Sgt. Joseph Chavalia has been acquitted in the SWAT case from Lima, Ohio. Prosecution experts in the trial of Chavalia concluded that the SWAT killed Tarika Wilson, 26, by shooting her in the neck and chest while she was on her knees, complying with their orders, and holding one of her children. Her one-year-old son was also shot and had to have a finger amputated. This is only the latest such controversy involving a SWAT team.
Prosecution experts found that Wilson had complied with orders but was shoot regardless, click here.
This trial occurred at the same time as the Minnesota SWAT team controversy, click here, and the Marlyand SWAT team controversy, click here.
Like those cases, this was a drug raid and in fact Wilson’s boyfriend, Anthony Terry, was arrested.
Wilson was unarmed and behind a door when Chavlia sprayed the door from the hallway.
Eleven officers raided the home.
For the latest on the story, click here.
Oh I also wanted to add I was just thinking this type of incident shows me even more that we as a society are going in the wrong direction of crime and punishment. We’re all about revenge justice and when that happens we (as a society) don’t care how that happens and if innocent people like Ms Williams and her baby get hurt/killed in the process. We as a society need to change our attitudes about that and when we do that than our officers and police departments will do that too. The “War on Drugs” is a joke and needs to be done away with. I’m glad that nobody in any of my criminal justice classes are for it. Everyone I’ve had classes with thinks it’s a joke and useless and a waste of money that can be used in other areas. For those of you tired of this type of injustices get involved in your local elections for sheriff, judges, mayor, etc. The only way change is going to happen is if we make it.
(Percy,
I guess the facts got to difficult to deal with so you decided to change the subject. Good cops don’t kill innocent mothers and injure their baby, unless of course, they are black mothers and black babies. If that had been a Black officer and he had shot a white mother and a white baby, he would be in prison now. Dundar and Percy just don’t want blacks to have the same access to justice as whites do.)
Good cops don’t do that period. I’m studying criminal justice in college and plan on doing homicide and I’m not a bad person. I don’t like guns, tasers, pepper spray, mace etc. This sort of incident goes back to the department leadership as well. Are the SWAT team properly trained? Do they have drug and psyche evaluations? Is the leadership strong on rules and regulations? If you have leadership who doesn’t care you’re going to have officers whether SWAT, patrol etc. who don’t care as well. Everyone should have the same justice. If it was up to me this SWAT guy would get life in prison without parole and his family wouldn’t get any money from his pension or benefits since he did commit a crime.
Ah an all white jury. Of course. As a fellow white woman I can’t stand it when white people make excuses for things like this. The woman was doing what they said and was doing nothing more than protecting her baby. As a fellow woman if I had a one year old child with me in a situation like that I’d do the same thing. 🙁 RIP Ms Wilson. 🙁 If this SWAT guy wasn’t on SWAT he’d be convicted of murder with capitol punishment.
Carlyle Moulton:
“the law is what the law does…”
**********************
So I should take from that statement that the group of criminal defendants I saw today, most of whom pled guilty, were atypical of the system and the one case you cite in one tiny jurisdiction is the norm. Sorry the stats don’t bear out your conclusion. By the way, many of the defendants I saw were people of color and many of their victims were white. The reverse was also present and not one Judge asked about anyone’s ethnicity before accepting all of the pleas. In addition, there were many black officers filing complaints against both black and white defendants, and the reverse was true as well.
All in all your statements have the ring of someone whose vast knowledge comes from reading extremist propaganda, and not from someone who’s been there. You are indeed the master of drawing generalized conclusions from one glaring bad example, which of course puts you in such fine company as zakamir. The exception does not establish the rule, it merely proves errors will happen in any human system.
Finally, I would not so cavalierly dismiss a system of justice that has kept you free and happy. For a change of pace, try a walk around zakamir’s world and insult Allah by word or cartoon, and then offer me a comparison. At that point you might actually see what is bovine waste product and what is not –that is of course assuming you could tell the difference.
Mespo,
As usual you are right. I had hopes for awhile that he might not be that far gone, but it’s clear he only poses on the fringes of reasonableness. He is clearly a bigot and after this I won’t waste my time.
Zak,
Thanks for your last listing, your true feelings come through. Most of the information you post here comes from JewWatch, which is a virulently anti-Jewish website. Great research on your part. It is a site that caters to your pre-judgments. One difference between you and me is that I don’t see all Muslims as terrorists and in fact believe Islam has many positive ideas. You on the other hand really are anti-Jewish. Awash in prejudice, motivated by anger, you see the world through tunnel-vision. A pity because your ignorance trumps your intelligence. Try the link below to learn about Jewish control of the media. Of course its probably written by a Jew, which in your mind would make it suspect.
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1365
Michael Sindell:
Zakimar is your garden variety anti-Semite and arguing with him is like teaching that proverbial pig to sing. He has no interest in debate just bloviation, and blaming the world’s problems from crop failures to armed conflict on a caricature of a people he knows little about but upon whom he claims omniscience. He may be ‘intelligent ‘ in the same was the fascist’s got the trains to run on time, but if we judge him by what he habitually does (as Aristotle suggested) we can only conclude that he is a bigot and unworthy of either respect or attention. For anyone to seriously say that his part of the world is freer than the USA, even with our current Administration, demonstrates a breathtaking divorce from reality, or an ideology so steeped in parochialism as to be almost paranoia.
This sad case is just one of the results of several ongoing trends: (1) the over-criminalization of drugs and drug-related activity, (2) the over-militarization of the civilian police force, and (3) the hyper-sensitivity or over-charged atmosphere that is part of the over-militarization. Throw in some SWAT team mission creep and this is what you get. The Tarika Wilsons of the world are just “collateral damage” in a civil war. I don’t see a lot of political will for any reform. So, look for more of this as the new norm.
CNN is 40% owned by Saudis, and they couldn’t find one Sunni Muslim to work on the network? I wonder when America will start seeing 40% Muslims in the media industry; Jews are already the majority, even though they comprise 2% of the population. I guess the Muslims are more democratic in their hiring practices than are the Jews.
It wouldn’t matter to me too much that these Jews are all Zionists, but when they only hire their own so that no dissenting opinion can be given (all 175 of Murdoch’s outlets speak with one opinion, his), their monopoly is far more threatening to America than Standard Oil, AT&T or Microsoft.
RUPERT MURDOCH, Owner Fox TV, New York Post, London Times, News of the World and 175 media outlets.
SUMNER REDSTONE, CEO of Viacom, “world’s biggest media giant” (Economist, 11/23/2) owns Viacom cable, CBS and MTVs all over the world, Blockbuster video rentals and Black Entertainment TV.
SAMUEL NEWHOUSE JR, and DONALD NEWHOUSE own Newhouse Publications, includes 26 newspapers in 22 cities; the Conde Nast magazine group, includes The New Yorker; Parade, the Sunday newspaper supplement; American City Business Journals, business newspapers published in more than 30 major cities in America; and interests in cable television programming and cable systems serving 1 million homes.
LESLIE MOONVES, president of CBS television, great-nephew of David Ben-Gurion, and co-chair with Norman Ornstein of the Advisory Committee on Public Interest Obligation of Digital TV Producers, appointed by Clinton.
MORTIMER ZUCKERMAN, owner of NY Daily News, US News & World Report and chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish American Organizations, one of the largest pro-Israel lobbying groups.
MICHAEL SAVAGE, Talk Show Host, KFSO (ABC-Capitol Cities, San Francisco) Syndicated in 100 markets
MICHAEL MEDVED, Talk Show Host, on 124 AM stations
JONATHAN MILLER, chair and CEO of AOL division of AOL-Time-Warner
NEIL SHAPIRO, president of NBC News
JEFF GASPIN, Executive Vice-President, Programming, NBC
DAVID WESTIN, president of ABC News
MICHAEL EISNER, major owner of Walt Disney, Capitol Cities, ABC.
MEL KARMAZIN, president of CBS
DON HEWITT, Exec. Director, 60 Minutes, CBS
JEFF FAGER, Exec. Director, 60 Minutes II. CBS
DAVID POLTRACK, Executive Vice-President, Research and Planning, CBS
SANDY KRUSHOW, Chair, Fox Entertainment
LLOYD BRAUN, Chair, ABC Entertainment
BARRY MEYER, chair, Warner Bros.
SHERRY LANSING. President of Paramount Communications and Chairman of Paramount Pictures’ Motion Picture Group.
HARVEY WEINSTEIN, CEO. Miramax Films.
BRAD SIEGEL., President, Turner Entertainment.
PETER CHERNIN, second in-command at Rupert Murdoch’s News. Corp., owner of Fox TV
MARTY PERETZ, owner and publisher of the New Republic, which openly identifies itself as pro-Israel. Al Gore credits Marty with being his “mentor.”
ARTHUR O. SULZBERGER, JR., publisher of the NY Times, the Boston Globe and other publications.
WILLIAM SAFIRE, syndicated columnist for the NYT.
TOM FRIEDMAN, syndicated columnist for the NYT.
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER, syndicated columnist for the Washington Post. Honored by Honest Reporting.com, website monitoring “anti-Israel media.”
RICHARD COHEN, syndicated columnist for the Washington Post
JEFF JACOBY, syndicated columnist for the Boston Globe
NORMAN ORNSTEIN, American Enterprise Inst., regular columnist for USA Today, news analyst for CBS, and co-chair with Leslie Moonves of the Advisory Committee on Public Interest Obligation of Digital TV Producers, appointed by Clinton.
ARIE FLEISCHER, Dubya’s press secretary.
STEPHEN EMERSON, every media outlet’s first choice as an expert on domestic terrorism.
DAVID SCHNEIDERMAN, owner of the Village Voice and the New Times network of “alternative weeklies.”
DENNIS LEIBOWITZ, head of Act II Partners, a media hedge fund
KENNETH POLLACK, for CIA analysts, director of Saban Center for Middle East Policy, writes op-eds in NY Times, New Yorker
BARRY DILLER, chair of USA Interactive, former owner of Universal Entertainment
KENNETH ROTH, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch
RICHARD LEIBNER, runs the N.S. Bienstock talent agency, which represents 600 news personalities such as Dan Rather, Dianne Sawyer and Bill O’Reilly.
TERRY SEMEL, CEO, Yahoo, former chair, Warner Bros.
MARK GOLIN, VP and Creative Director, AOL
WARREN LIEBERFORD, Pres., Warner Bros. Home Video Div. of AOL- TimeWarner
JEFFREY ZUCKER, President of NBC Entertainment
JACK MYERS, NBC, chief.NYT 5.14.2
SANDY GRUSHOW, chair of Fox Entertainment
GAIL BERMAN, president of Fox Entertainment
STEPHEN SPIELBERG, co-owner of Dreamworks
JEFFREY KATZENBERG, co-owner of Dreamworks
DAVID GEFFEN, co-owner of Dreamworks
LLYOD BRAUN, chair of ABC Entertainment
JORDAN LEVIN, president of Warner Bros. Entertainment
MAX MUTCHNICK, co-executive producer of NBC’s “Good Morning Miami”
DAVID KOHAN, co-executive producer of NBC’s “Good Morning Miami”
HOWARD STRINGER, chief of Sony Corp. of America
AMY PASCAL, chair of Columbia Pictures
JOEL KLEIN, chair and CEO of Bertelsmann’s American operations
ROBERT SILLERMAN, founder of Clear Channel Communications
BRIAN GRADEN, president of MTV entertainment
IVAN SEIDENBERG, CEO of Verizon Communications
WOLF BLITZER, host of CNN’s Late Edition
LARRY KING, host of Larry King Live
TED KOPPEL, host of ABC’s Nightline
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN Reporter
PAULA ZAHN, CNN Host
MIKE WALLACE, Host of CBS, 60 Minutes
BARBARA WALTERS, Host, ABC’s 20-20
MICHAEL LEDEEN, editor of National Review
BRUCE NUSSBAUM, editorial page editor, Business Week
DONALD GRAHAM, Chair and CEO of Newsweek and Washington Post, son of Philip Graham
CATHERINE GRAHAM MEYER, former owner of the Washington Post
HOWARD FINEMAN, Chief Political Columnist, Newsweek
WILLIAM KRISTOL, Editor, Weekly Standard, Exec. Director
Project for a New American Century (PNAC)
RON ROSENTHAL, Managing Editor, San Francisco Chronicle
PHIL BRONSTEIN, Executive Editor, San Francisco Chronicle,
RON OWENS, Talk Show Host, KGO (ABC-Capitol Cities, San Francisco)
JOHN ROTHMAN, Talk Show Host, KGO (ABC-Capitol Cities, San Francisco)
DENNIS PRAGER, Talk Show Host, nationally syndicated from LA. Has Israeli flag on his home page.
BEN WATTENBERG, Moderator, PBS Think Tank.
ANDREW LACK, president of NBC
DANIEL MENAKER, Executive Director, Harper Collins
DAVID REMNICK, Editor, The New Yorker
NICHOLAS LEHMANN, writer, the New York
HENRICK HERTZBERG, Talk of the Town editor, The New Yorker
DONALD NEWHOUSE, chairman of the board of directors, Associated Press.
PETER R KANN, CEO, Wall Street Journal, Barron’s
RALPH J. & BRIAN ROBERTS, Owners, Comcast-ATT Cable TV.
LAWRENCE KIRSHBAUM, CEO, AOL-Time Warner Book Group that also owns CNN
Fell free to add all the anchors, reporters, columnists and talking heads that are not on this list.
I wish the above was just a figment of my imagination, but it’s a nightmare that all of America has to endure, for now. So wake up and start your boycotts, petitions and make any of your non-Zionist Congressman (that’s a shorter list) do something about this monopoly.
“No, say it isn’t so! Another Zionist Jew, Dana Milbank hates Sen. Obama and went to work for the Zionist Jews that run CNN? I’m surprised that Zionist Jew owner of Fox didn’t hire him first.”
Zak,
40% of CNN is owned by Saudi’s. Now unless you believe that the Saudi’s are in league with Israel, how does that make CNN a “Zionist Jew” network?
“BTW, my part of the world has ALWAYS been freer and a better place to live than yours.”
Well I don’t remember lately how the USA and Europe had given no rights to 50% of their population, dictated the clothing they wear, executed women for being raped, cut off the hands of thieves, etc. I am certainly no jingoist for the US, or for the actions of racists, but your statement is absurd.
“I know I’ve said it before, but pick up a book once in a while. Reading will teach you a lot more than all your “writing”.”
Reading will do wonders I agree, but your reading seems to focus on propaganda that only agrees with your original mindset. That is not self education, that is self justification and gratification. You appear to excel in that area, which is a pity, since you probably are an intelligent person. However, as intelligent as a person may be does not protect them from being ignorant.
And “out of touch” with justice.
MESPO727272.
“but you should make the proper distinction here. The law applies to all, hence the prosecution of this officer.”
That is the kind of pious statement that lawyers and naive people make, it is also unadulterated bovine excrement. The law is what the law does and any disinterested observer such as one from a far away galaxy would see that the most powerful contributing factor to the law’s outcomes is prejudice. Cases such as that of Tarika Wilson are not rare aberations, they are the norm when white cops kill “innocent” black people.
The law applies to all to the extent that their race, class and wealth entitle them and not one jot further, hence the result in this case, anyone who seriously expected something different is out of touch with reality.
We will all see who is more correct about America by who gets a larger settlement, the white Mayor who lost two black DOGS to the Police or the family of the woman and child who lost two Black PEOPLE to the Police.
How about a little wager, if it’s the white person, I’ll never post on this site again, and if it’s the Black family, you do the same. I look forward to you going the way of your partner bartlebee.
I can’t even fault you being a Zionist Jew for that propaganda, not even CNN or Fox is trying to spread that lunacy. But I see you ignore the oppression and racism of American Blacks as easily as you do others.
BTW, my part of the world has ALWAYS been freer and a better place to live than yours. Slaves would escape the US to come here. You only convince yourself and equally ignorant people.
I know I’ve said it before, but pick up a book once in a while. Reading will teach you a lot more than all your “writing”. I find that my two year old learns faster than you. And my four year old is already way out of your league in compassion, generosity AND manners.
zakimar:
I thought since 1865, human slavery and oppression was more a characteristic of your part of the world. When will your crowd get around to an emancipation proclamation for women and “non-believers”?
Carlyle Moulton:
“The law has owners and to the extent that it works, it works for the owners, it does not work for those who like poor black people have no share in its ownership.”
************
I assume your comment is tongue-in-cheek but you should make the proper distinction here. The law applies to all, hence the prosecution of this officer. The culprit here is not the law which does not dictate an outcome, but the members of the jury and the judge who allowed racial prejudice to creep in to the decision. The Judge should never have permitted an all-white jury to hear this case, and should have cowled the defense lawyer’s remarks. The jury acting out of fear and acquitted this man. The civil suit should be interesting and may achieve some measure of justice for this family. But blaming the law simply will not wash. But for the law (such as the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, Brown v. Board of Educ., etc.), our country would look a lot more like 1958 instead of 2008.
Shouldn’t the victims’ family get some sort of compensation through a civil suit? It used to be that a young Black woman would have easily been worth $100; especially a fine lookin one with good teeth and that could produce children. I’m guessing with all the progress the US has made in the last 200 years, she’ll be worth at least $10 000 and let’s throw in $150 for the baby – to be generous.
Sad,
I think what you point out is part of what’s going on. Lima is just off I-75, the north-south drug run. Confiscated drug money arms police with military specs.
I really believe cheney and bush need to be impeached because their “leadership” has led to a lawlessness within law enforcement, justified by their war OF terror on “we the people”. They have not only allowed such lawlessness to go unchecked, they have set the system up to function precisely as it does. You’re right, “The Police State is a reality”.
Toss this in with all the taser murders that the cops have gotten away with in the last six months and you can almost read a message from the government to its citizens: “The Police State is a reality.”
Thank you for your co-operation.
Those who are outraged by this acquittal do not understand the law. The law has owners and to the extent that it works, it works for the owners, it does not work for those who like poor black people have no share in its ownership. Its purpose is to protect good (*ie white and respectable) people and punish bad people (ie black and/or poor). Its purpose is not to protect bad people or punish good people.
Tarika Wilson caused her own death by living with a drug dealer. If she knew he was a drug dealer she is criminally wicked for living with him, if she did not know then she is guilty of criminal naivity. In either case here death provides a righteous object lesson, do not live with drug users or dealers, the police will shoot you.
As for officer Sgt. Joseph Chavalia. He is a policeman. The job of police at the pointy end is one of low pay and low status. One cannot expect to fill such jobs with people of enough intelligence good judgement or good character to try to avoid shooting innocent people or to avoid mistaking the gunshots from the murder of the puppy dogs down stairs for lethal shots aimed at them. One cannot expect them to hesitate in shooting just because their target is objectively no threat to them.
The war against drugs is war, and a certain amount of collateral damage has to be accepted and in any case it is always entirely the enemies’ fault. Some people will point out that the collateral damage from the drug war is greater than that caused by the drugs. But this misses the important point, drugs are illegal not because they are harmful, but as are also witchcraft and heresy they are tainted with supernatural evil, EVIL EVIL! One cannot abandon paramilitary raids just because a few “innocent” Kathryn Johnsons or Taraka Williams get shot if there is a risk that as a result even one microgram of evidence gets flushed down the toilet.