Drug War Claims Life of 92-Year-Old Woman

Posted on Nov 22, 2006

Confused and panicked by plainclothes police officers attempting to serve a warrant, the elderly woman shot three police officers before being killed herself. A new Cato Institute report estimates that 40,000 such paramilitary-style raids take place each year—courtesy of America’s criminally wrongheaded approach to drug control.

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Tony Newman at the Huffington Post:

This summer the Cato Institute released a disturbing report entitled Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America. The report found that, “These increasingly frequent raids, 40,000 per year by one estimate, are needlessly subjecting nonviolent drug offenders, bystanders, and wrongfully targeted civilians to the terror of having their homes invaded while they’re sleeping, usually by teams of heavily armed paramilitary unites dressed not as police officers, but as solders. These raids bring unnecessary violence and provocation to nonviolent drug offenders, many of who were guilty of only misdemeanors. The raids terrorize innocents when police mistakenly target the wrong residence. And they have resulted in dozens of needless deaths and injuries, not only of drug offenders, but also of police officers, children, bystanders, and innocent suspects.”

When will law enforcement put an end to brutal police tactics that result in wrongful deaths and the perversion of justice? Join the Drug Policy Alliance and help us find an exit strategy for this violent and unwinnable war.

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