Don't bring golf club to gun fight

[WillBrink]

Utah SWAT team serves no knock warrant on suspected meth dealer, meth dealer decides to meet entry team with golf club...

Police video shows how drug raid turned deadly

By Erin Alberty

The Salt Lake Tribune

Shouts break the evening silence.

“Police! Search warrant!”

Officers burst through the door. A man appears across the room. Metal glints from his clasped hands. Shots echo from a police-issue Glock 22. Todd Blair slumps to the floor.

“Five seconds,” said Blair’s mother, Arlean. “In five seconds, he was dead.”

Officers entered Blair’s home Sept. 16 during a drug raid when he stepped into the hall, wielding a golf club, police video shows. Ogden police Sgt. Troy Burnett shot Blair, 45, in the head and chest.

The shooting was deemed legally justified.

“They could have handled it a lot better,” Arlean Blair countered. “They could have tasered him. They could have done a lot of things other than shoot him.”

Investigation reports obtained by The Tribune depict an operation that took some unexpected turns away from protocol before that one explosive moment.

Cont:

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50932722-76/blair-officer-force-deadly.html.csp

[M1garand]

I think someone already beat you to the same topic.

[ArmyDiver]

I think someone already beat you to the same topic.

At least this one includes a back story.

The shooting was deemed legally justified.

“They could have handled it a lot better,” Arlean Blair countered. “They could have tasered him. They could have done a lot of things other than shoot him.”

Legally justified. Ms Blair, you're son could have handled his life a lot better as well and he would still be alive. Perhaps if your son hadn't been a drug dealer/manufacturer he'd still be alive. But sure, blame the police for their actions and ignore your son's choices that led up to the event. Typical.

[creolecop]

Outstanding shot Sgt. Burnette from the no hesitation in the decision to the head and chest shots (which is our POST training standard in Louisiana). As for his mother what can you say she doesn't know police tactics and is a victim of TV and thinks well they tase other people why couldn't they tase him. You just have to let a mothers words in a situation like this go in one ear and out the other.

[Kilo88]

Lol, I like how one of the officers said get on the ground after the suspect had been shot and was laying on the ground.

Gun vs a golf club? Yeah, it seems way unfair which is why his mom is upset, but perhaps as others have said she should be upset at the stupidity of her son.

[ArmyDiver]

Gun vs a golf club? Yeah, it seems way unfair

Blunt force trauma, closed head injury, caved in scull, broken neck, jaw, face. Aside from death and disfigurement, I can't imagine what type of threat a guy hopped up on meth could possible pose while wielding a golf club. What happens when he swings, breaks it on the officers helmet, and now possesses a 3 foot long spear.

Stupid kills and this guy had a serious case of it. Between being a drug dealer/manufacturer and then his actions during the raid, I feel ten times more pity for the officer that had to shoot him than I do for the guy who got shot.

I understand a mothers love is a mothers love and she's going to be upset. But she has to look at the situation from outside the box. Anyone who does will see it was perfectly legitimate and that's why it was ruled as such.

[WillBrink]

Gun vs a golf club? Yeah, it seems way unfair

I should hope so. Who said it was supposed to be fair? As someone said "if you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck"

[JohnnyPA]

You are all ok with no knock warrants? Within 5 seconds of kicking open a door the police start shooting? Really? Would you be ok if a well trained individual was able to effectively return fire after armed individual in black gear kicked in his door?

I am a 100% law abiding citizen and I am scared to death of these typpes of entries. If I were in the homeowners situation I would also most likely be dead as I would respond to someone kicking in my door with immediate deadly force no matter what they shouted. There are way too many stories of the police (and imposters) kicking down the wrong doors and murdering inocent people for no knock warrants to be the law of the land.

I seem to recall a different tune being sung on this forum when a fed in Pittsburgh was killed by a homeowner while serving one of these warrants.

[LA DEP]

I should hope so. Who said it was supposed to be fair? As someone said "if you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck"

"fair" is where you go for cotton candy and step in monkey poo.....

[LA DEP]

You are all ok with no knock warrants? Within 5 seconds of kicking open a door the police start shooting? Really? Would you be ok if a well trained individual was able to effectively return fire after armed individual in black gear kicked in his door?

I am a 100% law abiding citizen and I am scared to death of these typpes of entries. If I were in the homeowners situation I would also most likely be dead as I would respond to someone kicking in my door with immediate deadly force no matter what they shouted. There are way too many stories of the police (and imposters) kicking down the wrong doors and murdering inocent people for no knock warrants to be the law of the land.

I seem to recall a different tune being sung on this forum when a fed in Pittsburgh was killed by a homeowner while serving one of these warrants.

Well, if you werent dead at that point, you would be within 15-20 years after the state sticks a needle in your arm and puts you to sleep.

[Murf425]

I have to agree with Johnny on this one...scary stuff.

[JohnnyPA]

Please don't get me wrong. I would absolutely never wish harm upon an officer. However, in my acknowledged uninformed opinion, no-knock warrants are too risky for all involved.

The police should not be able to put somebody else at a greater risk of harm to minimize their own risk. If someone kicks in my door in the middle of the night, I am assuming ill intent until I see otherwise.

I am not trying to be dense, but why should an officer get the benefit of the doubt after breaking into a private residence, but not a startled homeowner. If the grandmother in Atlanta who was murdered by the police while serving a no-knock survived should she have been prosecuted?

[HeadDoc]

Blunt force trauma, closed head injury, caved in scull, broken neck, jaw, face. Aside from death and disfigurement, I can't imagine what type of threat a guy hopped up on meth could possible pose while wielding a golf club.

I don't have to imagine it. Dealing with head injuries is my job. They were absolutely right to shoot him and in the cops' place I would have shot him too. Don't want to get shot? Start by not manufacturing meth and finish by not attacking armed police.

[Chaplain Keppy]

We just had a case in my area where the murder weapon was a golf club. It absolutely can be a lethal weapon.

[Taylor13]

He should be shot anyway for making/dealing meth.