Pastor mistakenly killed in drug raid

[mrjarrell]

Cops did the same thing to Kathryn Johnston. Smear her and make her the bad guy, when they were the ones at fault. This has happened before and is often SOP.

 

[public servant]

...but you sure did make yourself look like a cold, heartless, a**hole with that reply.

That's the best you have? I was called better than that before you got out of bed this morning...

Have a nice day there...cowboy.

 

[public servant]

I will also say that until I have a reason not to beilve the cops side, I will belive them. And that has NOTHING to do with the fact that I am a cop......I would feel that way regardless of my employment history. If they were in the wrong......then they desreve what happens to them and probably more, but if they were/are right in their actions then they do not deserve the slamming they are getting here.

 

[public servant]

Interesting; but, on this board you demand others 'sympathize' with you being an officer, and you profess to be one...

Respect is an odd thing, some have no respect for others and never will because of their religion of NON-religion. And yes, being a cynic and skeptic is a religion, it takes practice and close observance to be smug towards everything Biblical and that draws conviction to change you (which is why you post pics of people who have fallen, as if you are perfect---be careful of what you mock---people fail, hence this thread). Liberalism IS a religion, so the is 'Green movement'.

I don't demand anything...I merely express my opinion. Whether or not you agree with it is not my concern.

I will also be the first to admit I'm not perfect. But then again...I've never banged hookers or bilked millions of people out of billions of dollars all in the name of God either.

 

[Glock21]

It would be nice if you gave the civilian the same presumption of innocense as the officers involved. I haven't seen the videos and I wasn't there so I'm not presuming guilt or innocence on either side.

There is a name for people who trust the state over the people. They're called liberals. Being that you are an agent of the state, that would likely make you biased. This isn't meant to come across as an attack. Just my

I know this is just a minor, unrelated point, but everyone involved in this case is a "civilian." The police are civilian police officers, they aren't military.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

Wow. Need to see how this shakes out but at least initially there are many problems with the cops' cover story:

1. Are the officers wearing ski masks, or are they African American? It is hard to see from the grainy video.

2. The police admit that they are looking for a woman, but the pastor is obviously not a woman? Why draw guns on someone you are not looking for?

3. If you know the pastor dropped your suspect/person of interest off, why arrest the pastor?

4. Why are the police in plain clothes (and possibly wearing ski masks)?

5. What's the firggin' hurry to stop him? You're not looking for the pastor, but you have to arrest him quickly? Why?

6. It is the middle of the day, why not have a traffic cop stop him on the road instead of initiating a gunfight at a public venue?

Georgia police will have some hot coal dancing to do with GBI, the United States Attorney's office, the state and federal grand jury and for the civil suit. This should be a very interesting (and tragic) case.

 

[Benny]

Why is it that every time a thread is started about the less than stellar actions of a very minute amount of police officers, a battle royal between cops and non-cops ensues? It's said really.



BTW, great questions Kirk, I wouldn't mind seeing the answers to a few of them.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

I'm just raising questions for potential discussion. I'm not drawing a conclusion here.

 

[Fargo]

I'm just raising questions for potential discussion. I'm not drawing a conclusion here.

I would add a couple more:

1. If he has no drugs in the car and knows its the police, what rational reason would he have to run?

2. Was a drug deal supposedly going down there or was the woman wanted off a previous incident?

3. What articulable evidence did they have that he had committed a crime so as to make the stop itself legal to begin with? If they had just seen the woman make a deal inside the store, I can see it. If she is wanted for something previous, I doubt the attempt to stop was even legal.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

1. If he has no drugs in the car and knows its the police, what rational reason would he have to run?

Hmmm, maybe men in ski masks waving guns around?

Good points, Fargo.

 

[turnandshoot4]

Why is it that every time a thread is started about the less than stellar actions of a very minute amount of police officers, a battle royal between cops and non-cops ensues? It's said really.



BTW, great questions Kirk, I wouldn't mind seeing the answers to a few of them.

 

[Boilers]

I personally have had vigilantes approach both sides of my car/truck, WITH GUNS SHOWING, and enter the right side (passenger) side of my vehicle WITH A PISTOL.

I know how I react.

I got as angry as you can imagine, I was an adolescent at the time, unarmed. I told them they needed to get out/back off or someone was going to end up dead .. ME or THEM!

Caused enough of a scene that bystanders interceded.

Ended up being some people that lived nearby and mistakenly thought I was some guy that stole something or vandalized their house. So, they took it upon themselves to approach me as I was dropping off some friends.

Could have ended very badly for someone. But I won't back down. Even with bad odds.

On the surface, in split-second timing, my situation was not fundamentally that much different than this story here. I just saw two guys with guns. And it pi$$ed me off!

 

[mrjarrell]

A little more info, from the non-cop side has come out.

From a local paper:

The woman who was in the Rev. Jonathan Ayers' car moments before he was shot by undercover drug agents in Toccoa on Sept. 1 is refuting reports that Ayers was involved in illegal activities.
“I'm an addict,” 26-year-old Kayla Barrett admitted Tuesday, saying that Ayers was ministering to her on the day of his death.
“I've known him awhile - about six or seven years,” she said, calling him “a pastor and a friend.”
She said that, over time, Ayers had been lecturing her and trying to get her to straighten out her life and to get off drugs.
“I've been doing drugs for nine years,” Barrett said, noting that she is addicted to cocaine - “crack, basically.”
“He told me I was too young to be living like I was living,” she said. “He didn't want me to waste my life.”
Barrett said Ayers saw her walking from the Exxon station across from the Shell station (where he eventually was shot) back toward Relax Inn, where she and her fiancé were staying.
Since she had experienced a miscarriage 11 days prior and she visibly was having difficulty walking, Barrett said Ayers offered her a ride back to the motel.
“I was in his car for probably about five to seven minutes - and it was probably 20-30 minutes before he got shot,” Barrett said.
“When I got in the car, I was telling him about my recent miscarriage,” she said.
Barrett said she was paying $30 per day to stay at Relax Inn and, on Sept. 1, was three days behind. Her fiancé, who was staying there with her, had hurt his back and was unable to work, she said.
She said they had been doing “odd jobs” and “yard work” to make money.

More at the source.

Still nothing from the police side.

 

[Benny]

^^^Thanks for the update, but this is only going to make things worse...I don't see this thread surviving much longer.

 

[mrjarrell]

It's managed to do OK so far.