back in 2010 there was a botched raid in
Detroit or near Detroit which resulted
in a sleeping 7-year-old girl being shot
and killed by a police officer that
police officer is Joseph Weekley and it
was decided recently that he will not
face any charges for that botch raid or
the fact that he shot and killed a
sleeping seven-year-old now uh weekly
actually has gone through two previous
trials for the same situation and here's
how it all ended his first trial
actually happened in 2013 and it ended
in a mistrial in a second trial last
year Wayne County Circuit Court Judge
Cynthia gray Hathaway dismissed the
manslaughter charge after a motion by
the defense the jury again deadlocked
while deliberating whether to convict
weekly of the Lesser charge causing a
second mistrial now in this third case
uh the prosecutors just decided we're
just going to drop the case altogether
we're going to drop all charges and
we're not going to force him to resign
so he is able to continue being a police
officer even considering the fact that
he busted into someone's home uh just
after midnight and shot and killed a
seven-year-old who was doing absolutely
nothing wrong now he claimed that the
seven-year-old was asleep on the couch
with her grandmother and at that point
the grandmother approached him and tried
to slap the gun out of his hand I'm not
sure I believe that but this is why it's
really important for a trial to happen
this is why it's really important to
pursue a case like this and I guarantee
you that if any other random individual
walked into a home and did anything even
remotely close to this a prosecutor
would not be in favor of just dropping
the case now okay two things about it
first of all they they did go through
several trials so there's a better case
in that sense than uh things like
Ferguson where they go through a fake
grand jury process where the prosecutor
acts as defense so we're not in one of
those situations uh they tried uh for a
while before they dropped it and and
they they had difficulty uh getting
getting their conviction here right now
on the other hand this is again we go to
the larger issue of the police state
right oh well a grandmother knocked at
my gun yeah well I mean I used to live
in a country where if a grandmother
nudged your gun you didn't kill her or
her seven-year-old grandchild why is
that first of all why was your finger on
the trigger to begin with right like
ready to shoot I mean I guess that's
just what happens in raids you go in
there ready to kill people but also do
you really buy that do you believe that
a grandmother approach like in the
middle of the night there asleep on the
couch think about you as a human being
how you would react to someone bursting
through your door just past midnight
you're asleep on the couch is your first
reaction to walk up to that person
holding a gun and slap the gun out of
their hand hell no not buying it for a
freaking second there's no way I I I
would be surprised if that's how it went
out right but even if you grant that
let's say that she woke up and she's
startled she goes what happened and she
accidentally knocks the the gun into the
gun a little bit you still don't shoot
the grandmother or her grandchild now
what they're going to say is it's dark
and we already threw a concussion
grenade in there and it was Smoky well
then maybe you shouldn't have thrown a
concussion grenade in there and maybe
you should have figured out who was in
there before you started shooting right
yes and so to my main point here isn't
even to blame that one particular cop
although there's plenty of blame there
right it's the training man the training
is always go in guns with literally
finger on the trigger right and if
there's any kind of threat at all you
can't see that's good enough threat
right someone a grandmother nudges your
gun good enough threat and I swear to
you there'll be a a ton of people not
just cops but a lot of supporters who
say well no no no you can't be touching
a guns uh a cops weapon in any way so we
understand why he shot at them yeah
right they will there's no question
there'll be a lot of people who say that
no but I used to live in a country where
cops didn't say like oh a grandmother
touched my gun so of course I got to
kill her seven-year-old grandchild I I
mean I don't know am I wrong and maybe
it depends maybe it depends on what part
of the country you live right again I
mean I said this in a previous story but
cops are supposed to deescalate but they
are running a campaign of escalation and
in this case it escalated to the point
where an innocent seven-year-old girl
was shot and killed now I my bigger
issue with this story isn't even the
specific action of the cop it's the way
that we do things in this country when
we have homicide suspects or drug
trafficking Suspects in this case they
were looking for a homicide suspect
right I understand that's a that's a
very important thing to investigate it's
very important to find that person
arrest them and convict them but you
don't I just don't understand why you
have to do it in this fashion it why do
you have to do a no knock raid where you
know there are innocent individuals in
that home there might be children in
that home and you might kill innocent
people in your quest to find that
homicide suspect there has to be another
way get the SWAT team surround the home
make sure that that person person is
actually in the home how many times have
we done stories about raids where they
go to the wrong home and kill innocent
people raids are not necessarily the
right way to get the person you're
looking for and so the proper training
in my opinion is of course be careful of
course nobody's telling you to oh I
don't know knock and see how it's going
could walk in like this try to get a
homicide suspect but we're what we are
saying is you know that a certain
percentage of time you're going to have
the wrong house so don't have your
finger on the trigger right yeah and and
and you know that there could be
innocent grandkids grandmothers Etc in
that house so what we're trying to say
is please don't have the attitude of
immediately shoot first at the sign of
any trouble and then ask questions later
I again we used to live in a country I
know because I used to watch some TV
shows where the cops would say freeze
you're under arrest all that is gone
look at the irony of we no longer often
times Chase cars down the highways
anymore I mean there'll be the slow
speed chases Etc but if they go on the
wrong side of the street they're doing
all these crazy things the cops are not
supposed to chase them right why because
it might endanger other civilians but
really it might endanger them of course
so we so we won't pursue fast cars but
we will pursue guys into their house
right and have our finger on the trigger
they there's a break in logic there but
the the way that you you actually make
sense of it all is the answer isn't
whether you're going to apprehend the
person not apprehend the person whether
you're going to put civilians in danger
or not the question is how much danger
are the cops willing to go through and
the answer is almost none so they're not
going to do a highp speeed Chase because
it might endanger them they're not going
to say freeze and they're not going to
ask questions inside that house they're
going to shoot first and if they
accidentally kill you they hey at least
they're safe yeah seven-year-old girl