Pagans seek Federal Probe into death

Thanks to the writer that tipped us off to this one:

The Pagans Motorcycle Club of Delaware is asking the U.S. Department of Justice to launch a civil rights investigation into the November 2006 killing of club member Derek Hale by a Wilmington police lieutenant.

The request from a club the Justice Department considers an "outlaw motorcycle gang" is indicative of the anger Hale's killing has caused, said Pagans spokesman K.B. Jones.

"We want justice," Jones said. "Derek Hale did two tours of duty in a combat zone for this country. We feel this country now owes him an independent investigation by federal authorities."

Each year, the Criminal Section of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division receives thousands of complaints of civil rights abuse, including complaints of police misconduct. One of the section's most notable cases -- U.S. v. Koon, et al. -- resulted in 30-month prison sentences for two Los Angeles police officers, who in 1991 were videotaped beating Rodney King on a Los Angeles freeway.

Hale, a 25-year-old decorated Marine, was sitting on the steps of the Wilmington home of another Pagan when police surrounded him and then stunned him with Taser guns. The family's lawyer said "excessive tasering allegedly had left Hale virtually paralyzed, unable to comply with the police officers' demands."

A witness told investigators that Hale said "in a low raspy voice" that he was trying to comply with the officers' demands to remove his hands from his hooded sweat shirt pockets. Witnesses also said Hale did not appear to pose a threat and had just vomited and was shaking violently from the Taser blasts when then-Lt. William Browne shot him in the chest with three .40-caliber rounds. Browne was later promoted to captain.

Attorney General Biden's office, after clearing Browne, was unable to confirm whether any line-of-duty shootings by police in Delaware had ever been found to be unjustified. According to News Journal archives, there have been nearly 40 shootings by police since 1998, all later ruled justified.

(Read the rest of the story here)

Another example of how the "War on Drugs" kills more people than it saves? Can be used by police to target or oppress certain segments of the population? A decorated Marine with no arrest record killed, and for what? Why?

The why is explained in a previous post here.

Drug Wars. Enriching the Police while Oppressing the people

In which the following can be found:

Baum details an interview with John Ehrlichman, domestic policy advisor for Nixon, in which it was made clear that the objective of the Drug War was to control the “hippies” and the “blacks.”


And today we can include anybody the government chooses to target!!!

Why would a person who does not currently use alcohol or drugs say the drug war is insane? Because the war on drugs isn't about safe guarding anybody. It is all about giving the government more power to intrude on your privacy and to control specific populations. When was the last time a powder using Hollywood celebrity shot over "suspicion"?

We will be interested to see what happens here.Add to Technorati Favorites

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