A false tip from an anonymous informant leads to a late night, no-knock raid. A cop is dead, and the subject of the raid is charged with first-degree murder... Scary...

Another Drug Raid Nightmare

The railroading of Ryan Frederick

Radley Balko | March 18, 2008

Imagine you're home alone.

It's 8 p.m. You work an early shift and need to be out the door before sunrise, so you're already in bed. Your nerves are a bit frazzled, because earlier in the week someone broke into your home. Oddly, they didn't take anything; they just rifled through your belongings.

But the violation weighs on your mind. At about the time you drift off, you're awakened by fierce barking from your two large dogs. You hear someone crashing into your front door, as if he's trying to separate it from its hinges. You grab the gun you keep for home defense and leave your room to investigate.

This past January that scenario played out at the Chesapeake, Virginia, home of 28-year-old Ryan Frederick, a slight man of little more than 100 pounds. According to interviews since the incident, Frederick says when he looked toward his front door, he saw an intruder trying to enter through one of the lower door panels. So Frederick fired his gun.

The intruders were from the Chesapeake Police Department. They had come to serve a drug warrant. Frederick's bullet struck Detective Jarrod Shivers in the side, killing him. Frederick was arrested and has spent the last six weeks in a Chesapeake jail.

He has been charged with first degree murder. Paul Ebert, the special prosecutor assigned to the case, has indicated he may elevate the charge to capital murder, which would enable the state to seek the death penalty.

At the time of the raid, Ryan Frederick worked for a soft drink merchandiser. Current and former employers and co-workers speak highly of him. He also recently had gotten engaged, a welcome lift for a guy who'd had a run of tough luck.

He lost both parents early in life, and friends say the death of his mother hit particularly hard—Frederick discovered her in bed after she had overdosed on prescription medication. After the deaths of both parents, Frederick grew close to his grandmother, who then died two years ago.

Friends and neighbors describe Frederick as shy, self-effacing, non-confrontational, and hard-working. He had no prior criminal record. Frederick and his friends have conceded he smoked marijuana recreationally. But all—including his neighbors—insist there's no evidence he was growing or distributing the drug.

According to the search warrant, the police raided Frederick's home after a confidential informant told them he saw evidence of marijuana growing in a garage behind the home. The warrant says the informant saw several marijuana plants, plus lights, irrigation equipment and other gardening supplies.

After the raid, the police found the gardening supplies, but no plants. They also found a small amount of marijuana, but not much—only enough to charge Frederick with misdemeanor drug possession.

Frederick told a local television station that he was an avid gardener. A neighbor I spoke with backs him up, explaining that Frederick had an elaborate koi pond behind his home and raised a variety of tropical plants. He'd even given his neighbors gardening tips on occasion.

One of the plants Frederick told the local television station he raised was the Japanese maple, a plant that, when green, has leaves that look quite a bit like marijuana leaves.

So far, Chesapeake police have given no indication that they did any investigation to corroborate the tip from their informant. There's no mention in the search warrant of an undercover drug buy from Frederick or of any extensive surveillance of Frederick's home.

Rest of Article Here

__________________
"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." - Schopenhauer

Sounds like something is messed up here.

In most cases this should be avoided(or at least the situation made clear), by clear and repeated announcements that it's in fact (insert name here) doing the raid. Not ahead of time of course, for drugs I could see giving a no-knock warrant, but once you hit the door.

However some weird stuff seems to be going on here. Specifically that the cop was trying to get through the lower panel of a door. Are they trying to sneak in? Also if only two officers were on scene that's not right (though it isn't clear there weren't more). Finally you'd think the guy in front would be wearing tactical armor with better coverage.

Yet again, an innocent, normal, hard-working citizen has been victimized by our government's insane War on Drugs. Those policemen were violating this man's property, coming into his house unannounced, and they were armed. If it had been me, I would've shot the detective, too.

The police take anonymous tips from random informants looking to get on the good side of the law and act on information about as accurate as an Uncyclopedia article. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, visit www.uncyclopedia.org. Enjoy.) For instance, a mature Japanese maple's leaves do look almost exactly like marijuana leaves, but of course the police didn't investigate that; they simply knocked down the man's door. Pathetic.

The blood of that detective if far more on the government's hands than on the "suspect's." It only adds to the list of atrocities commited since the War began.

__________________
Men of England, heirs of Glory,
Heroes of unwritten story,
Nurslings of one mighty Mother,
Hopes of her, and one another;

Rise like Lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number,
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you -
Ye are many - they are few.

- Percy Shelley, "The Masque of Anarchy"

Senseless.

Stop the madness of prohibition. People are killed daily because of this plant. This plant is no more harmfull than most of the food we eat. The most dangerous aspect of this plant is the violence that stems from it being illegal.

__________________
Society is produced by our wants and government by our wickedness ~Thomas Paine

I don't think the 'war on drugs' has any relevance here. The cops could have come through the front door for any number of reasons. The problem lies with the cops ability to enter a citizens home unannounced.

This man was fully within his rights to defend his home, but shooting through a door at someone he can't see is problematic. However I understand the circumstances and think he should not be charged.

Maybe next time the nazi cops will think twice before barging in on a citizen in his own home.

This should be an easy one. First Tupac Shikur Was indicted for shooting two undercover police officers some years back and he was acquitted of any wrong doing because they did not identify themselves as police officers and came at him with their guns drawn. This Gentleman did not see any weapons and the article didn’t mention whether they had made the announcement "Police open up". It will become a firearm charge in the later stages unless he had a license for a firearm. Some states require that an individual be inside your home. Crossing the door way threshold is the break point in which you can use deadly force to protect yourself. A good lawyer could get him off!

Well again it's weird

What the heck was the cop trying to do? A raid should result in the door being smashed open first thing(along with much shouting).

That depends on what she looks like!

For once something witty! Badoonk doonk steees! (Bass drum, snare, cymbal)