The following email was sent to Paul and Phil - a couple of local talk show hosts that do a good job of presenting a balanced opinion on topics.
[To Paul and Phil at talk 650 am http://www.kste.com/paulandphil.html]
I was fatally shot by police yesterday.
I thought that title would get your attention. I wrote this a few years ago and, while too lengthy to be read on air I thought you guys would enjoy a different pespective from a rather unique experience I had. I hope you guys get a chance to read this and comment on it at some point.
Jeff Scott
Carmichael, Ca
Note: I'm no longer an activist of any kind and have instead moved into a comfortable, quiet skepticism that cynically flirts with apathy.
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I was fatally shot by police yesterday.
Somehow I got the idea to run as if that ever works for anyone in the real world. Unarmed and running without a shirt to conceal a weapon or shoes to run in, police opened fire. Six bullets in all were fired. Two of which killed me.
Okay, I didn’t really die. I was driving to a friends house with my brother last night and we heard the news on the radio that police shot and killed Jeffrey Scott of Citrus Heights who was wanted on felony drug charges, home invasions and a possible homicide. Apparently I’ve been really bad lately.
This was triply ironic for me because not only do I share the same name as the now deceased Jeffrey Scott but I also grew up in Citrus Heights and I am a vocal, politically active medical marijuana advocate and anti-drug war activist. So we shared a name, town and to some degree are affected by the same drug war.
For a few minutes I had the eerie feeling that I was somehow in the same situation as Bruce Willis in the Sixth Sense and didn’t know I was dead. I began to sorely miss my wife and daughter until the mundane rhythm of driving reasserted reality for me.
Now I’m not trying to defend my duplicate in any way since by all accounts he sounded like a bad dude. The Sacramento Bee1 reported the following:
On Saturday, Darrin Bateman, 34, who knew Scott, was shot to death during a robbery at his home on Cherry Lane, Lewis said.
A day later, Donald Sands, 49, and his wife, Wendy, 41, were attacked in their home on Tacomic Way in Sacramento County by three robbers. During a seven-hour ordeal the Sands were beaten, cut, pistol-whipped and threatened.
The robbers fled with the couple's two cars, their bank cards and other property. Deputies arrested one suspect, Luis Gonzalez, 22, the same day in one of the stolen cars with stolen property inside, said Lewis.
The arrest linked Scott to the two-day crime spree, Lewis said, adding that witnesses told investigators that Scott was on a 12-day methamphetamine binge, moving from house to house. And friends were frightened by his behavior.
Because Scott's friends had said that he had threatened to shoot officers who tried to arrest him, Special Weapons and Tactic (SWAT) officers joined officers serving the warrant at the duplex where Scott was staying, Lewis said.
So he definitely sounds like kind of person you want behind bars.
The problem I have with this police shooting is that police shot an unarmed man in the back while he was running shirtless and shoeless away from them. Surely they could have tasered him with a stun gun or sent a police dog to subdue him until they could catch up to him. I understand that many law enforcement officers are out of shape but is that really any reason to kill someone in cold blood?
Also of note was the fact that only two of the six shots fired hit Mr. Scott. The other four lodged in a cinder block wall on the other side of which were children playing in a swimming pool. Thank heaven for that wall or it could have been a lot worse.
Equally unsettling was the Sheriff department spokespersons response to this crime.
"It's not something you want to happen," said spokesman Sgt. James Lewis. "You want him to give up or be taken into custody without injury to himself or anyone else." That's not what happened. But we feel the officers were within department policy and the (law)," Lewis said, referring to an 1872 state law that allows officers to shoot a fleeing felon.
That’s right, Sgt Lewis covered the collective butts of his fellow officers by citing an 1872 law from the wild west. Seems a bit out of date, as well as cruel and inhumane in modern society, to let our law enforcement officers shoot fleeing unarmed suspects.
But then again maybe not.
One of the more sinister side effects of our drug war has been the increasing prevalence of corruption and outright brutality in our law enforcement officers.
Another victim who shares my last name, Donald Scott, 62, owned 250 acres of land adjacent to federal land that the Department of Forestry desperately wanted to buy but that he refused to sell. They responded with predictable heavy handedness, all too common to the unfeeling borg drones that man our government bureaucracies these days, by ordering a search for marijuana on his property. When no plants were found they ignored the report and raided his house anyway. A Libertarian Colorado Sheriff Bill Masters reports the following in his speech to the Pro Second Amendment Committee in Grand Junction.
“Mrs. Scott was pushed forcefully to the ground, a gun aimed at her head. She pleaded, "Please don't shoot me!" Hearing his wife's pleas, Mr. Scott armed himself with a revolver and ran out of his bedroom, only to be shot and killed instantly by the raiding officers. No marijuana plants or drugs of any kind were found on the Scott property.” 2
Too many people named Scott are dying folks!!
Sheriff Masters goes on to report the following;
Police in Texas were using a paid informant to buy $30 worth of drugs. The informant claimed he had purchased drugs at Annie Rae Dixon's house. The police raided the home, shot, and killed the 84 year old bedridden Mrs. Dixon. No illegal drugs were found in her home.
Ismael Mena from Mexico, father of nine, came to the United States legally for work to support his family. He worked night shift at the Coca-Cola bottling plant. He was in his bedroom sleeping during the day, when the Denver police department SWAT team raided his apartment after obtaining a "no knock" search warrant for drugs. Mr. Mena, awakened by the black-clothed officers breaking down his door, armed himself with a .22 caliber pistol. Officers stormed into his bedroom and ordered him to drop the pistol. He started to drop the pistol; then, according to the SWAT team, he questioned, "Polica?" He was immediately shot in the head and chest, at which point, according to the officers, he reached for the gun again and in fact discharged the gun, but was shot six more times and killed. No illegal drugs were found in Mena's home.
Investigation revealed the police raided the wrong house. The narcotics officer in charge of the case, according to district attorney Dave Thomas, made false statements, knowing they were false, in order to obtain the search warrant. The officer was charged with three felonies, including perjury. However, he was allowed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor so he could retain his job as a police officer in Denver. He was recently given nine months of back pay, almost $40,000, and reinstated as a police officer for the city of Denver.
I’m talking about cases where the marines, in direct violation of the posse comitatus act – another 19th century post civil war holdover that excludes our military from enforcing domestic laws – killed a simple shepard named Zeke Hernandez4 while herding his flock of sheep because he carried a .22 caliber rifle to ward off predators. These marines were in full camouflage, as part of the “Joint task Force Six” drug interdiction team and Zeke never saw them coming. He was 18 years old at the time of his murder.
And more recently and closer to home the Modesto Bee3 reported on the accidental shooting of an 11 year old boy lying facedown in his bedroom: Modesto Police Chief Roy Wasden said his department accepts responsibility for killing 11-year-old Alberto Sepulveda, while maintaining that the Sept. 13 shooting was accidental. "The trigger had to be pulled, I'm convinced of that," Wasden said. "But I can't find any reason officer (David) Hawn would want that shotgun to discharge. There was no intent." The shooting occurred when a police Special Weapons and Tactics Team forced its way into the Sepulvedas' northwest Modesto home to help federal agents serve an arrest warrant on drug charges.Within 30 seconds of the SWAT team's entry, a bullet from officer David Hawn's shotgun struck Alberto as he lay face-down in his bedroom. Police have said Hawn's gun accidentally discharged. And what is the result of this tragedy? Will the officer be punished? Will the no knock raids stop and a more logical approach to this insane war be implemented?
No.
“The Police Department no longer will assist outside agencies in serving warrants simply on good faith. Those agencies must provide detailed information to justify the level of force requested.” Modesto Police Chief Roy Wasden The police won’t help outside agencies again – that’s it! A boy’s life is taken in cold blood and no one pay’s for it.
Simply put, the drug raids will continue so we can “save the children”.
Or, to coin a cartoon phrase, “ The beatings will continue until morale improves”.
These stories strike a personal note of fear in me because of my very vocal anti drug war activism and medical marijuana patient’s rights advocacy. A simple phone call to an anonymous drug tip hotline could result in a no knock warrant in the middle of the night and I, my wife or my three year old daughter, would be in danger of losing our lives to law enforcement officers dressed in flak jackets, carrying automatic weapons and taking no prisoners.
Certainly our dog would be killed in front of my daughter’s eyes as she tried to protect us from invaders. More then likely I would be killed as well as I emerged from my bedroom armed and ready to protect my family from invaders in the middle of the night. I shudder to think how this scenario would affect my wife and daughter who would have to live with this emotional scar for the rest of their lives.
Sheriff Masters reports that:“Regarding the controversy over the officer's reinstatement, Denver Mayor Wellington Webb stated, "Mr. Mena would still be alive today if he just didn't have a gun."2 and "It is your responsibility to protect yourself and your family from criminals. If you rely on the government for protection, you are going to be at least disappointed and at worst injured or killed."5
Unfortunately protecting your family can get you killed these days.So, aside from moving to Canada, what can law-abiding citizens do to protect themselves? Basically get involved. Write your local state representatives and members of congress.
Locally you can go to http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html and find out who your local representatives are and write them ASAP.
Personally I’m going to ask them to repeal this 1872 law that allows Law Enforcement to shoot fleeing suspects. I think that’s long overdo. I’m also going to ask them to support the implementation of Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act, for medical marijuana patients and to work on overhauling police procedures to protect the public from this monster we have created in our drug war frenzy.
Though I don’t expect much sympathy or real action from either of these Senators, I will be writing Senator Dianne Fienstien at http://feinstein.senate.gov/contact.html and Senator Barbara Boxer at http://boxer.senate.gov/contact/index.html . Unfortunately both are drug war hawks completely beholden to the status quo and have sold their souls to the social Godzilla wreaking havoc amongst patients and unarmed citizens that we know as the drug war.
I strongly suggest dropping the team based politics approach that is so prevalent today and voting for the Libertarian and Green Parties. It seems like every election we are left with a choice between the lesser of two evil empty suits preaching almost identical drug war and other nonsensical bureaucratic increases in governmental power. It has to stop now before it’s too late.
Vote your conscience not your fears.
Medical Marijuana patients can go to www.letfreedomgrow.org and get the latest information from the American Medical Marijuana Association and to www.canorml.org , the California chapter of NORML, as well.
Conservatives can check out www.worldnetdaily.com and the National Review Online at http://www.nationalreview.com/. Both have excellent search features detailing the failed policies and outright atrocities of our war on drugs.
Other great sites for information include www.drugsense.org which has a great database of articles pertaining to the drug war. I also highly recommend the Families Against Mandatory Minimums site at http://www.famm.org/ Their site contains photo’s and stories from drug war victims. It would take an inhuman effort to leave that site without some shred of sympathy for these folks and a twinge of fear that it could easily happen to you.
Get involved now. The life you save may be your own.
1 Slaying justified, sheriff's office says: Deputies say the man's dash from a Citrus Heights garage surprised them. http://www.sacbee.com/news/news/local02_20010525.html
2 Speech addressed to the Pro Second Amendment Committee, Grand Junction, Colorado, March 10, 2001. http://libertybill.net/speechmarch102001.html
4 http://www.hr95.org/Memorial.html#zeke
3 Police report fails to answer question in SWAT shooting of Alberto Sepulveda http://www.modbee.com/metro/story/0,1113,229063,00.html
5 US CO: Libertarian Sheriff Just Says No To The Drug War
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1256/a06.html
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