Quote:
Originally posted by James
"They felt extraordinarily threatened and felt very afraid of being shot," Thomas said in exonerating the SWAT officers. Denver Mayor Wellington Webb insisted that the SWAT team acted properly, and commented that, "if Mena did not have a gun or point it at police officers, he'd be alive today." Nonetheless, Mayor Webb ordered a review of the process by which search warrants are granted. He requested that Police Chief Tom Sanchez and Denver DA Bill Ritter study the criteria for issuing search warrants, the process by which requests for no-knock warrants are reviewed, and the frequency and effectiveness of no-knock warrants. The report is due in two months.
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If the SWAT team felt threatened and afraid of being shot, imagine how terrified Mr. Mena felt to be awakened to find himself surrounded by men breaking down his door and pointing guns at him. I think that Mena reacted as anyone would in that situation. What a tragedy! I thought that officers were not supposed to react out of fear or they make terrible mistakes. I think that they are supposed to use their best judgment and assess the situation.
This whole situation is a mess. The officer lied so the wrong address was on the warrant. There was probably a language barrier. A man is dead and nothing can be done to change that unfortunately. They really need to reassess the whole process of getting these no-knock warrants and prevent these situations from happening.