Consequences of Prohibition
Drug War Issues
[Editor's Note: This year, Drug War Chronicle is trying to track every death directly attributable to domestic drug law enforcement during the year. We can use your help. If you come across a news account of a killing related to drug law enforcement, please send us an email at [email protected].]
According to Sky 2 News, citing law enforcement sources, a bounty hunter had tracked the man to a local motel and the US Marshals Service then tried to stop him, but he managed to escape. The man, driving a Nissan Cube, was cornered by deputies on Highway 6 at West Road.
According to KHOU 11 News, citing deputies on the scene, after they pulled over the vehicle, the driver started driving, hit one deputy, and tried to flee the scene. The deputies, "fearing for their lives," riddled the car with bullets, mortally wounding the driver, who sped through an intersection, then crashed into a curb. He died shortly thereafter at a local hospital.
Two deputies were injured in the incident, one who had his foot run over while directing traffic after the shooting and one was injured in a traffic accident en route to the scene. The deputy allegedly hit by the fleeing vehicle was apparently uninjured.
One man who saw the shooting go down said the driver did not actually hit a deputy, but "almost" did.
"I seen that cop turn his lights on and get behind the car, and I guess the car wouldn't stop. Actually, he almost ran over one of the cops and then they took fire on him. Boom, boom, boom, boom -- they shot out all the windows. I guess he got hit, and he ended up where he ended up," witness Moe Alyson told Sky 2 News.
KHOU 11 News reported that the man's wife later showed up the scene, where she was informed that he was dead. Deputies said the man knew he was being watched and told his wife he would soon be dead.
He was being pursued for at least four warrants, including drug possession, escape, and assault on his wife.
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
Seems without the war on drug(user)s
this guy would have had only one charge on him (assault on his wife, which doesn't usually entail time in prison, jail maybe for a couple months) and he wouldn't have run, so he'd still be alive. We CAN end this horrid war on individual freedom, we could get ourselves a president -- Ron Paul -- who WILL end the federal government's war on drug(user)s in 2012 (half the war won by our side, right there). We COULD have this, provided most (all?) reformers change their registration to Republican for just this one presidential election cycle and vote for him in the primaries/caucuses and again in the general when he succeeds in getting the Republican nomination.
Gary Johnson is good (on drug legalization) but not nearly as popular (with people for whom reform of drug policies is not very high on their priority list) as Ron Paul happens to be (he'd be a great VP with Ron Paul as president), so we have a better chance of getting Ron Paul elected than we do Gary Johnson, because others would also vote for him for other reasons (his principles, his support for Constitutional government, for his understanding of the economy and monetary policies, because he is anti- undeclared war, because he is pro-freedom, etc.).
So, if reformers truly want to end the prohibition of certain drugs, Dr. Paul is the ONLY choice for 2012. If we miss this opportunity to elect an anti-prohibition president, it could be decades before we get another such opportunity.
Police are a menace to society
We've reached the point where the police are a bigger danger to the community than the criminals. Not far from where I live a gang of Fullerton police beat a mentally ill man to death. Six cops tasered and beat this guy with flashlights till he was unrecognizable. He suffered for five day's until he died. Six grown men, beating on one man, instead of restraining him, can be nothing less than intentional murder. And these animals are running loose. This is government sponsored terrorism, these cops are a gang, they have gang lingo, dress alike, "have each others backs", lie for each other when they kill someone, and have the courts covering them. When police add to the death toll, more than decrease it, it's time to break up that gang.
yep
You are both right. Enough... is too much! The drug war is the MAIN reason we are living in a police state, and it's un-American in the extreme. I can't say I am very optimistic, though...
Link it to everything
The current direction Washington is going in is to try to link the drug war to the war on terror.Because they can see that the people are no longer buying what they have been selling us,they now want us to believe that Muslim fundamentalists are behind the sale and distribution of drugs world wide.Who did it all before Osama Bin Laden?Don't even ask that because it will embarrass Ollie North and Uncle Ron.As for the cops killing druggies.That has been going on since they passed the first law prohibiting any intoxicant.Carnage and prohibition are like peanut butter and jam.They just seem destined to co-mingle.
All for voting Ron Paul into office
I was all for Ron Paul last time he ran, but he dropped out. If he runs again and stays in there I intend to campaign for him with every ounce of sweat in my body. Does anyone know how we can get Ron this message, and that everyone I know will vote for him simply because they hate that sweet little me was made into a criminal for simple second possession of marijuana?
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