Kentucky dispatchers repeatedly told police officers the address of a house they were supposed to raid over an alleged stolen Weed Eater, only for the cops to raid the wrong home and kill the man inside.

But the man who police say admitted to stealing the Weed Eater from a home of a local judge had already been in custody prior to the deadly raid that took place minutes before midnight last month, according to WLEX. That man told police he had stored the stolen Weed Eater at a home at 489 Vanzant Road which is a rural area outside of London city limits.

  • Auli@lemmy.ca
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    57 minutes ago

    What the fuck does a stolen weed eater require a home raid? Like WTF.

    • kreskin@lemmy.world
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      45 minutes ago

      A weed eater stolen from a judges home. Judges and cops worship each other. To cops its like someone stole god’s weed eater.

    • kreskin@lemmy.world
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      33 minutes ago

      Cops like to charge others for extra crimes when they eff something up, so now they will charge the guy who stole the weed eater from the judge with murder. And Kentucky has capital punishment…

  • MiDaBa@lemmy.ml
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    2 hours ago

    This happened in a state where the majority of residents (especially in these rural areas) feel everyone should be armed for protection. They are also overwhelmingly in favor of aggressive police tactics so when I see a rural man defending himself and being shot for it by police I can’t help but sigh. I mean, anyone with half a brain could see these situations coming. Do we really need to use swat teams for non violent property crimes?

  • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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    18 hours ago

    “Oh don’t like the cops? I guess the next time you’re in trouble you’ll call a crackhead?”

    That does seem to have a better survival rate

    • kreskin@lemmy.world
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      44 minutes ago

      If given the option of where my tax money would go, I’d give crackheads a try at this point, yes.

    • BobGnarley@lemm.ee
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      2 hours ago

      I know 3 crackheads right now that would handle things with a much cooler head than the police here. And that is not an exaggeration.

    • PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world
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      18 hours ago

      Ah, but the weed eater belonged to a judge. It wasn’t because he stole something valuable; It was because he stole from someone important.

      • Auli@lemmy.ca
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        52 minutes ago

        He didn’t steal anything they had the thief. It was a recovery operation. You know it’s dangerous getting a weed eater from someone who doesn’t know they have it.

    • RagingRobot@lemmy.world
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      19 hours ago

      Why did they even do anything? Whenever something is stolen from I get told there is nothing they can do but take a report.

      • Snowclone@lemmy.world
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        3 hours ago

        Yeah, police are unwilling to do anything about vandalism in my neighborhood, smashed windows on homes and cars, 20+ smashed windows, everyone knows exactly who is doing it to the kid who goes around trying to jump kids in the area half their size and has been caught and witnesses red handed multiple times, ‘‘aww jeez guys, looks like… there’s nothing we can do…’’ useless.

      • Trigger2_2000
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        19 hours ago

        I’m sure “judges weed eater” had nothing to do with the enhanced police response. /s

  • TheObviousSolution@lemm.ee
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    18 hours ago

    This is a repeat post, so I’ll repeat one of my replies partially: I wouldn’t be surprised if a suddenly vacant lot wouldn’t suddenly be auctioned off to a cop’s relative in areas with a high predominance of this. Read up on civil asset forfeiture as well. In some places, cops are basically legalized mafias.

  • Dorkyd68@lemmy.world
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    23 hours ago

    There is more to this story that we will never know. You raid a home over a stolen fucking weed eater. Gross abuse of power by someone

    • Subverb@lemmy.world
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      23 hours ago

      No, it’s right there in the story. The weed eater belonged to a judge, so obviously someone’s gonna pay.

    • lightnsfw@reddthat.com
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      20 hours ago

      Even if it was the correct home. They killed the guy over a fucking weed eater. Even if he’d been violent back off and fucking let things cool down. Grab him when he goes for groceries or something. Fuck.

    • PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world
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      18 hours ago

      I mean, the article plainly says that the weed eater belonged to a local judge.

      This dude wasn’t executed because of what he was accused of stealing. He was executed because of who he was accused of stealing it from.

      I can almost guarantee that some police higher-up is getting a free/cheap piece of “forfeited” property in the coming weeks.

      • Auli@lemmy.ca
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        53 minutes ago

        The thief was in custody. They where just going to where the guy stashed it. Like why couldn’t they roll up in a patrol car and knock.

  • satans_methpipe@lemmy.world
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    19 hours ago

    It sounds like the judge and police were working together to execute someone. I really can’t tell incompetence from pure evil anymore.

  • i_dont_want_to@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    1 day ago

    They broke into his house, and he got a gun out. Which is one of the few times it is reasonable to brandish a weapon… And they use that as justification to kill him. Over a weed eater.

    The police don’t give a shit if someone steals your catalytic converter, your whole car, or all of your tools. But I guess if you’re a judge they will kill for your weed eater.

      • samus12345@lemm.ee
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        21 hours ago

        But they won’t. Qualified immunity, which means they can and will murder with impunity.

        • vaultdweller013
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          18 hours ago

          They sow death so they deserve to reap death. Legality is not a factor in my proposition.

    • Snowclone@lemmy.world
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      20 hours ago

      A lot of people have proven self defense against police breaking into their home and attacking him. Legally speaking.

  • dalekcaan@lemm.ee
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    1 day ago

    stealing the Weed Eater from a home of a local judge

    Aha, so that’s why they suddenly give a shit about property theft, because it was from a member of their little club.

  • ansiz@lemmy.world
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    20 hours ago

    Seems likely that the guy who actually stole the weed eater and was already in police custody will now get charged with murder in some kind of weird police logic.

  • mantra@lemmy.zip
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    1 day ago

    Why the fuck do they need to raid any house for a fucking weed eater!? That is serious small time shit.

    • jpreston2005@lemmy.world
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      1 hour ago

      fuckin’ misdemeanor shit, stealing something under $1000. This judge ordered his little goon squad to seek vengeance and retribution on anyone who would dare steal from someone of his stature. No warrant, doubt they even announced themselves as police. They killed a man over a fucking used weed whacker. Raided his home in the middle of the night and killed an innocent American citizen over fucking nothing.

      hey judge your cops just stole a mans life, you gonna go seek vengeance and retribution again?

    • Snowclone@lemmy.world
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      20 hours ago

      The whole raid and SWAT tactics are insanely ineffective and deadly. Before that detectives would just come by in the day time and knock and be like ‘we have a warrant’.

    • jaybone@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      And the thief was already in custody. He had “stored” the weed eater at the address they were supposed to be searching (er, raiding), meaning whoever would have been present there wasn’t even the thief.

  • fuzzyspudkiss@midwest.social
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    1 day ago

    So police get to kill anyone over anything with the word ‘weed’ now? I can’t think of any other reason to raid the home for a fucking $300 item.

    • MutilationWave@lemmy.world
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      22 hours ago

      It belonged to a judge so they sent a death squad after it, and cops are so fucking stupid they didn’t realize the thief was already in custody. It’s either that simple or they wanted this man dead for another reason.