cannabisnews.com: Suit Could Put Limits on Use of SWAT Teams Suit Could Put Limits on Use of SWAT Teams Posted by FoM on January 16, 2001 at 17:58:35 PT By Rebecca Trounson, Times Staff Writer Source: Los Angeles Times In a case that could hold broad implications for the use of SWAT teams in California's war on drugs, an attorney for the family of a Modesto boy killed four months ago during a SWAT drug raid has dismissed subsequent policy changes by Modesto police as inadequate.Attorney Arturo Gonzalez, who won a $12.5-million judgment from the tiny city of Dinuba, Calif., in a 1997 SWAT shooting, said he will file a federal lawsuit in the Modesto case. Gonzalez said he has two goals: to obtain compensation for the family of 11-year-old Alberto Sepulveda, and to force Modesto police to halt all raids like the one that led to the child's death. The boy was killed Sept. 13, after a special weapons and tactics team forced its way into his family's home to serve a federal arrest warrant on his father, Moises Sepulveda, in a drug trafficking case. In what police describe as an accident, Alberto was hit in the back by a blast from a shotgun trained on him by a Modesto officer, and died instantly. Modesto Police Chief Roy Wasden said last week that results of the department's investigation into the shooting were not conclusive, and did not rule out the possibility that Officer David Hawn inadvertently pulled the trigger. More likely, however, investigators said, is that a knife carried in Hawn's vest pocket bumped the trigger and caused the gun to discharge, Wasden said. A report summarizing the investigation, which also faulted federal drug agents for poor surveillance before the raid, outlined changes aimed at preventing such incidents, including a ban on equipment that could protrude from a SWAT officer's clothing, and stricter guidelines for assisting other agencies in serving warrants. Wasden also promised, without specifics, a thorough review of how Modesto uses its 17-member, part-time SWAT team. "We're going to be asking a lot more questions and changing our mind-set about a lot of this," Wasden said last week. But that is the key issue, Gonzalez and others said. It is certain to play a central role in the lawsuit the attorney plans to file in federal court in Fresno. "There was a series of errors that led to this boy's death," said Gonzalez, whose case in Dinuba led to the disbanding of that city's paramilitary unit. "But the main thing is, we just cannot be using SWAT teams for the service of routine warrants." Academics such as Peter Kraska, a criminology professor at Eastern Kentucky University and an expert on SWAT teams, agreed. Kraska praised the Modesto police chief for instituting the reforms and for the responsive tone of the report. But the changes, at least for now, do not go far enough, he said. "Calling this shooting an accident implies a lack of negligence, a sense that no one was really responsible," said Kraska, who has studied the growing use of police paramilitary units across the country. "But even accidents can harbor an element of negligence. The question really is should the SWAT team have been there in the first place, in that house, in that situation?" The report on the case was completed in December but held for release in the hope that it could be made public along with investigations by the state attorney general and the Stanislaus County district attorney, Wasden said. But those are not yet complete, officials said. Latinos Critical of Police: The boy's shooting shocked and angered many Modesto residents, and created a rift--now beginning to heal--between much of the city's large Latino community and its Police Department. It also drew attention to what Kraska, Gonzalez and others call a disturbing trend: The tendency of law enforcement agencies nationwide to rely increasingly on paramilitary units to serve warrants in drug cases. Law enforcement officials respond that the units are necessary, especially in California's Central Valley, where they are considered a key weapon in the fight against the area's escalating methamphetamine problem. The region is considered a primary manufacturing and distribution center for the drug. "We cannot curtail law enforcement in the war on drugs because it is such a serious problem around here," said Juan Alvarez, a Modesto Community College professor and the leader of the city's Hispanic Leadership Council. "But the methods and tactics have to be looked at carefully. We hope that's what this report will mean." The raid on the Sepulveda home was one of 14 conducted jointly on Sept. 13 by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI and the Stanislaus County drug enforcement agency as the culmination of a 19-month federal investigation, Modesto police said. The federal agents had requested that SWAT teams enter and secure each residence before the warrants were served, and warned that the suspects, including Moises Sepulveda, should be considered armed and dangerous. The information gathered about Sepulveda, who owns an auto shop in Modesto and has denied guilt, was "minimal," last week's report stated. Asked by a Modesto SWAT commander whether children were likely to be present in the home, federal officials replied "none known," the report stated. If officers had been aware that children could be in the house, they would have approached it differently, Wasden said. From now on, Modesto police will conduct their own investigation before deciding whether to cooperate with outside agencies in serving warrants, Wasden said, but insisted that his criticism was pointed mainly at himself, not at federal agents involved in the case. Alberto was killed as he lay stretched out on his bedroom floor, complying with Hawn's orders, as other officers rounded up his father, mother and brother. Immediately after the gun discharged, Hawn exclaimed that his finger was not on the trigger, police said. The shooting left the veteran officer "bewildered" and "emotionally destroyed," the report stated. Hawn was placed on leave after the shooting and has since been assigned to other duties within the department. He has rejected all interview requests. No drugs or weapons were discovered in the Sepulveda home. Moises Sepulveda was arrested, charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamines and released on bail. He has hired attorneys to represent him in his criminal case as well as the civil suit he expects to file this week. The boy's shooting left deep scars within the family, the community and the Police Department. "I think we're all still getting over it," said Balvino Irizarry, a former city councilman. "We know a little more now about how it happened but we all have to make sure it can never happen again." Note: Lawyer for family of Modesto boy killed in raid is set to ask federal court to end role of the paramilitary units in drug cases. Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)Author: Rebecca Trounson, Times Staff WriterPublished: Tuesday, January 16, 2001Copyright: 2001 Los Angeles TimesAddress: Times Mirror SquareLos Angeles, CA 90053Fax: (213) 237-4712Contact: letters latimes.comWebsite: http://www.latimes.com/Related Articles:Probes of Boy's Shooting Continue http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7092.shtmlBoy's Death Ruled Accidental http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7081.shtmlSWAT Officer Kills Boy, 11 http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7033.shtml END SNIP --> Snipped Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #7 posted by K.B. on January 22, 2001 at 20:00:20 PT FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! The civil war in here, now. The United States has a HUGE army of law enforcement and prison guard thugs - I bet it's bigger than all the military armies of the entire rest of the world, combined. They're after US. Everything you learned in grammar school was one big, stinking, lie. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson stood for NOTHING that the U.S. now represents. Get over it. Turn off the goddamn TV. WAKE UP! [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by Dan B on January 17, 2001 at 20:55:23 PT: Being an Army Veteran Myself... ...I was thinking the same thing, kaptinemo. While I did not have the range of experience you had with weapons, I did, of course, qualify with the M-16 (expert occasionally, more often sharpshooter). I also had the opportunity to fire an M-60, a grenade launcher, and a LAW rocket while in Basic Training (as I am sure you did). I, too, know how to handle a weapon, and I also believe that this SWAT guy is absolutely responsible for the Sepulveda boy's death. There is no way that a person with as much experience as this guy had could have accidentally "slipped," and the knife theory is ridiculous. Thought I'd add my second.Dan B [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by Ethan Russo, MD on January 17, 2001 at 11:28:07 PT: Now We Have a Candidate Kap, you should be the next AG. Go get 'em! [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by kaptinemo on January 17, 2001 at 10:44:55 PT: Cops in denial. 'Alberto was killed as he lay stretched out on his bedroom floor, complying with Hawn's orders, as other officers rounded up his father, mother and brother. Immediately after the gun discharged, Hawn exclaimed that his finger *was not on the trigger*, police said. The shooting left the veteranofficer "bewildered" and "emotionally destroyed," the report stated.' 'More likely, however, investigators said, is that a knife carried in Hawn's vest pocket bumped the trigger and caused the gun to discharge, Wasden said.' Boy, I'd thought I'd heard everything. I'd thought that after years in the military and security work, I'd heard every lame-brained 'accidental discharge' excuse there is. But this one is sheer bovine excreta.(And yes, I am qualified to criticise: Army Expert (M16) rifleman 5 years in a row, Pistol Expert (1911A and M9) and a mean hand with a grenade; I know whereof I speak.)The Number One rule of any grunt troop: index finger outside of trigger wells until ready to shoot. That's why you see soldiers and seasoned cops doing 'combat carry' with their index fingers alongside the lower receiver of their weapons, in line with the barrel - to prevent such things from happening.The only reason why you would have your finger in the trigger well is to shoot. It's that simple. Alberto Sepulveda was complying with the nice officer's 'request'; there was no reason to expect this frightened little boy to do anything else. Face down. On the ground. Spread-eagled. Harmless. To claim that the weapon 'just went off' without human intervention is the kind of thing the anti-gun crowd has wet-dreams about. But unless Officer Hawn bashed the butt hard enough into something solid, and the sear of the mechanism was sufficiently worn from use, there's simply No...F*****g... Way for it to go off.That trigger was pulled. Which makes Hawn guilty of man (or perhaps, child-?)slaughter in the very least.'Knife in the pocket', my ass. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by freedom fighter on January 16, 2001 at 23:27:49 PT They said that down in Missouri too! "The region is considered a primary manufacturing and distribution center for the drug."I hope, dear readers would not buy that accident story. "Oh it was a knife protuding out of my body cause my shotgun to go off."There is another outrage down here in Denver Colorado, Joesph Bini will go back being a Police officer after three months of suspension. He is the cop who cause the death of Mena. If I am an "Average Joe" on the street, I am more afraid of getting killed by a cop than I am with a mugger or a thug being a tweaker with a gun in the street. And I am an "Average Joe" on the street. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Dan B on January 16, 2001 at 19:28:01 PT: Spreading a Little Doom and Gloom I am intrigued by the word choice in this article. I had never read a newspaper article that correctly identified SWAT teams as paramilitary groups until now. This gives me an interesting perspective on the relationship between anti-drug laws, increased drug-related profits, and citizens' revolts. I can now see that Columbia is a kind of condensed version of the United States in that both contain right-wing paramilitary squads that, in collusion with their governments, violently attack citizens in the name of controlling drugs, the difference being that, at least right now, Colombia's attacks more frequently end in murder. I believe that America is witnessing its own future under zero-tolerance in Colombia's increasingly violent civil war. How can someone read the above article and not understand what is wrong with zero-tolerance? No drugs or weapons were discovered in the Sepulveda home. Moises Sepulveda was arrested, charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamines and released on bail. He has hired attorneys to represent him in his criminal case as well as the civil suit he expects to file this weekLet me get this straight: they found absolutely no evidence, yet they charged him with "conspiracy to distribute methamphetamines." Is the public supposed to believe that the methamphetamine Mr. Sepulveda was allegedly distributing just happened to be fresh out on the morning of the raid? That is the only explanation I can think of for their conspicuous absence. I mean, if he were a distributor of methamphetamine, shouldn't at least some meth residue be somewhere in the house?They killed this man's son for nothing, and now they want to "justify" their actions by sending him to prison. How does this act of government-sponsored terrorism differ from what the paramilitaries in Colombia are doing with the sponsorship of their government? The only difference is frequency with which these acts occur in the respective countries. Even more draconian measures in this country will increasingly yield results like Colombia is now experiencing. I am wondering, though, whether the people of America will have enough freedom intact to do anything about it once it gets that bad.Let's just hope we can stop it before it does get that bad.By the way, I believe Mr. Sepulveda should be free and living off the City of Modesto for many years to come. Whether he will or not is another matter.Dan B [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by meagin on January 16, 2001 at 18:40:36 PT NO MORE!!!!!!!!!! Gonzalez said he has two goals: to obtain compensation for the family of 11-year-old Alberto Sepulveda, and to force Modesto police to halt all raids like the one that led to the child's death. NO MORE of this ...this is why I feel ALL arrest be made in public domain.NO more nighttime raids on peoples residences.SAVE OUR CHILDREN is an echo from the past the same thing they wrote on cars protesting the prohibition of alcohol. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: