Another elderly person killed in the war on drugs
A 80 year old man was shot and killed by undercover police after he told them to leave his property. He brandished a gun and they shot and killed him. Witnesses say the officers never told him they were undercover.
One difference this time is that the police are admitting their error:
Police are now conceding that Singletary was completely innocent. The Jacksonville sheriff describes him in this article as an “honest citizen trying to do good.”
Which means that two undercover officers trespassed onto Singletary’s property. They then invited criminals onto his property to engage in criminal activity with them. Mr. Singletary, recognizing the trespassers as drug dealers, then properly demanded they leave. He brought a gun along to defend himself, not an unreasonable action, given the circumstances. For this, he was shot to death.
As was seen in the Kathryn Johnston case, the blue shield usually comes up with people suddenly becoming tight-lipped. I have to say kudos to the sheriff in this case.
February 1st, 2007 at 12:38 pm
Saying “we’re sorry, we messed up” is one thing. Someone actually being held accountable is quite another. Criminal charges against the killers are out of the question. We’ll be lucky if somebody is actually fired/aske to resign.
February 1st, 2007 at 2:25 pm
Wait a minute here. The undercovers were on this guy’s property, they had not identified themselves as police officers, and rather than move along and ending it peacefully they killed the man. How is this a mistake? It was wrong, but they did it on purpose. It isn’t a mistake, it is a crime.
Since he hadn’t fired on them and only told them to leave they had half a dozen options that would have been non-fatal. Explanations could have been made later, or they could have identified themselves, or they could have moved on and had their supervisor explain to the man later, while not breaking their cover.
They did none of those things, they shot him because they could. The sheriff can call it a mistake if he wants, but it looks like murder to me.
If they try to use a defense of “he pointed a gun”, does that free up all citizens to shoot cops that show up with guns drawn? If not, why not?
I don’t think the law enforcement community can afford to let this be business as usual. If they do, the next trespasser supposedly dealing dope, who may be an undercover cop, may well be shot without warning from concealment. That appears to be the option being left to the citizen since we don’t have a scorecard and the players would rather kill you than identify themselves.
February 1st, 2007 at 2:47 pm
So, if these had been actual gang banging drug dealers would you also be happy if THEY admitted their mistake? Yet the result is the same…
February 1st, 2007 at 3:00 pm
who said they were happy?
February 2nd, 2007 at 11:51 am
I agree with “not so happy”: no Kudos until someone goes to jail.
February 2nd, 2007 at 1:30 pm
Read the article – they WERE drug dealers – invited onto the property by the inept cops. It was a set up that went really really bad thanks once again to the complete incompetance and ignorance of LEO’s.