Flash-bangs, Videos, and Violence

Hello Freedomphiles!  Yesterday, I shared the story of Aiyana Jones, the seven year-old girl who was burned with a flash-bang grenade and then shot in the neck by members of a SWAT team in Detroit as they conducted a raid on her duplex in search of a murder suspect.

There were two stories of how this happened.  One account said that her grandmother struggled with an officer, and his gun went off.  The other indicated that the officer simply bumped into the grandmother, with the same result.

I didn't spend too much time on this distinction, because to me, it was immaterial.  I didn't think that the officer was a murderer.  I had no doubt it was an accident, and my main problem with the situation was systemic.  As I said yesterday:

Originally, [SWAT teams] were supposed to be used only for things like the tower shooting, or hostage situations - scenarios where there were innocent civilians in imminent danger.  Now, it seems, they'll use them to serve a bench warrant for a speeding ticket.

There is absolutely no reason that this poor little girl should have died.  The suspect wasn't even in her half of the duplex.  The next time you read about a SWAT raid - botched or not - ask yourself this question: Could this have been done peacefully, or was a full-on military assault necessary?

Chances are,  you will find more times than not, there was a peaceful alternative that would not put people like little Aiyana in the middle of a war.

This could have been avoided altogether.  They could have staked out the duplex and waited for visual confirmation that he was there.  They could have waited until morning, when most of the innocent residents of the duplex were off to work or school.  They could have waited until the suspect left and tackled him on his front lawn.  It is important to remember that it was the SWAT team's actions that turned a quiet, peaceful night into a war zone, not the actions of the alleged murderer.

Think about this.  The officers knew he was in the duplex somewhere - they just didn't know which side.  So, they got a warrant for the entire building.  When they entered both sides of the duplex, they knew that at least one of those apartments contained innocent people.  But they still entered both homes in full-on assault mode, throwing flash-bang grenades into each.

Flash-bangs are not harmless tools to "distract" violent criminals, as the officers' quotes in the early reports stated.  Flash-bangs are violent weapons, creating a 136 decibel shockwave that blinds, deafens, and confuses its victims, and the ensuing confusion and chaos often leads to the deaths of civilians and cops alike.  In fact, in one such story, the flash bang set off a Tarantinoesque melee between the cops and the cops, in which the suspect was shot in the neck. 

If you doubt my description of the weapon, don't take my word for it.  In 1998, one accidentally went off in the SUV of three FBI agents.  One described the sensation as feeling like "someone just whacked me in the back with a baseball bat as hard as they could."  Another described the long-term effects: "I don't sleep. I have tremendous headaches. I have the doctors claim severe hearing loss, but for all practical purposes, I'm deaf in my left ear."

And SWAT officers in Detroit had no problem throwing one of these into an apartment they knew contained innocent people in no immediate danger from anyone, some probably children.  This is an assault all on its own, and certainly government-approved police brutality.  

In the ensuing storm of confusion, it is no wonder that an innocent life was lost.  It's no wonder that a frightened and disoriented grandmother either bumped into or fought against the invaders.  

But did she?

New information on the raid came out today.  As I said yesterday, this situation is unique in that there was a film crew for the A&E documentary show The First 48 on hand, recording the entire incident.  Geoffrey Fieger, the Jones family attorney in this matter, has seen the footage.  He says, “Aiyana Jones was shot from outside on the porch. The videotape shows clearly the officer throwing through the window a stun grenade-type explosive and then within milliseconds of throwing that, firing a shot from outside the home."

A&E is not yet releasing the footage to the press or the police in this matter, but his statement is pretty damning.  I mean, this is a high-profile attorney - he defended Jack Kevorkian.  He surely knows he has nothing to gain by lying about the footage, as sooner or later, we will all get a chance to see it.  “There is no question about what happened because it’s in the videotape,” he asserted. “It’s not an accident. It’s not a mistake. There was no altercation.”

Oak Park attorney Karri Mitchell says the cops "were excited; they were on TV...They didn't have to throw a grenade through the front window when they knew there were children in there...There was nothing but innocent people in the home where they put this flash grenade." 

She went on to offer the caveat: "We're not indicating the officer's actions were intentional.  We know it was an accident, but the method that they used in executing the search warrant was flawed. The family understands that the officer is not a monster. He didn't intentionally shoot a 7-year-old girl." 

My instincts tell me that this is probably true, but what possible reason did he have for firing through the window immediately after setting off the flash-bang?  I think little Aiyana's father summed it up best, saying, “They killed my baby, and I want someone to tell the truth."

Me, too.