Sunday, February 17, 2013

An Indefensible Act

Trey Smith


Yesterday I shared with you a snippet from a Dave Lindorff column that stated he was of the opinion that the police purposely torched the cabin that Chris Dorner was occupying. Max Blumenthal provides even more evidence that this indeed is the case.
At approximately 7 PM ET, I listened through a police scanner as San Bernardino Sheriffs gave the order to burn down the cabin where suspected murderer Christopher Dorner was allegedly hiding. Deputies were maneuvering a remote controlled demolition vehicle to the base of the cabin, using it to tear down the walls of the cabin where Dorner was hiding, and peering inside.

In an initial dispatch, a deputy reported seeing “blood spatter” inside the cabins. Dorner, who had just engaged in a firefight with deputies that killed one officer and wounded another, may have been wounded in the exchange. There was no sign of his presence, let alone his resistance, according to police dispatches.

It was then that the deputies decided to burn the cabin down.

“We’re gonna go ahead with the plan with the burner,” one sheriff’s deputy told another. “Like we talked about.” Minutes later, another deputy’s voice crackled across the radio: “The burner’s deployed and we have a fire.”
In a democracy that supposedly follows the rule of law, this is an indefensible act. It is not the role of the police to act as judge, jury and executioner. Their job is to apprehend suspects. Lethal force can only be used in certain situations in which there is imminent danger to the police or the public. Since Dorner was surrounded and cutoff, there was no imminent danger.

While most people would agree that Dorner was guilty of cold-blooded murder, that in no ways means that he merits instant execution. Our system is set up to provide anyone accused of a crime with their day in court.

As crazy as it might sound, Dorner's family should bring suit in federal court on the grounds that his civil rights were violated!!

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