Ohio Man Killed, Officer Wounded in Drug Bust

Submitted by Phillip Smith on (Issue #680)
Consequences of Prohibition
Drug War Issues

[image:1 align:right caption:true]A man police were attempting to arrest on drug charges shot and wounded a Toledo, Ohio, police officer before being shot and killed himself early Saturday morning. The dead man was identified as Samuel Birch, 24. He becomes the 22nd person killed in US domestic drug law enforcement operations so far this year.

According to police accounts, four Toledo police officers arrived at Birch's home at 1:30am Saturday to serve a felony drug warrant. Two officers approached the front door, while two others went to the rear of the property. Birch answered the door, and after a brief exchange with officers, pulled out a 9 mm semi-automatic hand gun and fired off two rounds before his weapon jammed. One shot struck Officer Robert Orwig in the calf. His injuries are not life-threatening.

Orwig and another officer, Neil Piasecki, returned fire. Orwig fired three shots and Piasecki fired eight. Birch was struck by six bullets and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Toledo Police Chief Michael Navarre said that police had been told that Birch, who had been prosecuted on drug charges last year, had vowed not to return to jail. "He had made statements that were relayed to the officers prior to this incident occurring this morning that he was not going to go back to jail, that he was not going to be taken alive," Chief Navarre said.

In the house at the time of the shooting were Birch's girlfriend and two children aged five and 12. They were not injured.

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

Got government? (not verified)

Let me guess now these cops believe they are heroes for killing these two kids Father? Whether this guy fired at them first or not they are murderers, they are no better than the man who shot at them and they even had a warning ahead of time of what was going to happen, thats like some major hick behavior. This guy doesn't want to go back to jail because of some unconstitutional laws so he said he won't be taken in alive...lets go see if we can shoot him first, hey wig don't forget the banjo we gots ta play that above the dead man after we kill him. They are fighting an unconstitutional war and should be tried for war crimes. Without this corruption plagued war these kids Father would still be alive and the injured officer wouldn't have been shot. Do any of these officers have children? They just murdered some ones child and the Father of two children of his own. Which crime is worse, raiding some ones house at 1:30 in the morning and killing one of the citizens inside or possessing drugs in your home? Anybody really think that all the murder in America is just OK? It's not OK for anyone to murder another human being, he shot at me first isn't an argument for it...that is an argument a little kid makes in grade school. If they didn't raid his house at 1:30 in the morning looking for drugs none of this would have happened and the kids Father would still be alive. The police produced this crime by conducting another useless unconstitutional raid on an American citizens home and then they committed murder, not a heroic act but a pathetic crime committed by cowards looking to surprise a man and family while they sleep, these police officers are murderers.

Mon, 04/18/2011 - 8:44pm Permalink
jkelk (not verified)

In reply to by Got government? (not verified)

Do you even hear what your saying???  It's quite pathetic actually that you would defend a criminal and chastise those who are trying to protect even people like YOU!  Samuel may have been a father but obviously not a good one to have put his family in the position HE did and causing the unfortunate outcome that happened.  He brought it upon himself and he's the only one to blame.  Shame on you for being so ignorant!!!

Tue, 04/26/2011 - 11:38pm Permalink
Shame on yourself? (not verified)

He didn't put his family in this position the Drug War did, do you know what the word ignorant means?

Wed, 04/27/2011 - 11:42pm Permalink
Josh Welkman (not verified)

I find it suspicious too. In drug raids, they do it in the night sometimes. How could two officers give time for the suspect to pull a gun and even get one shot off when the man was also wanted to begin with and they were briefed on his appearance? They must not have had their weapons drawn to begin with. It was a stand off on the front porch and they were trying to talk him out of it, I heard in another report.And also, supposedly the man was heard saying,"They'll never take me back to jail.(ect,ect)" Follow those cops on the net, people.

Mon, 01/21/2013 - 12:42pm Permalink

Add new comment


Source URL: https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2011/apr/17/ohio_man_killed_officer_wounded