This video was posted by a family who says that they were terrified when Georgia DeKalb Sheriff deputies came to their home around 1:30 am and virtually tore down their door. It turns out that this is all about an unpaid civil fine by the mother, Natania Griffin, who was 15 days late in paying $1,000. What is notable is the deputy repeatedly threatening the man while referring to his videotaping them.
It is worth noting that the family did not open the door for an hour and the Department insists that it had a valid warrant for the mother for the unpaid civil fine.
The raid occurred on July 26th and the 19-minute video was taken by 23-year-old Donovan Hall, who posted it on YouTube.
The family says that they were pistol-whipped and kicked and that one officer stood on Hall’s head.
Sheriff Thomas Brown insists that his officers acted appropriately even though he is “disgusted” that they used.
Warning this video includes graphic language and scenes.
Kudos: Michael Blott
Open the door my A$$! I have lots of guns and would have protected myself and my family. Under the castle doctrine I have that right!
Notice the animalistic behavior of the cops…
Unfortunately, police abuse in the United States today is rampant, and not by any means limited to a county in Georgia.
To help stop this kind of sick behavior being perpetrated against more individuals and families, support the Police Accountability Tour and the organizations behind it, Copblock and Copwatch.
Here’s a 2-minute video that gives the cities and dates where this tour will be happening and how you can help:
Sadly, I am not skilled enough in US law to comment (like my good friend OS, I await enlightenment) however, if you read Charles Dickens ‘Pickwick Papers’ you will shudder. It was not by chance that Freidrich Engels chose to write about Victorian Manchester (‘The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844’). Whilst there, he suggested that a friend come and look at the conditions – Karl Marx. We are on a very slippery slope.
This sort of thing has been going on for decades. If people gave a shit about their children, cops would be extinct.
Every officer who spoke on this tape was full of righteousness and ignorance. What a bunch of losers. The whole department like this bunch? Oh my god, they thing they were doing their job? We’re in big trouble! I hope this family gets a good lawyer and sues each of the participants butts off. I’d love to see that video.
Add Georgia to the list of places to avoid like the plague.
We don’t have debtor’s prisons but the police arrest people for unpaid bills. Charles Dickens only thought England was bad!
I left Egypt for THIS?
LC
Duties of sheriff’s departments vary from state to state. Some states have very limited duties such as essentially being officers of the court. Other states, such as WA, Sheriffs have considerable authority and responsibility.
I don’t know what it is for the state in question here. But some of the duties here in my state are as follows.
1) General Law Enforcement duties.
2) Traffic
3) Enforcing court orders
4) Serving warrants.
5) Conducting sales of property forfeited for failure to pay property tax
6) Service of civil process
7) Animal control
8) Conducting sheriff’s sales pursuant to court orders
actually you can see a laundry list by going to the following link. Take notice of where it reads below the word Notes: and you will see a large list.
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=36.28
just glad i no longer live in dekalb co georgia
Nothing says justice more than a bullet in the head.
What Darren said. This cluster_____ should result in many people going to jail. Is this the beginning of debtor prisons?? Disgusting.
So many questions:
What was the unpaid civil fine for? Could it not be arranged to be collected during decent hours? Who authorized the Sheriff deputies (so many) to go and collect this civil fine at such an unusual hour? Who trained these deputies? Did they take an OATH? Where was the Sheriff? Who signed the order? Was force really necessary or were they over zealous deputies with nothing else to do? Please let me know.
I have thought when you lose your elected Sheriff to this sort of outrageous behavior, you are truly doomed.
We are truly doomed.
OS,
If I recall correctly….. Kay Silverling or something like that states that she was held…. Arrested on a civil contempt motion order…. This was Federal…. If you think about it… Child Support Arrest Warrants are civil…..
Pat, no, but nowadays you are required by Taser to open the door!
First, an arrest warrant is an arrest warrant. If it is true it can be served. And yes, there are warrants for civil violations also.
But this incident? Best described as nothing less than a cluster.
First, there is no good reason this civil warrant could not have waited until day or evening shift to serve it. Serving arrest warrants at this hour should only involve exigent circumstances, serious felonies, or if the person was a fugitive or other out of the ordinary circumstances. Or, the chance encounter such as being at a house for a loud party call and finding out the homeowner had a warrant.
If they came during the day or evening it would have not been so alarming and maybe they might have answered the door (or at least talked from behind it). The officers then should have stated why they were there. Then maybe the woman would have come out and submitted to her arrest. If she was not home for something like a civil warrant for a person that is not likely to be a true criminal, you would be surprised at how effective just posting a notice on the door that the resident there has an arrest warrant. In cases like that I printed up a wanted poster up when I served arrest warrants. Nearly every time I had the situation such as this and taped this to the door along with a business card that told them to contact the court immediately or be subject to arrest that two days later the warrant was cleared from the system.
I believe also the detention of these brothers was unlawful. Once they hooked up the woman wanted on the warrant there was no lawful reason to detain them, threaten them with harm and arrest and all that happened. The police got who they were looking for but they wanted to exact a little revenge on them. They might claim the obstructing angle but it is not obstructing thwn the “suspect” has no intent to obstruct. The police did not announce their lawful purpose and the men inside had no duty to open the door or let the police in because the police did not give them any reason that they had to submit to opening the door. I don’t know if it was stated by the police and there were a couple of redactions to the video but Ididn’t hear any announcement of an arrest warrant and they believed the person was in there.
This should be investigated.