Georgia SWAT Kills Grandfather in No-Knock Drug Raid that Finds No Drugs

Washington Post

A Georgia SWAT team shot and killed an armed homeowner during a September 24 drug raid sparked by the word of a self-confessed meth addict and burglar who had robbed the property the previous day. No drugs were found. David Hooks, 59, becomes the 34th person to die in US domestic drug law enforcement operations so far this year.

According to WMAZ TV 13, Laurens County sheriff’s deputies with the drug task force and special response team (SWAT team) conducted a no-knock search on Hooks’ home in East Dublin on the evening of the 24th. When the raiders burst through the back door of the residence, they encountered Hooks’ carrying a shotgun. Multiple deputies opened fire, shooting [and] killing Hooks.

I just don't get it. What do these idiots expect to happen? When someone breaks down my door, I'm going for my gun. Anyway, it's all been said before. Just another notch on some sociopath's pistol. Community won't do anything about it. The usual. Hadn't seen it posted yet...

The search warrant to raid Hooks’ home came about after a local meth addict named Rodney Garrett came onto the property two nights earlier and stole one of Hooks’ vehicles. Garrett claimed that before he stole the vehicle, he broke into another vehicle on the property and stole a plastic bag. Garrett claimed he thought the bag contained money, but when he later examined it and discovered it contained 20 grams of meth and a digital scale, he “became scared for his safety” and turned himself in to the sheriff’s office.

Meth addicts who steal cars to support their habit don't turn themselves in to the police for anything. We're not retarded. This whole story reeks of lies and corruption. Again, the usual.

Garrett’s claims were the primary basis for the search warrant. But investigators also claimed they were familiar with the address from a 2009 investigation in which a suspect claimed he had supplied ounces of meth to Hooks, who resold it. Nothing apparently ever came of that investigation, but the five-year-old uncorroborated tip made it into the search warrant application.

And it was enough to get a search warrant from a compliant magistrate. Hooks family attorney Mitchell Shook said that even though the warrant was not a no-knock warrant, the Laurens County SWAT team did not announce its presence, but just broke down the back door of the residence.

So apparently, in Georgia, you can have a SWAT team sent to someone's house for a no-knock raid, provided that person was associated with any drug-related investigation in the past.

Wonderful. What a joke it's all become. On us.



Almost forgot: no drugs

Mitchell Shook, an attorney for Hooks’s family, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that deputies spent 44 hours searching Hooks’s home for drugs — yet they found nothing.

44 hours. They gave that place a contractor's version of a body cavity search and still didn't find anything. Makes you wonder why they didn't just plant something and sprinkle some meth on the victim.

a reply to: NthOther

Honest law abiding citizens need to spend more time on the gun ranges to improve their shooting and self defense skills. It's the only way we'll ever be safe from these militarized thugs.

How lovely, another family destroyed by the drug war. Worst thing is these officers will go home and sleep in their beds, proud of their "duty".

These cowards are probably chuckling over the old guy's face when he died, a lot of them are sick like that. S + F.

a reply to: NthOther

20 grams and was scared for his life??
Maybe 20 pounds and this story might sound legit.
But ya no way meth addicted car their turns him self in like that, some NLBS there.
I don't get how these no knock warrants are still happening, all they do is get people killed

Drug laws need to change..fast, not much more to say that hasn't been said a thousandfold here. Im not sure about the warrant? it was not a "no knock" but they never bothered knocking anyway?, this kind of stupidity gets people on both sides killed.

originally posted by: Sremmos80
a reply to: NthOther



20 grams and was scared for his life??

Maybe 20 pounds and this story might sound legit.

But ya no way meth addicted car their turns him self in like that, some NLBS there.

I don't get how these no knock warrants are still happening, all they do is get people killed

Ya give me a break..if a meth addict finds 20gr you can bet he will be high till he runs out.

Holy hailing rainbows! My blood pressure had just come down to normal after watching the cops breaking a window and tazing a guy....on another thread....and now this.
I'm just thanking my Creator that these sorts of "rules" weren't in vogue when we lived in off-campus "student housing", aka Grad Slums. It was cheap and close to campus and had a quite a few residents putting themselves through school selling weed and alcohol. Strangely enough, it was always the alcohol that caused the law to be called.

I doubt one person in a home will ever out gun a swat team. From what has happened in these raids it looks like a person's survival is based on luck and the whim of the entry team.

originally posted by: Bassago
a reply to: NthOther

Honest law abiding citizens need to spend more time on the gun ranges to improve their shooting and self defense skills. It's the only way we'll ever be safe from these militarized thugs.

How would getting yourself shot by the rest of the swat teams for legitimately shooing a cop qwerty have made this ant better?

Also recently, wasn't it Georgia that the cops raiding a guys okra plants and a SWAT team threw that grenade into a crib with a baby in it? Glad I don't live in GA... Things are getting out of hand all over though, so not exactly sure where I would be glad to live.


a reply to: NthOther

originally posted by: Sremmos80

But ya no way meth addicted car their turns him self in like that, some NLBS there.

The "official" sequence of events is simply not believable. Even the most strung-out meth head would simply ditch the vehicle and move on, not turn himself in with a stolen car and a bag of meth.

What utter nonsense is this? NLBS indeed.

Absolutely ridiculous.

These cops are out of control! They break into a man's home after he has already been robbed by meth heads and then shoot him when he's trying to protect himself against people who kicked in his door in the middle of the night unannounced.

ALL of the cops involved and the judge who signed the warrant deserve to be thrown in a mass grave and covered in BS.

This crap has gone to far and I'm sick of hearing about it.

If you kick in someone's door in the middle of the night unannounced then you deserve death. I don't care if you have a shiny badge or not. You are not a hero, you are a loser. Everyone involved in this needs to be stripped of their citizenship and executed.

a reply to: NthOther

As if the police will protect him from the meth guy should that guy find out he is the one that stole it. Everyone know now though.

a reply to: Catharsis6767
There was a thread not more than a month ago, the homeowner a Texas man(I believe) killed a LEO during a "no knock" amazingly he was not killed but is being charged with murder, I believe nothing was found there either.

a reply to: XTexan

You know I understand no knock.... I get that people flush stuff and it defeats the purpose.

I get it...


But why in the frick not wait till the people of the household leave to do your thing?


I just don't get it. This is an example that sets everyone up involved to fail....


To those thinking that swat members are at home sleeping fine. Well you are wrong. Unfortunately they too are likely in debt and making ends meet for their families like most of america. These guys are just trying to make a living and are doing as they are told?

Does that make anything ok? Hell no.. of course not.


cheers

a reply to: Catharsis6767

How would getting yourself shot by the rest of the swat teams for legitimately shooing a cop qwerty have made this ant better?

Maybe next time they'd think twice about murdering innocent people in their homes. As far as I'm concerned SWAT in this case is all murderer's and accomplice's. People do have a right to defend themselves against thugs and murderer's.

a reply to: ArmyOfNobunaga

Exactly, how is kicking in a door at 3am "safer" than apprehending the guy while he is out driving or mowing his lawn or countless other scenarios that make FAR more sense.

My opinions may sound harsh, and ya some of these guys are just doing what they were told(NAZIS). But that means nothing in the grand scheme. These no knock raids need to be banned. If you kick in a door and invade someone's house without announcing that, then you are a criminal and deserve to be put down.

I would say that good cops could lose their lives over this. But that would not be correct.

If you are a cop and you participate in one of these no knock raids and you die then guess what, you deserve it.
If you are a cop and you participate in one of these no knock raids and you die I will laugh.
If you are a cop and you participate in one of these no knock raids and you die your family is better off without you.
If you are a cop and you participate in one of these no knock raids and you die you are a sack of manure.

If you are a cop and you participate in one of these no knock raids and you die then your tombstone should not have your name, or date of birth, or next of kin, or anything. It should simply say "Here lies a coward who died violating the constitution."

a reply to: XTexan

Logic like using a different time is one of the few things in short supply at the police department. But that would mean they don't get to do raids with high end guns and gear.

originally posted by: XTexan
a reply to: ArmyOfNobunaga

Exactly, how is kicking in a door at 3am "safer" than apprehending the guy while he is out driving or mowing his lawn or countless other scenarios that make FAR more sense.

My opinions may sound harsh, and ya some of these guys are just doing what they were told(NAZIS). But that means nothing in the grand scheme. These no knock raids need to be banned. If you kick in a door and invade someone's house without announcing that, then you are a criminal and deserve to be put down.

I would say that good cops could lose their lives over this. But that would not be correct.

If you are a cop and you participate in one of these no knock raids and you die then guess what, you deserve it.
If you are a cop and you participate in one of these no knock raids and you die I will laugh.
If you are a cop and you participate in one of these no knock raids and you die your family is better off without you.
If you are a cop and you participate in one of these no knock raids and you die you are a sack of manure.

If you are a cop and you participate in one of these no knock raids and you die then your tombstone should not have your name, or date of birth, or next of kin, or anything. It should simply say "Here lies a coward who died violating the constitution."

Yep but in the last 30 years we prosecute the top nazis.

We don't do after the ground soldier.

Its all despicable man. IT is. But I refuse to blame the grunt doing his job. In the brief he doesn't have the ability to raise his hand and say "Hey, maybe this is a bad idea and a violation of rights... and potentially endangering civilians and us"... It don't work that way.


We agree on a lot but the culpability of a guy doing his job at the ground level when society accepts this.. we do not agree.

a reply to: ArmyOfNobunaga

Its all despicable man. IT is. But I refuse to blame the grunt doing his job. In the brief he doesn't have the ability to raise his hand and say "Hey, maybe this is a bad idea and a violation of rights... and potentially endangering civilians and us"... It don't work that way.

Of course it does, all the grunt has to do is stand up say exactly what you said walk out get in his car and go find a job where he doesn't violate rights, or endanger civilians and himself. I know its easier said than done, it takes courage. Thats why I call them cowards.

Had these police officers done that, and stood up for OUR rights then an innocent man would still be alive. Instead they chose the cowards path and an innocent man is dead. They get no honour and no respect from me.