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Ohio Cop Kills One in Undercover Bust Gone Bad

Submitted by Phillip Smith on (Issue #761)
Consequences of Prohibition

Cincinnati Police undercover officers shot and killed one man and wounded another during a drug buy gone bad Wednesday night. Montez Oneal, 19, becomes the 59th person to die in US domestic drug law enforcement operations so far this year.

According to WKRC TV 12 News, acting Police Chief James Whalen said Friday Oneal was driving a car that drove away from two undercover officers who attempted to pull it over after buying heroin from the three men inside. Oneal's vehicle eventually drove into a dead end, when he allegedly put the car in reverse and slammed into the unmarked car carrying the undercover officers. Another Cincinnati police officer in a patrol car then pulled his cruiser beside Oneal's car to try to box him in.

At that point, according to Whalen, one of the men then jumped out of the vehicle, pointed a weapon at the uniformed officer, then fled as the officer fired on him. Whalen said police did not think that suspect had been hit. He remains at large.

Then, Oneal stepped halfway out of his car and fired at the uniformed officer with a .45 caliber handgun. The officer returned fire, striking Oneal multiple times. He died at the scene. A third man in the vehicle, Robert Matthews, 23, who was the target of the investigation, was in the back seat. He was wounded when the officer fired on Oneal, then treated at a local hospital and jailed.

The police shooter, Officer Orlando Smith, has been reassigned to administrative duties pending the outcome of an investigation into the shooting.

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

This story's about heroin dealing and suspects who shot at uniformed police.  I have no sympathy for the suspects in this case.  Heroin's dangerous.  Drug dealing is dangerous. Shooting at uniformed police is dangerous.  This web site often has good stories about police who act like criminals.  But this particular story shows a just outcome as best I can tell.

Sun, 11/25/2012 - 11:27am Permalink
Mark Mitcham (not verified)

In reply to by Vic Kelley (not verified)

Imagine a world without DRUGWAR.  None of this would have happened!  No dealing, no cops, no crime,

and no goddamn shooting.  Just American FREEDOM.  We have to freedom, in America, to do dangerous things.

Driving a car is dangerous.  By your logic, we should just shoot ALL drivers.  After all, they endanger everyone!

Would you agree to shoot drivers at random?  That's a good thing??  You're not making sense.

Mon, 11/26/2012 - 10:35pm Permalink
truthit (not verified)

In reply to by Mark Mitcham (not verified)

So if drugs were legal what other crime would this dead drug dealer be involved in other than gainful employment.  He would have just been shot after a robbery, burglary or some other crime.  Thank the officer for taking a parasite off the street.  the way I look at it he saved us 50 years of welfare for that individual.  The thing that concerns me is that we paid to patch the other drug dealer up!  Take him down and drown the worthless piece of crap in the river.  We need an SPCA for humans and when nobody claims them for 3 days we send them to puppy heaven.

Mon, 11/11/2013 - 12:26pm Permalink
Uncle Bob (not verified)

I doubt any of the police involved in this incident woke up thinking that they wanted to kill a 19 year-old kid today.  The tragedies of the drug war touch both sides here, and I'm sure there have been officers out there who have deep regrets about the casualties in this war.  This was needless violence that could have been avoided by better policies... The Obama administration declared in 2010 that drug use wasn't a "moral failing", but a public health problem... yet here we are, two years later, still having shootouts with kids on the street.  Drug users are still treated as criminals and slapped with steep penalties.  Quite frankly, a drug conviction can follow you for the rest of your life and utterly ruin your chances at every making anything respectable out of your life.  It's no wonder drug users will fight to the death to avoid getting arrested, they know the results of a drug conviction is just half a step above dying in the street.  Either way, their life is pretty much over.

Sun, 11/25/2012 - 9:45pm Permalink
db (not verified)

The so-called cops have no business buying any drugs, unless they are for sale at the CVS Drug Store.

If the cops want street drugs, they must be required to do that activity on their own time while out of uniform.

The cops are breaking the law and I am sure they are not allowed to have drugs while on duty.

-------

after this idiot drug war is over,

the heroin will be in the CVS Drug Store , in a bubble pack, in a new clean syringe, labeled as to strength, with instructions for help with addiction on the package... You will have to show an ID to buy it and you will have a limit as to how many you can buy at 1 time.

MEANWHILE, those cops will be busy solving the rape case from last week.

and, those same cops will once again have the respect and the trust of the community.

Tue, 11/27/2012 - 1:31am Permalink

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