Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Police shoot unarmed pregnant woman during drug raid.

On September 24th, an unarmed woman nine months pregnant was shot during a drug raid in Spokane, Washington. While the officers were executing the search, during which they found no weapons, she apparently became ‘non-compliant’ and tried to flee out of a second story bedroom window.


A press release by the police said the officers tried to restrain her, but ‘a shot went off’. The woman then fell out of the window. Carmen Nelson, a neighbor, said neither she nor her stepson heard the police giving commands before the shooting. "I heard one gunshot, a woman screamed and a man hollered out afterward," Nelson said. "I'm upset a pregnant woman was shot. I believe she didn't deserve it." The woman went into labor the night before, and was expecting a baby boy.


The mother of the victim said there were no drugs in the house. The police said they found marijuana, crack cocaine, and controlled prescription drugs. This is the third officer-involved shooting since August 25, 2010 in Spokane.


Let’s break this down- The police couldn’t control a nine month pregnant woman experiencing labor pains without shooting her? And could those ‘prescription drugs’ possibly be medications? Even if she had been inadvisedly using cocaine while pregnant, and the evidence wasn’t planted like this, studies have shown there to be no birth defects directly linked to the consumption of cocaine during pregnancy.


President Regan was eerily accurate in comparing the war on drugs to the WWI Battle of Verdun- Hundreds of thousands died in abject misery and thousands more were maimed, shot, and forced to live out their lives in pain. Verdun became a rallying cry for more men, more guns, more blood, even though it was strategically useless and nothing came of it except for suffering and death.


If you want this to continue, do nothing. If not, register to vote.


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

first of all she had no business doing crack or pot while pregnant im sorry that she did not listen to the authority's when they busted them and IM sorry she was shot but this poor baby never had a chance in life at all with drugs being fed to the unborn

Anonymous said...

Anakka,

You call Anonymous "unamerican" for assuming the guilt of the woman. But you are, just as strongly, assuming the guilt of the police officers. And Anonymous is right; this baby will likely be born into a destructive lifestyle if left with the mother. And if she was doing drugs during the pregnancy, her credibility is out the window (no pun intended). No mother should put their unborn child at risk for physical/neurological damage. By the way, you're completely foolish for thinking cannabis is actually beneficial during pregnancy. Try finding a study that actually reaches a conclusion and not one that ends with "benefits have a possibility of existing, but more research is needed." Conclusive studies show direct evidence between mothers who used marijuana (at ANY point in their entire lives) and psychologically dysfunctional babies. Stop using BS as evidence to prove your irrational views.

Anonymous said...

I think it's pretty easy to blame police officers, given how regularly cops commit heinous crimes that, at best, they are arrested for after all the damage has been done. A friend once told me that COP stood for "Criminal On Patrol". From my life experience (seeing my black friends get hassled/abused/threatened/falsely arrested, seeing my female friends inappropriately treated, seeing the law being thwarted by those who are supposed to be upholding it regularly) it is clear: if I have to believe anyone aside from a hardened career-violent-criminal aside from a COP, I will. Think about the sort of person that is attracted to a mediocre-paying job where you are functionally above the law and allowed, legally, to beat and shoot people for just speaking to you (it's called Assault to raise your voice to an Officer Of The Law). Do you think someone who is caring, understanding and respectful would like this? Or someone who is amoral, sadistic, manipulative, and quite probably hyperaggressive? Which sounds more likely?

Oh, and did I mention the widespread steroid abuse in many police departments? Fun stuff, and after all that, remember, these were police officers most certainly armed with: Body Armor, Pistols, Restraints (both cuffs and plastic), possibly other non-lethal weapons (tazer, baton, pepper spray), and they SHOT a 9months-pregnant woman who had gone into labor the night before. The words "spineless" don't even begin to describe these pieces of filth, and all those that would condone this abhorrent behavior.