This is the scariest thing I have read in awhile. This is what happens when we give away our civil liberties to feel "safer"

I honestly do not understand these "no knock" warrants. I have no doubt that there are circumstances where they are needed, but for the most part I can't help but think there is a better, safer way.

How in the world is busting into someone's HOUSE, where they are MOST likely to have access to a weapon, and have access to it legally to boot, the safest way to bring someone into custody? How is it safe for the innocent family members? Is there a presumption that the 16 year old kid is a criminal, too, just because Daddy did something wrong?

This is cowboy shit. Some old man got shot in his bed when his door blew open & he went into his nightstand for a gun in California not too long ago. Oops, sorry. Wrong apartment number. But we were justified shooting him because he went for a gun!

Someone please tell me how that's not criminally negligent homicide. They created a situation where there was a high risk of serious bodily injury to someone, and obviously they did not exercise care in doing so. How do I know they were careless? THEY ARRESTED A BLACK ITALIAN MOBSTER. Nobody checked the place out first and said, "Hey boss, that dude looks...a little dark for a Sicillian, no?" This kind of racial profiling I could deal with.

Even if he WAS the guy they were looking for? Do criminals lose the right to defend themselves? Sure, felons can't own firearms. But if a felon killed another felon who broke into their house and attacked them, as a juror I would have no problem convicting him on the "possession of a weapon by a felon" but aquitting him if he killed the guy breaking in.

This is "reasonable man" stuff. All of you- If you were laying in bed with your spouse, and your front door blew open, and you heard feet charging up your stairs, screaming "POLICE" or anything else, what would you do if you had access to a firearm/baseball bat/knife/heavy lamp? You're asleep. In your house. Groggy. They're armed to the hilt, with hopefully some sort of tactical plan & training. And you're supposed to figure out what's going on, but somehow they aren't?

Of course, NO home invader would EVER claim to be a cop. Are you kidding me? I'd rather be judged by 12 than carried by 6, and by the way seeing my wife/daughter murdered or raped.

In towns at the Jersey Shore I see "SWAT" vans driving around ("Emergency Response"). You need SWAT in Brielle, NJ? Really?

I like cops, generally, but there are some cowboys out there who can't WAIT to go blowing through someone's door like they're clearing a nest of terrorists in Falluja. I can't help but believe that when they're having these meetings to figure out how to catch a fugitive that too many of those meetings end with, "Yeah, F it let's just get the guys in the van, let's go".

I guess sitting on either end of the block waiting for the guy to drive off is too boring.

In this particular situation- they were looking for the "wise guy", obviously. They must have had reason to believe he was AT THE HOUSE AT THAT VERY MOMENT. Think about it- He must have been "hiding" or they would have calmly gotten him one day while he went to the deli. So what happened, they got info saying he was in the house RIGHT THEN and decided to roll? Where did that information come from? Nobody noticed THE GUY SOLD THE HOUSE? Why the hell were they watching it?

Anyway- Screw the lawsuit. If the story is accurate, careers need to end, period. Maybe those involved did not break the law, but frankly, someone needs to sit them down and tell them they're in the wrong line of work- Their judgement sucks.

Sorry for the long post, but this infuriates me. Lock criminals up, for sure, but if you're going to kick down someone's door, you better be able to prove that there was no better way, and you DAMN well better do your due dilly to make sure you're not putting some innocent slob sleeping in bed at risk.

And by the way- Everyone in the neighborhood is in danger because of these clowns too- When the bullets start flying, you think they'll stop at your neighbors sheetrock?

GWB

Goes to show, you don't have to have much brain cells to work for the Feds !!!!

How does someone mistake a 40 yr old African American male for a 70 yr old WiseGuy ?????????????????

Whats the excuse???, just doing their job ????

Great example of the Blind leading the Blind !

CK

I love the 39-year-old black dude mistaken for a 69-year-old Mafiaso, that's just classic.

tax dollar at work

i am sure the lawsuits are coming.

INNOCENT AND DETAINED

Sunday, May 25, 2008
BY JOHN P. MARTIN AND JEFF WHELAN
Star-Ledger Staff

Phil Simone is a 51-year-old white man who works for Merrill Lynch in Jersey City and lives with his wife and children on Long Island.

Kevin Taylor is a 39-year-old black man who manages technology systems for insurer Marsh & McLennan in Hoboken and lives with his teen son in Newark.

The two men have never met, but forged an unlikely bond this month. In a span of four days, both endured harrowing ordeals because of mistakes by federal authorities.

On May 5, U.S. marshals arrested Simone at work and led him in handcuffs to a cell in Newark. They told him he had been charged with raping a boy in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 2002, and would be transported there to face trial.

Hours passed. Marshals fitted Simone with leg irons and brought him to a courtroom, where his wife sat with their children, sobbing. Simone also started to cry.

Simone shared the same name as the suspected molester but little else. He had a different birth date, no criminal history and had not been to Mexico in two decades.

Three days later, Taylor was sleeping in his second-floor bedroom at his Newark home when he was jolted awake at 6 a.m. Using a battering ram, a SWAT team of FBI agents crashed through his front door, ordered Taylor and his 16-year-old son to back down the stairs at gunpoint, then tied their hands with plastic restraints and separated and questioned them.

According to Taylor, the agents never produced a warrant -- not even a business card -- and ignored his pleas to explain why they were there. As they left, he said, one ripped a blank page from a notepad, scribbled an agent's name and number on it and told Taylor to call.

He did -- and got voicemail.

The agents had been dispatched to arrest Charles Muccigrosso, a reputed member of the Gambino crime family. But the 69-year-old known as "Buddy Musk" hadn't lived there since selling the house to Taylor in February, as public records or a routine surveillance might have disclosed.

[img]http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-13/1211690123261250.xml&coll=1[/img]Long article - click here to Read!