MI cop shoots unarmed, 20-year-old marijuana activist

[navarth]

MI cop shot unarmed, 20-year-old marijuana activist

Stephen C. Webster
Published: Monday March 16, 2009

A 20-year-old university student in Michigan is hospitalized and in serious condition after police shot the man Wednesday while serving a drug warrant. He was unarmed, investigators said.

Coming through an apartment's back door, an Ottawa County deputy allegedly shined a flashlight into the student's face, causing him to raise his right hand in front of his eyes.

The officer, whose name was not released, fired a single bullet into Derek Copp's chest. The 20-year-old Grand Valley State University student, who survived the shooting, said he had no idea the man was an officer.

more...

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/MI_cops_shoot_unarmed_20yearold_marijuana_0316.html

Un FUCKING believable. And in my state. Goddam it.

[angstlessk]

1. Maye they are trying to prempt the JUST passed medical marijuana law?

through intimidation and threats of violence against those who supported the law?

[burythehatchet]

2. One of these days, an event like this will trigger that which needs to happen.

[Echo In Light]

3. One can hope ... the propaganda hook, however, runs deep in Amurika

[indepat]

7. America: once the land of the free and home of the brave will be Amurika

until this administration undoes all of junior's unconstitutional assaults on liberty and freedom. :P

[Echo In Light]

10. It would be exemplary, but I wouldn't hold your breath. Police state measures have only increased...

...since the 80s. It's just more obvious to more people now since the powers that be created the justifying conditions to take big steps at once instead of the usual drip by drip, tip-toe totalitarianism.

[MadHound]

18. What makes you think that's going to happen

The War on Drugs is a bipartisan effort, and both parties are to blame for killing innocents and stripping away our rights. I seriously doubt that Obama's going to do anything but continue with the same ol' same ol'.

[burythehatchet]

22. one good thing is no more raids on dispensaries by feds. A small but positive step.

[indepat]

39. Trying to think of even one good 'puke initiative in which dems joined

in that solidified the American dream, that strengthened the ideals expressed in the Preamble to the Constitution.....(long pause), I'm thinking, I'm thinking! :P

[cabluedem]

20. Hopefully real soon. nt

[Incitatus]

24. Sooner or later a no knock warrant is going to end with a dead cop

I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet.

[burythehatchet]

26. I don't think so. Some day a cop will shoot an innocent person, the forces of nature

will align, and we the people will break free.

[cabluedem]

28. Sean Bell was an innocent man. Three killer cops walked free men. nt

[Incitatus]

29. I wonder how many more innocent people cops have to kill before that happens

It seems like there's another one every week.

[burythehatchet]

30. I wonder as well. I can tell you that we are close to a tipping point. You know how I know?

by seeing how strident the other side is getting. Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, their shtick is now turning violent. Good people will only react when they are bullied into a corner. We are almost there.

[cabluedem]

49. Unfortunatly history teaches us that it will only get worse. The militarization of police is a major

part of the problems that we see among many cops these days. We need to reduce that but its gone on for so long that its become SOP.

[cabluedem]

27. And in a just society the jury would no-bill the shooter as a message. nt

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

37. It has happened a couple of times.

At least one of the men was acquitted.

David

[wroberts189]

52. It almost did but the 90 year old innocent woman missed and got shot dead. nt

[superduperfarleft]

56. It has happened, in Chesapeake, VA.

A good summary: http://www.reason.com/news/show/128723.html

And local coverage: http://hamptonroads.com/tags/shiversshooting

Basically, on the word on a jailhouse snitch, Chesapeake cops busted into this guy's house, and he fired at them, thinking he was being robbed, and killed one of the cops.

[wroberts189]

51. Ill toast to that with a big sip of beer. n/t

[anigbrowl]

60. Why not this event?

If you're in Michigan (or if other DUers are), then this is a good reason to organize a protest and keep the issue in the news. I'd say it'll be a lot more effective than sitting around waiting for more people to be shot. Indeed, a living witness and shooting victim is probably a much, much more compelling news story than a dead one, who is unable to contradict the police version of events and can thus be lied about with impunity.

Instead of wringing hands and saying how bad it is, why not take this opportunity to press the issue?

[jody]

4. Recommended reading "Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America".

Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America

[Echo In Light]

I remember this article. Thanks for sourcing it

[jobycom]

5. Who cares why they went after the kid? The story to me is why a cop is shooting an unarmed kid

in the first place. Pot, heroin, stolen bicycles, or suspected cop killer, cops shouldn't feel so comfortable firing bullets into human beings. If the officer made that bad a decision, at the very least he needs to be forced out of the profession. Luck alone, and nothing he did, prevented him from being a killer.

[Echo In Light]

6. Yeah, but he's a, gasp, POT SMOKER!!! ...so by Amurikan values, he likely "had it comin'"

[jobycom]

8. That's part of my point. Cops judge different lives differently.

They need to see humans first, categories second, if at all.

Until they learn the art of bringing someone to life, they shouldn't be so casual about bringing them to death.

[Echo In Light]

11. I'm not as concerned about the cops subjective POV, as authoritarian structures will always attract

...the wrong people for the obvious reasons. I'm more interested in how these atrocities are strategically skewed for public consumption.

[cabluedem]

23. Reefer Madness is worse then being drunk. Right......nt

[cabluedem]

21. It happened becuase we live in a police state & the cop knows he is not to be held accountable. nt

[Echo In Light]

50. That pretty much sums it up

[lurky]

9. "Police have not said whether they found any drugs"

I assume this means they didn't find any drugs. If they had found drugs, they would have had a big press conference with the stash piled up on a table, and used it to convict the kid in the media. I hope he is OK.

[Echo In Light]

13. You got it. Had they not seen a shit storm brewing they would've planted something/anything?

[wroberts189]

53. THANK YOU ! very important point ..another..where is the warrant? nt

[Fuzz]

12. What do you expect in a war?

[Rider Haggard]

14. Well, if the kid was armed he could have protected himself...

Uh. Nevermind. Too many cans of worms to be opened with that.

[reggie the dog]

15. He was not even charged with anything

I found out about this on WWW.UK420.CO.UK


shitty, gun happy copper!

[cabluedem]

31. And the cops broke in an shot him on an anonymous 911 tip? Since when is that PC for a bust? nt

[reggie the dog]

61. someone called 911 to report a joint being smoked????

The person on the other end should have told them that 911 was for EMERGENCIES and hung up on them;

[iscooterliberally]

16. More proof that the war on drugs...

Is just one big crime against humanity. Drugs should be legalized and regulated in the same way as Alcohol & Tobacco.

[slay]

17. The Drug War was never a war against drugs - it's a war against PEOPLE

People who for one reason or another prefer a recreational substance other than the harmful tobacco and alcohol which have a monopoly on the recreational drug market. People who aren't rich republican assholes like Rush Limburger who can weasel their way out of ANY potential trouble. Can you imagine what the reaction from the right would be if this had happend to Rush?!?! This kind of insanity has got to end. Especially when it comes to marijuana. These so called "police" should be ashamed of themselves. It is exactly for reasons like this that we must legalize marijuana and end the lame ass "drug war" altogether. And to Obama's credit, that seems to be the direction he's headed. Unfortunately it didn't happen soon enough for this young man. :cry:

[wroberts189]

57. Exactamundo as Fonzi would say. An excuse to rip our constitutional rights away. n/t

[cabluedem]

19. Get used to it. Our owners are going to make sure we slaves obey their laws. nt

[garybeck]

25. Is this what happens when you admit you smoke pot on Facebook?

W
T
F
?

[rollingrock]

32. The cop should be charged

attempted murder

[cabluedem]

34. Never happen. Just doing what he was trained to do at the acamemy. No charges. nt

[rollingrock]

36. Police training

cops in the US go through training very similar to German Nazi police training methods.

[cabluedem]

42. They act and treat everyone as a threat. No wonder folks dont trust or respect the cops anymore. nt

[pleah]

33. I wish they would get rid of all these trigger happy cops.

How many people do they have to maim and kill before they are removed?

[cabluedem]

35. Cops are trained to "come home alive". That justifies this shooting. The kid MIGHT have had a gun.nt

[pleah]

38. You just justified a cop shining a flashlight in someones eyes and then shooting them

when they were blinded by it and tried to cover their eyes. That is pure bullshit imo.

[Occulus]

40. B-B-but it's a DANGEROUS job!

See? Justified.

[pleah]

41. ;)

[cabluedem]

48. Compared to many jobs its nothing, plus retired at 55 with a full pension, at lots of cop shops.....

I don't feel sorry for these pricks at all.

[cabluedem]

46. You misunderstood me. I am not justifying this case. The cop is at fault ,but will not suffer. nt

[pleah]

47. You are probably right about that.

It seems to be a rarity for cops to get true punishment in most cases.

[Strelnikov_]

43. Presidents are mandated to protect the country

Saddam might have had WMD that he might have used against us possibly someday.

That justifies the invasion.

The plight of the innocent Iraq people is irrelevant. The President must keep our freedoms alive.

[OwnedByFerrets]

58. Calling you the name I want to call you would cause me to be

banned. SO, I will just let you guess.

edit: if I misconstrued sarcasm, please ignore above remark

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

59. Are you fucking kidding me?

God, I hope you're not a cop.

[barbtries]

44. attempted murder?

what the fuck. this happens too much, second story i read today of a cop shooting an unarmed person in the person's home.

[aikoaiko]

45. If his hands were empty, then I see no way of giving the shooter the benefit of the doubt.

Raising hands to protect eyes should be an expected response from police shining a bright light in face. The bright light should have given a very good view of the contents of his hands. If they were empty, then this was a bad shoot (IMHO).

[Warren DeMontague]

54. Ah, another "War On Drugs" success story.

Can we drop the curtain on this lunacy, already? It's a fucking plant. Legalize, regulate, and tax it. Enough.

[Bluenorthwest]

55. The cops across this country

are out of control gangs. This is revolting. Shooting an unarmed kid. Cowards and villians.

[reggie the dog]

62. I once saw a uniformed Chicago police officer

come into my buddies place, a SD (formerly Spanish Disciples, now Satans Disciples to welcome in other races) drug house and deliver, in uniform, a kilo of cocaine and just over a pound of weed that he had just lifted off of the Latin Kings. He was BGD so he fronted the SD's the drugs saying you know how much I need and when I need it. This was around 2PM. The guys started cooking up the crack, took about a tenth of the kilo just for the party (there were six dudes in the gang there, me, then suddenly with all the cocaine about a dozen girls showed up. Anyways they boiled up the crack, then the kids started to come in, ten tweleve, fourteen at most, and were given 12 10 dollar bags of rocks, 2 for themselves 10 to pay back the older gangsters 100 dollars. Within hours the 900 grams of cocaine were all cooked up into crack and sold on the streets by a dozen or so junior high school aged kids. The gangsters had a shitload of money, the kids next to nothing, the cop came back around 9PM or so to collect his half of the cocaine money. The weed went much more slowly but the cops said forget about it because it was brick weed and was only like 500 dollars in bulk anyway, he made so many thousands on the cocaine that we got to smoke up the whole pound at the party. Corruption all around, corrupt cops, corrupt gangsters corrupting little kids, but hey the girls were happy and the party was bumpin. That was just another day for these guys, said he would come around every couple of weeks like that. Imagine all the money that cop had saved up for his retirement!

[Uncle Joe]

63. This is the latest example of your brain on "The War on Some Drugs. "

That burning smell is the Fourth Amendment being smoked through a bong and the Ninth Amendment being toked via a big fatty.

The Eighth Amendment was tossed out with all those stems and seeds that you don't need.

[JFN1]

64. I've said it before: Cops. Are. Out. Of. Control.

n/t