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Title: SWAT Team Raids Home, Kills Man Over $2 Worth of Pot – Informant Exposes Police Cover-Up
Source:
Free Thought Project
URL Source: http://thefreethoughtproject.com/sw ... -case-exposes-police-cover-up/
Published: Aug 29, 2015
Author: Jay Syrmopoulos
Post Date: 2015-08-29 17:04:11 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 1155
Comments: 19
Tampa Bay, FL – A Florida family seeks justice after their son Jason Westcott, was killed by members of a SWAT team, during a “drug raid” on his house which yielded only $2.00 worth of marijuana. An ‘internal investigation’ absolved officers of any wrongdoing though police only found .02 grams of marijuana in Westcott’s home. “They have IA, they have internal investigations but when you police yourself, you have that veil of concern by the outsider,” said attorney T.J. Grimaldi. On Tuesday, attorney T.J. Grimaldi, representing the family of Westcott, informed the city that family would be filing a lawsuit, after finding numerous “glaring inconsistencies” in police statements in the aftermath of the killing. “We have developed and seen what we view to be significant inconsistencies with the way that the police department portrayed this case from the get-go all the way to its conclusion,” he said. “We have put the city and the police department on notice that we are going to be filing a lawsuit,” Grimaldi said. Westcott became the target of an intense drug trafficking investigation after a confidential informant led investigators to believe that Westcott was a dealer, as opposed to the casual cannabis smoker he was in reality. The informant has since gone public and admitted that he was lying to police in the case. According to the Tampa Bay Times report: A 50-year-old felon and drug addict, Ronnie “Bodie” Coogle, was the principal Tampa Police Department informer against at least five suspects this year. He conducted nine undercover operations. In their probable-cause affidavits, his handlers called him reliable. Even Tampa’s police chief praised his “track record.” Coogle said they were all wrong. He said he repeatedly lied about suspects, stole drugs he bought on the public’s dime and conspired to falsify drug deals. “He wasn’t a drug dealer. He sold a few grams of pot to smoke pot and stay high,” Coogle said of Westcott. “If you could even label Jason a drug dealer, he was the lowest level drug dealer.” Peter Zwolinski, Westcott’s landlord, told the Times that when a Tampa police officer told him on the night of the raid that Westcott and Reyes were drug dealers, he “basically laughed in his face.” “A drug dealer is paying his rent on time, and he doesn’t have me bothering him for money every week,” Zwolinski said. “You ever see a drug dealer whose phone was disconnected for a week at least every other month? I don’t.” After seeing a news report about Westcott’s death, Coogle decided to come clean about his complicity in the situation and expose the lies that the police were attempting to forward in the case. “They’re making statements that are lies, that are absolute untruths, that are based on shady facts,” Coogle said of Tampa police. “Everything they’re saying is based on the informant. And I was the informant.” Coogle said he decided to step forward and reveal his identity, risking retribution from drug dealers, because of his remorse over Westcott’s death. “I’ve got morals, and I feel compassion for this guy’s family and for his boyfriend,” he said. “It didn’t have to happen this way.” Westcott’s live-in boyfriend, Israel Reyes, 22, elaborated telling the Tampa Bay Times that he and Westcott were marijuana smokers, who sometimes sold to acquaintances, not drug dealers. He said they never kept more than 12 grams — a misdemeanor possession amount — in the house. “We would just sell a blunt here and there to our friends or whatever. It was no crazy thing. There weren’t people coming in and out of our house every day,” Reyes said. “It wasn’t paying any bills. We were still broke . . . going to work every day.” Nonetheless, on May 27, 2014, a Tampa Police SWAT team raided Westcott and Reyes’s home, killing Jason Westcott. Officers claim they announced the warrant and proceeded to clear the house, when they encountered an armed Westcott pointing his gun at police. Officers proceeded to fatally shoot him. “I knew what they were saying from the moment it happened was a lie,” explained Patti Silliman, Westcott’s mother. The stench of a police cover-up is strong in this case. Initially, police claimed that a neighbor’s complaints led to the raid. After further investigation revealed that information to be false, police then attempted to say that the information was from an undercover officer. Finally after being pressed by a relentless investigation into the facts, police revealed they used a confidential informant. The fact that a young man with his whole life to live was killed by police, over a $2 dollars worth of a plant, is a direct statement on the absurdity of the “War on Drugs.” The practice of trusting the word of individuals who have a vested interest in alleviating their own criminal charges is a practice that is contrary to the highest ideals of justice.
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#1. To: Deckard (#0)
Better a quick death than a slow one by AIDS.
when they encountered an armed Westcott pointing his gun at police. Officers proceeded to fatally shoot him. Looks like the faggot won't ever point a weapon at the police any more. One less anarchist queer. I'm the infidel... Allah warned you about. كافر المسلح
What case isn't filled with nauseous odor from street cops or government bureacracy?
Maybe you can start a revolution called... Faggot lives matter. lol I'm the infidel... Allah warned you about. كافر المسلح
Yeah I figured it wouldn't take long for the police worshipers here to say the guy deserved it because he was gay. Let's recap - the informant lied, he admitted to lying. The cops killed a guy over a measly 2 dollars worth of pot based on information from the lying informant, and you two assholes cheer. In a Cop Culture, the Bill of Rights Doesn’t Amount to Much Maybe you and Pete can start a revolution. Do you have a few queers in your wood pile, too? I'm the infidel... Allah warned you about. كافر المسلح
Of course the fact that this was a gay man is not the issue here. BTW - since you appear to be so fascinated by the topic of queers, can we assume that you will come out of the closet anytime soon? In a Cop Culture, the Bill of Rights Doesn’t Amount to Much should I assume since you talk about cops so much you want to be one? Your logic as as fucked up as your followers. lol I'm the infidel... Allah warned you about. كافر المسلح
The four things I loath on planet earth the most are criminals, faggots, welfare sheep and libtards. This resistor was at least two of the four... and probably four out of four. Don't expect me to feel too bad. I will state, more force than needed to get this shitbag cuffed, is not condoned by me. So if the officer used more force than needed, he needs to be retrained or fired... or even charged, even if the subject was a criminal, anarchist faggot resisting asshole. I'm the infidel... Allah warned you about. كافر المسلح
You act like a lunatic, pretending to know anything outside this planet's ecosphere. Do you also walk on the moon?
Lay off the glass pipe, Kookifornian. You are barely coherent
I'm the infidel... Allah warned you about. كافر المسلح
You are the poster making claim about being all over the Universe.... "on planet earth" as though you have access to any other place outside this place. Get a clue and retrain yourself on your own allusions; you are pathetic.
That's the best retort you can muster, junior? lol I'm the infidel... Allah warned you about. كافر المسلح
You are pretty high, right now? Circling the planet Mars, 'eh?
Your worldview would be more welcome in some third-world totalitarian arab country than in a "free" country like this one. Maybe you should consider joining ISIS so you can kill all the faggots you like. Oh, BTW shit for brains, the guy was clearly defending his home from an onslaught of cops who were illegally raiding his house based on the word of a self-admitted lying informant. You are too stupid to realize this but actions taken like this by criminal cops will only have more dire repercussions down the road. In a Cop Culture, the Bill of Rights Doesn’t Amount to Much They can kill all they like as long as they don't do that on our soil... we have laws against such activity. Remember, I hate a criminal behavior. Can you develop one single assumption of another that even has a hint of logic? lol I'm the infidel... Allah warned you about. كافر المسلح
Very revealing. So you do not kill homosexuals, Jews, mentally sick because it is illegal. But if it were crime to rescue and hide such people you would be first to punish "criminals". Because you "hate a criminal behavior". Smart attitude, always to be on the side of power and law.
Another smart attitude is "Obey the law".
Only if you are a serf. Cops on the other hand get a free pass, like in this particular case. In a Cop Culture, the Bill of Rights Doesn’t Amount to Much"The fact that a young man with his whole life to live was killed by police"
#2. To: Deckard (#0)
Westcott’s live-in boyfriend, Israel Reyes, 22,
#3. To: Deckard (#0)
The stench of a police cover-up is strong in this case.
#4. To: buckeroo (#3)
#5. To: misterwhite, GrandIsland, drug warrior scum, Gatlin (#1)
Better a quick death than a slow one by AIDS.
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Americans who have no experience with, or knowledge of, tyranny believe that only terrorists will experience the unchecked power of the state. They will believe this until it happens to them, or their children, or their friends.
Paul Craig Roberts
#6. To: Deckard (#5)
Yeah I figured it wouldn't take long for the police worshipers here to say the guy deserved it because he was gay.
#7. To: GrandIsland (#6)
Do you have a few queers in your wood pile, too?
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Americans who have no experience with, or knowledge of, tyranny believe that only terrorists will experience the unchecked power of the state. They will believe this until it happens to them, or their children, or their friends.
Paul Craig Roberts
#8. To: Deckard (#7)
BTW - since you appear to be so fascinated by the topic of queers, can we assume that you will come out of the closet anytime soon?
#9. To: Deckard (#7)
(Edited)
#10. To: GrandIsland (#9)
The four things I loath on planet earth the most are criminals, faggots, welfare sheep and libtards.
#11. To: buckeroo (#10)
#12. To: GrandIsland (#11)
#13. To: buckeroo (#12)
You are the poster making claim about being all over the Universe.... "on planet earth" as though you have access to any other place outside this place.
#14. To: GrandIsland (#13)
#15. To: GrandIsland (#9)
The four things I loath on planet earth the most are criminals, faggots, welfare sheep and libtards. This resistor was at least two of the four... and probably four out of four.
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Americans who have no experience with, or knowledge of, tyranny believe that only terrorists will experience the unchecked power of the state. They will believe this until it happens to them, or their children, or their friends.
Paul Craig Roberts
#16. To: Deckard (#15)
Maybe you should consider joining ISIS so you can kill all the faggots you like.
#17. To: GrandIsland, misterwhite, Deckard (#16)
They can kill all they like as long as they don't do that on our soil... we have laws against such activity. Remember, I hate a criminal behavior.
#18. To: A Pole (#17)
"Smart attitude, always to be on the side of power and law."
#19. To: misterwhite, A Pole (#18)
Another smart attitude is "Obey the law".
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Americans who have no experience with, or knowledge of, tyranny believe that only terrorists will experience the unchecked power of the state. They will believe this until it happens to them, or their children, or their friends.
Paul Craig Roberts
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