Just what this Town needs... an accidental shooting by SWAT
The Framingham Police SWAT officer who fatally shot a man while serving a search warrant this morning may have done it accidentally, a family friend said outside the courtroom today.
Dwayne Barrett, of Framingham, described Eurie Stamps as "a very good man, the type of man who'd give you the shirt off his back. This shouldn't have happened."
Stamps, 68, was in his 26 Fountain St. house as police served a drug warrant there at about 12:30 a.m. He was fatally shot by an officer, although Barrett said authorities told him the officer accidentally shot his weapon.
Stamps was taken to MetroWest Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
This police action is not the first by SWAT to go wrong, but it should remind us ALL that we do live in a Town that authorizes SWAT Teams to execute search warrants. I'm reminded of Ruby Ridge when I see these things happen. And before I pass judgment before knowing the facts, it's not a stretch to consider another trigger happy cop killing some innocent by-stander.
All this over a failed drug war.
posted by Jim Pillsbury @ 4:48 PM
24 Comments
24 Comments:
When it comes to guns and death ....
There are no "mistakes"
Someone Must Pay !
I think your statement that all of this is because of the failed drug war is a bit of a stretch. Not everything is about your one issue.
For now we should all be focusing on supporting the family of the man who was killed. I hope that cop is already on some sort of desk duty and that is gun has been taken away. Good cop or bad cop, he made a huge mistake and to protect the people of Framingham he should not be allowed to ever carry a gun again, either as a cop or a private citizen.
Although I support your views Jim, I have to agree with a previous poster. This has nothing to do with a failed drug war. This has to do with a cop messing up big time.
Why haven’t we heard Chief Carl comment on this at all? Why the silence from the PD? Who will investigate this, hopefully not the Framingham PD.
How much is this mistake by the police in this town going to cost us? Is this the same cop that pulled a gun on a resident when he told him to stop pissing on his lawn?
After reading all the comments about this in the MWD from angry people I swore I would stay out of this fray. So much for my commitment. This is a horrific example of the dangers of guns, even in the hands of people who are suppose to be highly trained in how to use them. If this was an accidental shooting, as it appears it was, and it was done by a member of the SWAT team, who are more trained in the use of guns than a regular cop, then clearly there is a problem, either with the training of these officers, or the choice of people to be on these SWAT teams. There was no one holding a gun on an officer, no threat from a weapon of any kind from these 3 men, and no emminent danger. The cop who shot this guy walked in to that house armed and protected, along with several other cops, also armed and protected, to back him up. He had no reason to panic and pull the trigger on some 68 yr old man who apparently was in bed when he was shot. This was not a high tension, crisis, situation. This should have been a walk in the park for the SWAT team. If they had been monitoring these guys as they said to know they were dealing, then they should have known there were no guns involved. So what exactly caused this highly trained professional to throw all his training and expertise out the window and shoot some old guy in his bed?
Maybe this cop needs more Quinn funding so he can be better trained on how to handle his gun.
Funny how we know the names and see the faces of the 20 yr olds arrested, although they have not been found guilty of any crime yet, but no information on the name of the cop who killed someone. And this is fair how?
Why exactly do we send a swat team in against 2 20 yr olds when we have absolutely no reason to believe there are any weapons at all involved? And I heard the gentleman shot was actually in his bed when shot. I find it hard to believe that you accidently shoot someone lying in bed.
The cops will protect their own on this one. Nothing will happen. I hope the family of this man sues the police department big time. But before that happens, I hope I can sell my house in Framingham so I don’t have to pay for the settlement. I am tired of coming in to work and having people talking about what a terrible town Framingham is to live in.
I understand the anger, but I think we need to wait to hear the other side of the story before we rush to judgement here. Let’s face it, even a bad cop does not go in to this situation and intentionally shoot a 68 yr old man in his bed. It sounds bad, but I would like to hear the officers side of the story before I decide just how bad it is.
The following is a statement from Carl:
"At 12:30 a.m. on Wednesday, January 5, the Framingham Police SWAT Team served a search warrant at 26 Fountain St. in Framingham. During the service of the search warrant Mr. Eurie Stamps was tragically and fatally struck by a bullet which was discharged from a SWAT officer’s rifle. Despite immediate intervention by tactical medics, he died at the scene.
The officer involved has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the District Attorney’s Office’s independent investigation into the justifiability of the shooting. Our condolences are with Mr. Stamp’s family for the heartbreak they are understandably enduring and we will await the findings of the investigation before taking any additional administrative action.”
According to the Middlesex District Attorney's Office, the investigation will take three to four weeks and the identity of the Framingham officer who shot Stamps will not be released until the investigation is complet
Sounds to me like the cops need a little bit more time to come up with a plausible explanation for this blatant miscarriage of justice.
Ok, I gotta ask the question. Was the cop with a rifle in the house? Why would you have a rifle in the house, why not a handgun? Or was this guy outside ready to shoot anyone who ran from the house, and shot through the window and got this guy in bed?
Maybe this was a mistake, but even if it was, it is still a big deal, and not something that should be treated lightly. A cop who makes a mistake with his gun that costs someone there life should not be allowed to carry a gun ever again.
Anyone else notice how many of the comments on this article are posted anonymously? Pretty interesting.
SWAT TEAM....? WAS IT A HOSTAGE SITUATION....? THEY GET CALLED IN AFTER THE FACT IF NEEDED..I NEVER HEARD OF A SWAT TEAM SERVING A WARRENT..AND WITH GUNS COCKED READY TO SHOOT...HUH????????
There is no excuse for this period.
It looks like the Hot Dogs are calling the shots ...
Can we appoint a committee of Town Meeting members to do an investigation into these events? We are the ruling force in this town, shouldn’t we have some oversite of this situation? How would we go about making this happen?
And this from Mr. Steele from the Chairman of public safety advisory committee. Another shining example of how out of touch some TMM's are about the real world around us. This Town now has the dubious distinction of being the first place in America in 2011 to have a drug prohibition murder at the hands of the police.
For now, the limited amount of detail about Stamps’ death doesn’t sit well with Graham Steele, chairman of Town Meeting’s advisory committee on public safety.
Steele questioned yesterday why the officer’s name hasn’t been released.
‘‘I don’t think it helps community relations for the Police Department,’’ he said. ‘‘I think the public has a right to know.’’
Steele said he is anxious to read the official report, which his committee will review. He said the shooting raises many questions, including why Framingham needs a SWAT team and what the rationale was behind an early-morning raid with heavily armed officers.
‘‘It just seems like such a baffling (use) of force and resources. ... I think, like a lot of people, I have a hard time justifying this,’’ Steele said.
If the investigation finds the officer wasn’t right to shoot at Stamps, ‘‘Frankly,’’ he said, ‘‘I don’t want him being a police officer in this town if that’s the case.’’
A note I sent to Mr. Steele, on the Public Safety Advisory Committee:
Mr. Steele,
I've just read your questions on line about the use of SWAT members here in Framingham and the murder of Mr. Stamps. Does it really come to any surprise for you to hear that SWAT teams are used to execute search warrants here in Framingham or anywhere in this country? In addition, have you ever read or heard about innocent people being killed by SWAT Teams?
It does happen and happens more in the minority community. But it doesn't stop there, a grandmother, a women, a child wounded, animals killed in front of children. Wrong addresses, bad informant information, and one shouldn't forget the elderly man who was scared to death in Boston a few years ago during a SWAT Team search at the wrong address.
I hope you would make public any and all public meetings about this shooting and realize that in the name of fighting the drug war... SWAT Teams have increasingly free rein and commit serious crimes all in the name of justice.
Nice note Jim. Let us know what you get for a response from Steele.
It's called Fascism and police state is part of the deal ...
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