You may recall that we discussed the disturbing case involving the shooting of Andrew Lee Scott, 26, an entirely innocent man who was killed by Florida police after they went to the wrong home to arrest an attempted murder suspect, did not announce they were officers, pounded on a door at 1:30 am and then shot and killed Scott when he pointed a gun at the strangers at his door. They were looking for Jonathan Brown who is suspected of attempted murder and insisted that they had little choice in the shooting. Now, to compound the tragedy, it turns out that Brown was also completely innocent. Brown was exonerated after being charged with attempted murder when witnesses established that there was no crime to begin with. In fact, the witnesses suggested that Brown was something of a hero. The family is now in court and, while the charges were dropped some time ago, I wanted to run an update on the case.
The incident occurred at a party when two of Brown’s friends got into a fight over a girl. Brown intervened to try to break up the fight and then left on a motorcycle. A Leesburg Police Department radio transmission however said that Brown was charged with assault and was fleeing on a motorcycle. It is not clear how a false assault report became an attempted murder charge. Brown parked his motorcycle near his residence and police for some unexplained reason just assumed that whatever door was closest must be his apartment. That is when they started to bang on the door at 1:30 in the morning. They were not in uniform. They did not identify themselves and they tried to partially conceal themselves from people in the apartment. It is little surprise that Scott thought they might be robbing him or trying to break into his apartment. When he answered the door with a gun in his hand, he was shoot repeatedly by Deputy Richard Sylvester. Notably, reports indicate that one of the bullets went through the door before striking Scott.
Brown was later arrested without incident in his apartment. Brown said that he was then abused by police officers and correctional officers. His lawyer objected that police overcharged the case in an effort to make it look more serious in the aftermath of the killing. The fact that he was charged with attempted murder rather than assault seems to support that theory.
It took five months for the truth to come out — long after the story of the “attempted murderer” had passed from the media. In the meantime, Brown said that he was kicked out of school, lost his job, and many of his friends. He was studying to become a licensed practical nurse.
The Lake County Sheriff’s office issued a statement saying simply, “The dismissal of the Leesburg Police Department charges against Jonathan Brown does not impact the situation involving Andrew Scott in any way.” The police cleared all of the officers, including Sylvester, and found that they acted appropriately in the death of Andrew Lee Scott.
The family has filed a lawsuit in federal court.
Source: Tallahassee News
In order to keep your family from being killed or beaten half to death by police in tennessee just obey as we Tennesseans learned to do.Humble yourself and just show them that you will obey all their commands no matter if they tell you to kiss their asses just do it.Show them that they are the masters and we are their slaves just like we do in tennessee its better then you are a family member being beaten or killed by them.As one elderly tennessee man said,You no the police in your tennessee community will one day beat or kill you or a member of your family so act like a coward in-front of them kiss their ass if ask to beg them on your knees to spare you or your family prey in-front of them to god for them to spare you to another day and hop one of them is still sane enough to let you live until the next time.We do it here in tennessee everyday but it keeps us alive and our family’s.my opinion
Sonny – I would think that in a state like Tennessee you would have more pride. 🙂
It isn’t as if any rational person still believes the USA is a free country.
Think about it. No-warrant wire taps, indefinite detention of citizens without charges, approval of rendition of prisoners and torture, stop and frisk without probable cause, search and seizure without a warrant, no-knock entry, confiscation and destruction of cameras that might have been used to film police acting illegally, police brutality, police shootings that go without investigation, managed news, and the civil-rights destroying “Patriot” Act.
Acts of police behaving illegally, with shootings, Tasers, and unwarranted violence now appear almost daily. Rarely are these offenses punished. Most often “an investigation” is claimed, but soon forgotten.
In addition, the USA, with 5% of the world population, has 25% of all of the prisoners in the world. That means the USA has the most people in prison of any nation in history. Even by percentage of residents incarcerated, not just sheer numbers. USA is # 1
Does any of that sound like a free country?
As Dwight D. Eisenhower said about communism, “It’s like slicing sausage. First they out off a small slice. That isn’t worth fighting over. Then they take another small slice that isn’t worth fighting over. Then another and another. Finally, all you have left is the string and that isn’t worth fighting over, either.
Not only do these corporate thugs have guns and badges, they also have a 007 license and are the most dangerous element in our society today.
All of you should read this.. http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/24yjv1/workers_of_reddit_what_is_the_most_disturbing/chchxee
This goes well beyond incompetence. It is time that vigilantes make amends for this travesty. Life is war.
Annie,
Trick question: What are you reading?
Feynman,
You mitigate and obfuscate the ACTUAL teacher’s salaries. You know they rise to the highest pay level in a short period of time. What is the highest pay level? They have two weeks off at Christmas, ten days at Easter and three months in Summer. The PRODUCT is typically a 50% failure rate. How long do you think retail customers would continue to purchase this product in free and open markets of the private sector? Public school exists solely for the purpose of redistribution of wealth. It is not an efficient industry and It does not market a high quality product at a competitive price. When the world was rational, teachers could not strike, they could quit but they could not strike and “comparable pay” was laughed out of the room. There are no controls on this labor situation it exists because sympathetic elected officials (who benefit commensurately) have opened the “deep pockets” of the taxpayers.
Whew! This is fun; cathartic. Thanks.