Justice for Sal
Via The Ninth Stage comes Justice For Sal. Sal was shot and killed during a SWAT raid for sports gambling with his friends:
Dr. Salvatore J. Culosi. Sal was unjustly shot and killed by a member of the Fairfax County, VA police SWAT team on January 24, 2006. Sal was under investigation by Fairfax County police for supposedly taking sports bets. Police sent a fully-armed, paramilitary SWAT team to his home to serve a documents search warrant and killed him with a .45 Heckler & Koch handgun – a powerful weapon typically used by U.S. military forces in combat. Sal was alone, unarmed and cooperative outside his home – in plain view when he was shot and killed. He had no criminal history and did not own a weapon.
Ninth Stage has more here. Looks like two things killed Sal:
1 – A SWAT raid for a non-violent, non-imminent danger situation.
2 – Incompetent policeman who should have kept his finger off the trigger.
Cowboy attitude and incompetence don’t mix.
December 21st, 2006 at 12:49 pm
Don’t forget:
3) A SWAT raid for a “crime” that consists only of competing with the state lottery.
December 21st, 2006 at 1:05 pm
I wonder which exact model of HK?
Because USPs have mechanical safeties, as well…if that’s the case, he not only had his booger hook on the bang switch, he had the safety off at the same time, which would be even more inexcusable.
I’m sorry, but I wouldn’t call it an ‘accidental discharge.’ An AD is when something wrong with the gun caused it to fire when it wasn’t supposed to. Failure to follow the 4 Rules is negligence, and thus any resulting discharge is a Negligent Discharge.
December 21st, 2006 at 2:00 pm
This is what happens when you begin to militerize the police. When thay look more like National Guardsmen then Deputy Fiff. There is a place for the uber tatical cop. However it is being used way to often to justify the cost of setting them up. That is the wrong attitude to have. They should be used for the real life threating cases. Not every one.
December 21st, 2006 at 2:37 pm
A negligent discharge resulting in death. In how many other professions would get you a ticket to walk? It remains to be seen if our recent case in Wilmington, NC will result in the same pass.
December 21st, 2006 at 3:52 pm
USP safeties/decocker can be tricky as hell. It’s the one thing on my USP .45 I wish operated a bit differently.
December 21st, 2006 at 4:06 pm
We all, the American people, need to have a come to Jesus meeting about this. The problem is government bureaucrats that have assumed more power than what is granted by the Constitution.
How long before SWAT swarms a bingo game in Florida?
I am Pro-Cop and pro law enforcement. This isn’t a Cop thing. It is a political thing and we need to find a way to have a full discussion about it.
This has to stop. It has to stop now. What is the next reasonable step to stop it?