2012 Drug War Killings

A NYPD narcotics officer shot and killed a Bronx 18-year-old Thursday as the teen was allegedly trying to flush drugs down a toilet in his own home. Ramarley Graham becomes the eighth person to die in US drug law enforcement operations so far this year, and it appears to have been over a small amount of marijuana.

Police told the Wall Street Journal the undercover narcs had already arrested two other men they watched allegedly selling drugs Thursday afternoon when they approached Graham. He ran to his home nearby, followed by police, and into a second-floor bathroom, where he was possibly trying to flush drugs, police said.

When an unidentified officer confronted him in the bathroom, Graham spun around, and, according to police, there was a struggle, and the officer then shot him in the chest. It wasn't clear what caused the officer to fire. Graham was pronounced dead at a local hospital. A small amount of pot was floating in the toilet bowl.

An earlier report from PIX-11 TV, however, had police telling local media Graham "made a motion near his waist leading them to believe he was armed" when he was still on the street. He wasn't, police have conceded.

Police were quick to tell local media about Graham's arrest record, which included busts for burglary, robbery, dealing marijuana, and other offenses. But they didn't say how those cases had been resolved or whether they were even aware of his identity when they shot him.

After the shooting, PIX-11 TV reported that "Graham's parents were at the White Plains Road intersection visibly agitated and a crowd of approximately 80 people were openly hostile towards police, berating officers lined up along the crime scene tape."

Graham's mother, Constance Malcolm, 39, told the Wall Street Journal, a neighbor had called her at work to tell her her son had been killed. Malcolm said her mother and her six-year-old son were also in the apartment during the shooting.

"The cops told me they were chasing him. He had weed, and that's it," Ms. Malcolm said. "Nobody deserves to be shot like that in their own house."

A Wayne County sheriff's deputy shot and killed a drug suspect whose car was dragging him down the street Monday evening. The man, who is yet unidentified, becomes the sixth person to die in US domestic drug law enforcement operations so far this year.

According to local media citing police sources, Wayne County sheriff's deputies witnessed a suspected drug buy and moved in to make an arrest. The suspect appeared to be cooperating until a tow truck arrived, when he then bolted back into his car and tried to drive away. A deputy grabbed onto the car and was dragged down the street. He opened fire when the suspect refused to heed his commands to stop.

"The suspect jumped back into the car, took off. One of my deputies was next to the car. He attempted to stop him from taking the car, grabbed a hold of him and he was dragging him down the street," said Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon. "He was being dragged down the street," Napoleon explained. "After several orders to stop, the deputy fired twice."

The suspect died at the scene, the sheriff said. The deputy, a veteran undercover narcotics officer, was hospitalized in serious condition, but is expected to recover.

The sheriff said the dead man appeared to be cooperating until he suddenly dashed for freedom.

"The process was almost over, and I guess something about seeing the car go on the tow truck must have really set him off and he decided he didn't want his car towed," Napoleon said.

Two men were shot and killed in separate incidents by police enforcing drug laws this week. California resident Angel Molina and Little Rock, Arkansas resident Angelo Clark become the 3rd and 4th persons to die in US domestic drug law enforcement operations so far this year.

Police told local media in Shafter, California, that Shafter police went to a residence during a drug investigation Monday night and when they arrived, they encountered two people in the driveway. Police said they were searching the two men when they found a gun on Molina, 37. Police said Molina then tried to grab the gun, and Officer Joseph Hayes shot him in the chest.

He was taken to the Kern Medical Center, but died less than an hour later. The district attorney's office is investigating the incident. Officer Hayes is on administrative leave.

In Little Rock, police told local media a SWAT team was serving a pre-dawn search warrant at an alleged drug house when they were confronted by Clark, who they said was holding an AK-47 directed at officers. He was shot by police and died at the scene.

Police said they had been investigating the residence since early December and undercover narcotics detectives had bought crack cocaine from Clark, 31, who lived there. But there was no mention of crack being seized at the home. Instead police reported finding a small marijuana growing operation, pot plants, scales and other drug paraphernalia, a loaded AK-47 clip, and a .40 caliber hand gun.

The unnamed SWAT officer who pulled the trigger is now on administrative leave. The Little Rock Police Department is conducting separate detective division and internal affairs investigations.

With a 15% increase in shooting deaths of law enforcement officers last year, and with this year kicking off with an Ogden, Utah, drug raid that left one officer dead and five more wounded, some police trainers are saying it is time for police to rethink their tactics, USA Today reported Wednesday.

Some 68 law enforcers were killed by gunfire last year, 10 of them while serving search warrants or on multi-agency raids. While only three of them died doing work directly related to drug law enforcement -- two US Marshals were shot and killed in separate raids trying to arrest drug fugitives and one Florida police officer was killed trying to search suspicious persons for drugs -- the bloody Ogden raid has focused attention on drug raids.

In that raid, aimed at Matthew Stewart, an Army veteran with no criminal record who was supposedly "self-medicating" with marijuana he grew himself, a local drug task force forced its way into his home only to be met with ferocious gunfire. When the bullets stopped flying, Ogden Officer Jared Francom was dead and five of his comrades and Stewart were wounded. Prosecutors said this week they would seek the death penalty for him.

But that won't bring back Officer Francom, and police need to reevaluate their tactics, said Pat McCarthy, who advises police agencies across the country.

"The days of knocking down doors in drug cases should be over. Given what's going on now, you have to consider other options," McCarthy told USA Today. "Police should focus on trying to lure suspects out into the open or just "wait them out," he said. "It's time to change our thinking, Cops are exposing themselves to increasing danger many times over, and it's just not necessary."

That sentiment was echoed by Harvey Hedden, executive director of the International Law Enforcement Trainers and Educators Association. Its members need to "look at everything" to avoid putting themselves in danger.

"Police work can be 99% boredom and 1% panic," Hedden said. "Routine can be the most dangerous of all. We need to go back to the basics."

The Justice Department will host a meeting later this month with researchers and law enforcement officials to review tactics and training in the wake of the officers' deaths.

Of course, it's not just police who died in drug raids. The Chronicle's tally of domestic drug war deaths last year includes 13 civilians who were killed by police in drug raids on residences.