Unarmed marijuana dealer shot in face and killed by cop who won’t face charges

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Raw Story

Unarmed marijuana dealer shot in face and killed by cop who won’t face charges

Free Thought Project
24 Oct 2015 at 11:01 ET

Derek Cruice was a kind and loving young man who was murdered in cold blood by state agents because he allegedly sold a plant that is legal in five states.

In March, a heavily militarized police SWAT team, knowing that Cruice had never been convicted of a crime, descended on his home on Maybrook Drive in Deltona. Police did not knock. Instead, they used a battering ram to bust down the door, sending multiple heavily armed storm troopers into the house.

Friends who were inside the home explained that police fired their weapons without hesitation. They described how it was blatantly obvious that Cruice was unarmed, as he was wearing basketball shorts and no shirt. Cruice was shot in his face and died on scene.

. . .

On Wednesday, a grand jury decided that the peace officer, Deputy Todd Raible, who shot and killed this beloved member of the community, did so because he is an apparent “hero” in the war on drugs, and they decided not to indict him.

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/2015/10/unarmed-marijuana-dealer-shot-in-face-and-killed-by-cop-who-wont-face-charges/

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[center]

The deceased, Derek Cruice.

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Original story:

Florida Deputy Shoots Unarmed Man In Face While Serving Pot Warrant
The Huffington Post | By Andy Campbell
Posted: 03/05/2015 2:57 am EST Updated: 03/05/2015 2:59 am EST

Volusia County Sheriff's deputy shot an unarmed man in the face while serving a drug warrant on Wednesday.
Deputies say Derek Cruice, 26, resisted arrest during the incident at his Deltona, Florida home. Cruice's friends, six of whom were at the house when a SWAT team entered, called the fatal shooting "murder."

At 6:32 a.m., Deputy Todd Raible, 36, fired one shot, hitting Cruice in the face as he stood inside the doorway, police told WFTV. Cruice was pronounced dead a short time later at an area hospital.

. . .

The sheriff's department confirmed that Cruice was unarmed at the time. One of the men inside the home, 24-year-old Matthew Grady, contradicted deputies' claims that Cruice had resisted arrest.
"There's a couple of seconds between opening the door, walking out, getting to my knee and halfway out there's gunfire," Grady told My News 13. "I look back as the guy's grabbing me, and my friend is dead or dying." When asked if Cruice resisted, Grady said: "No."

Roommate Steven Cochran said Cruice wasn't wearing a shirt at the time of the shooting, and didn't pose a threat of carrying a concealed weapon. "It's kind of hard to conceal anything or hide anything when this is all you have on," said Cochran. "They entered the house and fired."

More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/05/derek-cruice-shot-in-face_n_6805902.html

[ladjf]

1. As long as this kind of police action is legal America is not a legitimate government.

We are flagrantly oppressed.

[Warpy]

4. No, this is totalitarianism. The drug war is their excuse

but it's totalitarianism, nonetheless.

Every USSC decision based on legitimizing the drug war, from no knock warrants to forfeiture, needs to be scrapped.

[librechik]

22. Nope. It's "inverted totalitarianism"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism

Inverted totalitarianism is a term coined by political philosopher Sheldon Wolin in 2003 to describe the emerging form of government of the United States. Wolin believes that the United States is increasingly turning into an illiberal democracy, and uses the term "inverted totalitarianism" to illustrate similarities and differences between the United States governmental system and totalitarian regimes such as Nazi Germany and the Stalinist Soviet Union.[1][2][3][4] In Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt by Chris Hedges and Joe Sacco, inverted totalitarianism is described as a system where corporations have corrupted and subverted democracy and where economics trumps politics.[5] In inverted totalitarianism, every natural resource and every living being is commodified and exploited to collapse as the citizenry is lulled and manipulated into surrendering their liberties and their participation in government through excess consumerism and sensationalism.[6][7]

[Warpy]

23. Perfesser Wolin is trying to make a name for himself

by publishing enough verbal wanking to keep his job.

It's plain old ordinary totalitarianism. Upper middle class white folks just aint caught on yet.

[Ahpook]

2. I have to wonder

How in the fuck these officers sleep at night? I just couldn't even imagine living with myself if I did something like this. Or how about the one that shot the little kid on a playground. How about numerous other accounts on a daily basis.

Is there nothing inside of these monsters?

[awoke_in_2003]

7. They are psychopaths...

they don't care.

[sulphurdunn]

11. They are selected becasue they can sleep like babies

after committing murder. They're just gang bangers in uniforms, working for the anti-drug cartel. Of course, the government cartel isn't in the business of eliminating drug cartels, it's a parasite that feeds on them.

[dreamnightwind]

16. By mentally and socially dehumanizing their victims /nt

[Live and Learn]

3. This must end! nt

[Sunlei]

5. door rammed in and killed over about 7 ounces. police are doing this for the FREE CASH GRAB

police get to keep the cash. Even the states with 'legal' marijuana can NOT use banks they have to do all business in cash.

[Warpy]

6. Pot's still illegal here

but we got rid of forfeiture by state and local cops. Now it's only the DEA who can rob people.

[alfredo]

10. Our state used to grow hemp, now it is found everywhere.

If the local pigs want your land, all they need to do is find some of that hemp on your property. I had a friend with 650 acres of prime farmland. Someone in the Sheriff's office found some wild hemp on his land and threatened to seize his property.

He was lucky in that he was very popular in the county, and had powerful friends that convinced them to back off.

[Unknown Beatle]

8. Our police state in action.

Where's the DOJ when you need them? Oh, that's right, busting legal medical marijuana dispensaries.

[Vattel]

9. Maybe we need more research before we legalize pot.

[tabasco]

12. It's a "war" on some drugs and the American people are the enemy.

[passiveporcupine]

13. This is something Bernie has already said he's going to fight for

End the damn drug war NOW! People should not be dying for this.

And police body cams need to be a requirement for all police at all times!

[Cassiopeia]

14. The same department that says people will die if they lose their tanks.

I think it's time to disarm these insurgents.

[blackspade]

15. Yay, more hero cops saving the day for....who the fuck knows...

Obviously not the unarmed guy they shot in the face.
What a bunch of sick fucks.

[dreamnightwind]

17. Many on DU think pot legalizattion is some trivial issue

Last edited Sun Oct 25, 2015, 02:18 PM - Edit history (1)

They don't acknowledge, or don't care, that the drug war ruins countless lives, and causes countless more to live under the shadow of illegality, who are otherwise good upstanding citizens.

Bernie is better on this issue than our other candidates, but even he will need his feet held to the fire. He uses phrases like "I think I would support legalization". He strongly supports access to medical cannabis, but hedges a little when it comes to recreational legalization. He's definitely better than Hillary or any Republican not named Rand Paul on this issue, but unless we press him on it I can see him settling for medical rather than fighting for recreational legalization.

Without legalizing recreational use, scenes like the one in the OP are likely to continue, as will cartels doing business in this country. A friend of mine had his son shot and killed by an angry cartel member, shocked the local community, I didn't even know cartels were out here.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

20. I suspect we're going to get there state by state.

It will probably only be decriminalized at the federal level after it's legal in 2/3 to 3/4 of states.

But we need someone willing to simply take it off Schedule 1, where it never belonged in the first place.

[damnedifIknow]

18. "The sheriff's department confirmed that Cruice was unarmed at the time."

They break into his home and shoot an unarmed man in the face because of pot and the cop won't face charges? Not surprised just totally disgusted.

[Alkene]

19. Horrific, despicable and sickening.

I long for the day when I'm not ashamed to be an American.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

21. That would be 'alleged' dealer if he's never been convicted.

Even if he had hundreds of pounds of weed sitting around the home, if they've never actually convicted him of selling, it's still just an allegation.