For the record, How many Isolated Incidents make a pattern?
Jefferson
Have a look for yourself.
http://www.cato.org/raidmap/Here is but one example from that page.
Ismael Mena.
On September 29, 1999, a Denver SWAT team executes a no-knock drug raid on the home of Ismael Mena, a Mexican immigrant and father of seven.
Mena, believing he is being robbed, confronts the SWAT team with a gun. Police say they fired the eight shots that killed Mena only after Mena ignored repeated warnings to drop his weapon. Mena's family says police never announced themselves, and fired at the man shortly after entry.
The police later discover they've raided the wrong home, based on bad information from an informant. They find no drugs in Mena's house, nor are any later found in his system.
In 2, a special prosecutor's investigation into the Mena shooting would find no wrongdoing on the part of the SWAT team. A separate internal affairs investigation also cleared the SWAT team of wrongdoing, but did find that the officer who prepared the search warrant for Mena's home had falsified information.
As the shooting gained traction in the media, Denver city officials began to portray Mena as a Mexican criminal refugee wanted for murder (Mena had shot a man in Mexico in self-defense, but was cleared of any wrongdoing), in what critics called a "blame the victim" strategy. Members of the police department also later started a "Spy file" on a citizens' organization agitating for a more thorough investigation of Mena's death. The intelligence unit that kept the files on Mena's supporters was the head of the SWAT team that conducted the raid on Mena's home.
Weeks later, new details began to emerge about the Mena case that called the special prosecutor's conclusions into question. Mena's family eventually hired a former FBI agent named James Kearney to conduct a private investigation into the shooting. Kearney became convinced that Denver police shot Mena without provocation, and planted the gun to cover up the botched raid. Kearney found evidence not uncovered by previous investigations, including two slugs in the floor of Mena's apartment that suggest the raid didn't happen as the SWAT team claims it did.
In 2, Mena's family finally settled with the city of Denver for $400,000.
Since the Mena shooting, the city of Denver has settled a $1.3 million lawsuit after police shot and killed a developmentally disabled teenager, and face another suit in which police raiding a home in search of a domestic violence suspect shot and killed a man (not the suspect) in bed when they mistook the soda can in his hand for a gun.
In one final, bizarre twist to the Mena case, it was revealed months after the raid that Colorado Rockies second baseman Mike Lansing was permitted to ride along with the SWAT team on the raid ending in Mena's death. Media inquiries later discovered that it's fairly common for members of the Denver baseball team to accompany police on SWAT raids, despite the raids' volatile nature.
Sources:
Alan Prendergast, "Unlawful Entry; The high price of Denver's drug war: lies, bad busts, cops in harm's way -- and the death of an innocent man," Denver Post, February 24, 2000.
Howard Pankratz, " Informant: Error led to fatal raid Police tipster says his mistake brought officers to Mena's door," Denver Post, August 12, 2, p. A1.
Amy Herdy, "Findings complicate Mena case," Denver Post, January 23, 2003, p. 10.
"Rockies outfielder defends 'ride-alongs," Orlando Sentinel, July 18, 2, p. C5.
Tina Greigo, "Blaming the Victim," Denver Post, February 17, 2001, p. B7.
Kevin Vaughan, "Former FBI agent fights to renew Mena suit," Rocky Mountain News, November 17, 2005, p. A36.
Bruce Finley, "$400,000 settles Mena case Webb steps in to broker deal in fatal no-knock raid," Denver Post, March 24, 2, p. A1.
September 29, 1999
