect as a 34-year-old man, and obtained a search warrant for a home on Lillibridge, on Detroit’s east side.”  Such a simple straight forward sentence that raises such immense questions.  The shooting was at 3 P.M. on Friday and the execution of this warrant was just after midnight on Sunday morning.  WHEN did they ID the suspect?  WHEN did they obtain the warrant?  Was there a significant lapse of time between obtaining the warrant and executing it?  Could this have done at a civilized hour instead of in the middle of the night?  I'm guessing yes and I seriously doubt they woke a magistrate up to get this warrant so I'm guessing they had the warrant for HOURS and HOURS.

The foregoing says “home” and I’ve seen reports that say house.  Here’s the thing, this is apparently a house that has been divided into apartments, as has been done with many houses/structures.  In most cases, it is very apparent that the division of the structure has been done.  Did they obtain a warrant for the entire structure KNOWING it was divided into apartments?

I certainly suspect that they did deliberately get a warrant that included multiple homes (what next? entire apartment complexes? housing subdivisions?), that they had the warrant for hours and CHOSE to execute it at nearly 1 A.M. on a Sunday morning.  And, in this case, the warrant wasn’t the only thing these officers executed.  “The police gun went off. Aiyana was killed.”  Note “gun went off”, passive terminology.  That gun was some officer’s responsibility.  Stop being weasles!

Detroit Police “Special Response Team set off a flash grenade as they entered the apartment with their guns drawn about 12:40 a.m. Sunday with a warrant to look for a suspect in the Friday slaying of a 17-year-old boy.”  (The boy on Friday was “shot” then “gunned down” and now “slaying” is used.  Do you see the spin the media is helping these police perform to cover their asses?)

"I heard boom! Detroit police! Pop! It happened so fast," said Krystal Sanders, 30, an aunt of the girl who said she was in the home at the time of the incident.  Aiyana's grandmother Mertilla Jones was in the front room of the house and tussled with the first officer when his gun discharged, hitting Aiyana, police said.

Do you see the set up to blame this woman starting?  DESPICABLE!

How many times have we heard police say “I shot because I feared for my life”?  What the fucking hell do you expect if you burst through the door of a home at 1 A.M.?  I know my first thought is "bad guy", not "cop".  You SOBs should expect to get SHOT.  Don’t you dare lay one tiny bit of blame on a woman for any objection to a group of armed people barreling into her home at 1 A.M.!!!

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers…”  Every single one of us has the right to defend ourselves from a home invasion and that you shout “police” as you toss in grenades and kick in doors, an obvious assault of violence, simply is NOT sufficient to expect a human to grasp what is happening when they are relaxing in their own home.  It should provoke a fight response and that response is FULLY justified.  If you're going to do no knock invasions, it is 100% YOUR responsibility to ENSURE every single person's safety even before the safety of the officers.

Upon entering the home, the officer encountered a 46-year-old female inside the front room, Godbee said. "Exactly what happened next is a matter still under investigation, but it appears the officer and the woman had some level of physical contact.  "At about this time, the officer's weapon discharged one round which, tragically, struck 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley Jones in the neck/head area."

“officer’s weapon discharged” and more passive voice speak.  BS!  THE OFFICER DISCHARGED THE WEAPON and that officer’s bullet killed  Aiyana.  That weapon is the officer’s exclusive responsibility.  Period.

In my opinion, that officer, the Detroit Police Department, EXECUTED Aiyana.

I suspect Mr. Jones is telling the truth and it is quite disappointing to see his statement in only 1 of the 4 sources I’m working from; DESPICABLE that the PD didn’t admit this immediately.  WTF were you even doing in Aiyana’s apartment?  How did you get a warrant for multiple homes?  “particularly describing the place to be searched”  That warrant doesn’t sound very damn “particular” to me if it granted authority to enter 2 homes!

Godbee would not comment on reports that neighbors told officers that there were children in the house, and pointed out toys in the front yard.”  Of course Godbee wouldn’t!  DESPICABLE!

"We have executed countless high-risk warrants where children have been present," Godbee said. "This was a perfect storm for tragedy"  THAT YOUR DEPARTMENT CREATED and set up by executing your “countless” warrants.  These high risk warrants are supposed to be rare exceptions and you saying “countless” tells me they certainly aren’t!

The number of no-knock raids has increased from 3,000 in 1981 to more than 50,000 in 2005”  Oh, I'm guessing that 50,000 is grossly under-counting the real incidence of these raids.  Perhaps, just perhaps, the US President can be persuaded to issue an executive order to cease these “no knock” raids now that a child has been executed under color of law.  If not, what will it take?  Another Waco?  Or has everyone forgotten that was intended to be a "no knock" style raid?

 

Godbee, your blatant self pity and obvious intent to garner some sympathy for yourself and your killing officers (and it’s clearly your knee jerk reaction to do so) in the immediate wake of this family’s suffering makes me want to vomit.

Gee, ya think YOUR escalation of violence under color of law just might provoke people to start standing up for themselves?  Maybe people are getting tired of being more aggressively abused by authorities with every passing day?  It would serve every one of you right if they did boil over but…

Sadly, I sincerely doubt it.  We rant and rail on the internet but we will probably continue to let “officers” slaughter us like cattle.  The founding fathers of this country told us it was up to us to keep our freedoms and rights and we’re doing a pretty poor job of standing up for those or each other.

NO Godbee, that isn’t all you can do.  Not by a long shot. 

  • Stop thinking about yourselves. 
  • Mr. Jones has asked for the TRUTH.  He deserves every single detail in plain, unspun English.  The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
  • STOP USING INCENDIARY DEVICES.
  • STOP DOING NO KNOCK RAIDS.
  • STOP DOING MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT RAIDS ON HOMES.

And, Godbee, I’m pretty sure the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality has a nice long list of what you could do but, like the above, you won’t.  We all know that even the execution of a child will not be sufficient to change abusive police methods.  I wonder if the erroneous execution of a police officer's child in a bungled raid would be enough.

Somewhere in Detroit is an officer who discharged his/her weapon and executed this child.  Can you live with yourself now?  If you can, then you’ll have to find some excuse or some warped way of justifying this child’s execution and that’s going to make it even more unlikely you’ll be a decent human being in the future.  There are some things one shouldn’t be able to live with.  Do you know the phrase “eating your gun”?

Yeah, this morning I’m inclined to show about as much compassion for some as they show to others.  I don’t get the impression that the Detroit PD is familiar with the word “compassion” at all.

 “Activists such as Scott say such devices are military-style tools inappropriate for civilian settings — especially where children are present.”  How sad that civil rights is still considered “activism” 200+ years after it became the law of the land.  Well, Scott is absolutely right and may we all follow these activists in DEMANDING that we have and keep our Constitutional rights by learning to exercise them DAILY and REPEATEDLY.

But police say they use [flash bangs] to distract suspects that are potentially violent and hostile.”  Aw, but there’s the wrong headed thinking right off the bat.  It presumes it will distract AND that you can be sure you’ve got the right place and the right people.  It presumes all upon whom you inflict are, in fact, guilty long before the trial has even begun.  When you err, you end up playing judge, jury, and executioner of children as you did in this case.

My deepest condolences go out to Aiyana’s family.  With hopes that you get the TRUTH and an APOLOGY for starters.  Nothing will be sufficient but I wish you the best in your pursuit of what little justice you may be able to obtain here and with the firm belief that full justice will come here or hereafter.

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