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Two More Drug Raids, Two More Deaths

Submitted by Phillip Smith on (Issue #725)

Two drug raids last Wednesday, one in Miami Lakes, Florida, and one in New Orleans, have resulted in the deaths of two men, one in each raid. Michael Ray Santana, 26, of Miami Lakes and Wendell Allen, 20, of New Orleans become the 14th and 15th persons to die in US domestic drug law enforcement operations so far this year.

In Miami Lakes, according to police, Santana was shot and killed after he confronted members of the Miami-Dade police Special Response Team, a SWAT-style outfit, serving a "high risk narcotics search warrant" at his residence. Police said officers knocked, announced themselves, and then went inside, when they were confronted by a man armed with a firearm.

Santana was the subject of the police investigation, and police said they found numerous firearms and a substantial amount of unspecified "narcotics" in the residence.

In New Orleans, according to police, Allen was shot in the chest and killed by a police officer serving a search warrant at a home where he was present. Officers from both the New Orleans Police Department and Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Department took part in the raid, but the identity of the officer who fired the fatal shot has not been made public.

Police made no mention of any weapons found.

New Orleans Police Superintedant Ronal Serpas said the house in the Gentilly district had been under surveillance for several days.

"Today, multiple narcotics transactions of a distribution nature were observed," he said, adding that a person who left the house was later charged arrested for intent to distribute "narcotics."

Serpa did not identify either the shooter or the dead man, and he didn't take questions during a brief press conference.

But a distraught woman at the scene of the shooting told the New Orleans Times-Picayune he was her grandson, Wendell Allen.

Allen's shooting was the second fatal police shooting in the NOPD's 3rd District in less than a week.

As people milled around the scene of the shooting, one woman screamed, "Lord have mercy! Why does this stuff keep happening?" Another shouted, "The policeman killed him. They killed my baby."

Allen had one arrest on his record, for possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. He was one year into a five-year suspended sentence when he was shot and killed.

In the days since Allen's death last week, a growing clamor has arisen.The Louisiana Justice Institute is threatening to sue the city unless it releases more information on the killing. Police have yet to supply a narrative of what happened, and the officer who pulled the trigger has yet to be interviewed. Family members and community activists demonstrated last Friday and again on Tuesday to keep up the pressure.

What is clear is that the raid was aimed at small-time marijuana dealing, and Allen wasn't the subject of the raid.

 

Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.

Comments

Anonymous211 (not verified)

Our mafia "Government" is engaged in rape, rampine and pillage thruout the world in a game of global chess.  Here at home they have launched a slow-motion war against our electorate -- the drug war.  They murder our citizens, steal our property and break the Constitution at every turn.

Is it any wonder that police are actually be "hunted" in some parts of California?  Is it any wonder that several police stations have been attacked?  What's next?

 

Mon, 03/12/2012 - 9:04am Permalink
massvocals (not verified)

 SEE people this is WAR   and the cops are the agents of the state who by allowance of laws enacted  base on lies and employment  will come to kill your  children   . They will laugh about how they killed  a pot head  not a young man   The war is about compliance  and control  and jobs stemming form prison s and police employment to courts   no matter what state passes a decrim bill the  the federal government willnever let go we will need to go to war over this liberty 

 Massvocals

Thu, 03/15/2012 - 7:22pm Permalink
massvocals (not verified)

the people should declare war on the present government of the united States  all of its agents  and agents  form the IRS to the DEA to prison and courts personal  to police ( all)    this just one more reason  another  person killed over marijuana    Its time to legalize   but thease very agency name  and more  are using your tax money to continue a war on us the people  in number of ways   

its time to declear our own war   they know its coming  this is why they made all those laws 

Thu, 03/15/2012 - 7:27pm Permalink
Nedmorlef (not verified)

Many people don't understand the Constitution calls for the gov't to have "existing evidence" to even approach you. These cops sit and observe and if, they discern a crime by the simplest of daily living activities they can come and kill you. That is unconstitutional. They are manufacturing a crime with their eyes and in their own mind. The forefathers realized this and made surveillance illegal yet, it is a major law enforcement tool in today's police force. And thus many die. Usually poor and cash strapped middle incomes with something of value for the cops to steal. There's a lot of people going to hell for writing and enforcing these evil laws. Maybe we should aid their visit to this high court.

Fri, 03/16/2012 - 4:18am Permalink

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