They Were Only Following Orders – #1

In my relentless pursuit of Drug Nazis, this will be the first of a number of posts about deaths in the Drug War. I don’t intend to cover every one. Just those that interest me. Here is the first.

Georgia Man Holding Pepper Spray Killed in Drug Raid. Here is the police version:

According to the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office, agents with the Haralson Paulding Narcotics Task Force had been investigating the home’s occupants for selling drugs and had made several drug purchases, as well as getting complaints from neighbors.

Sheriff’s spokesman Cpl. Ashley Henson said before the shooting, officers knocked on the door of the residence in Hiram and announced who they were. They then entered the home — although Henson didn’t make clear how they did so — and encountered Hammett in a darkened hallway.

“It was very dark because the windows in the front portion of the residence had been covered and were blacked out,” Henson said. “When agents first made contact with Hammett, they instructed him to show his hands and he initially did not comply. Hammett then raised his hands up in an aggressive manner while he was holding a black shiny object which was pointed toward agents,” Henson said.

“It was then that agents opened fire on Mr. Hammett, fatally striking him once,” Henson explained. “It was later determined that Hammett had raised a canister of pepper spray toward the agents.”

Here is the version of the man’s son:

Hammett’s son Clyde challenged the police version of events in an interview with WSB TV later that same day. His father was arthritic and unarmed, and there was nothing in his hands or next to him after he fell to the floor, he said. Clyde Hammett also said there would be no drugs found at the house.

“They killed him. They killed an innocent man and that’s all there is to say to it,” Clyde Hammett said. “They say he was armed. They can search all they want, there’s no guns in that house.”

Cpl. Henson said evidence related to drug trafficking was later found in the home, but didn’t specifiy exactly what had been found.

Items related to drug trafficking could be items such as food scales, or baggies. Don’t be a weight watcher or a diabetic. Don’t save food leftovers or pack lunches. And don’t be a hang out for your friends. Things like that attract Drug Nazis, the way garbage attracts flies. And to top it all off, the killing gets officers paid time off.

The officers involved in the shooting are on paid administrative leave pending the results of a review by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

That is what I call an incentive system.