Clayton Helriggle - it IS murder

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To Clayton's family and friends we offer our heartfelt condolensces.

This case is another powerful testimony to the state of affairs in the Preble County judicial system.

An outside investigation was conducted, the conclusion was of course ridiculous.

R.I.P., Clayton

Clayton Helriggle memorial page...
clayton-helriggle.memory-of.com/About.aspx

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www.drugsense.org/dsw/2003/ds03.n324.html

Sharon Helriggle will never stop asking herself, "What
if?"


That's true of any parent who loses a child to violence. But for Helriggle and her husband, Mike, the litany of "What ifs" only grows longer with time.


It grew longer still with the recent release of a Montgomery County Sheriff's Office investigation into the shooting death of her 23-year-old son, Clayton Helriggle, in a 2002 raid on a Preble County farmhouse.


The report is an administrative review of the practices and training of the Preble County sheriff's now-disbanded regional SWAT team. There it is, in black and white, on page 21 of the 31-page report:

Kevin Leitch - convicted felon, burglar and a key witness in the case - told investigators he mistakenly told a Greene County grand jury that Clayton Helriggle was the one selling drugs from the house. The grand jury did not issue any indictments against the officers or the farmhouse residents.


"That part of the report upset us greatly," Mrs. Helriggle said. "I don't know if it would have changed the outcome of the grand jury, and we'll probably never know."


[snip]


Pubdate: Mon, 27 Oct 2003
Source: Dayton Daily News (OH)
Copyright: 2003 Dayton Daily News
Details: www.mapinc.org/media/120
Author: Mary McCarty
Bookmark: www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids)
Bookmark: www.mapinc.org/topics/drug+raid+death
Continues: www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1677/a03.html

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www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=39486


When the sheriff's office of Preble County, Ohio, got word from an informant that residents of a rural farmhouse were peddling pot, it conducted a quick investigation and then sent its ESU team on a late-evening, no-knock raid. Because police thought there might be more than a dozen men at the farmhouse, they deployed a heavily armed team of 15. The result, besides what the Dayton Daily News referred to as "a small amount of marijuana, pipes and a bong, papers used in rolling the drug, and weapons," was a dead suspect, Clayton J. Helriggle, who police shot as he came down the stairs with a 9mm handgun.

Helriggle's mother admits it was regular practice for her son and the men at the house to smoke pot in the evening after work. But such a raid was hardly necessary. No evidence indicated a major commercial operation. Only a minute amount of marijuana was found, and in Ohio possessing less than 3.5 ounces is only an infraction – worth a $100 fine, not a lead deposit.

As for possession of weapons, it was a farmhouse. What farmhouse doesn't have a few rifles and other firearms? Given that fact alone, Helriggle's death is likely the police's fault more than anything. When the police raid a house at twilight, it's perfectly predictable that a suspect would pick up a gun and come down the stairs to face the intruders. Responsible homeowners and renters should be expected to defend their families and homes from invaders.

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www.budlife420.com/pg4/v2e8index.html

Inexperienced officers conducted drug raid.

Police officers who carried out a drug raid that left one dead and turned up only a small amount of marijuana were ill prepared and lacked experience in dangerous searches, a law enforcement report shows. Though a Preble County grand jury found no criminal wrongdoing in the West Alexandria raid, the 800-page report by the Montgomery County sheriff's office showed the raid was based on weak intelligence and unnecessarily risked lives. The raid "certainly fits the dangers of jumping into something like this with no real training," Peter B. Kraska, a criminal justice professor at Eastern Kentucky University, told the Dayton Daily News in a recently published story.

Police in areas like West Alexandria, about 20 miles west of Dayton, are practicing a dangerous game, Kraska said, calling it the "militarizing of Mayberry." Officers from the small towns of Eaton and Lewisburg participated in the Sept. 27 raid, according to Sgt. Ed Copher with the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department. Clayton Helriggle, 23, who police suspected was using the house for trafficking marijuana, was killed. The officers who stormed the house had just four hours of tactical training in the nine months leading up to the raid, the report showed.

Dayton Police Lt. Robert Chabali, Midwest director of the National Tactical Officers Association, said SWAT team members need to practice together extensively before a raid. "Even when you go in with the proper training, there's a calculated risk," Chabali said. The NTOA recommends 16 hours of training per month for part-time units and 40 hours for full-time units. The Ohio attorney general's office does not mandate a specific number of hours for the state's SWAT units. A message seeking comment on the report was left Monday at the Lewisburg police department. The Eaton police department referred calls to the Preble County sheriff's department. Preble County Sheriff Tom Hayes declined comment.

Officers struggled during the West Alexandria raid from the start. Two officers performing surveillance on the house thought they were spotted before the raid began and another failed to ram the front door open, the report said. When they got in, police threw a flash-bang grenade and filled the house with smoke. Helriggle woke up and ran down the back stairs with a handgun, the report said. Lewisburg Sgt. Kent Moore saw the gun and fired his shotgun into Helriggle's chest, killing him, according to the report. The Montgomery County sheriff's investigation said that stronger intelligence gathering may have prevented the raid. Detective George Petitt Jr., 54, then commander of the Preble County Emergency Services Unit, planned the raid, but told investigators he had no firsthand knowledge of anyone selling marijuana from the house. Police found less than an ounce of marijuana but confiscated pills, pipes and rolling papers, according to the initial sheriff's report. They also seized a shotgun, a BB gun, a sword, knives and a grenade.

Petitt could not be reached to comment. He no longer works for the sheriff's department, and his home phone number is unlisted. Much of the intelligence obtained by police was based on a few hours of surveillance and information from a convicted felon who was suspected of lying on previous occasions, the report said. Raids on private residences "should occur only when you have overwhelming evidence that this is a large drug operation and the people inside are known to be armed and dangerous," Kraska said. Helriggle had been arrested but not convicted of charges involving marijuana and driving under the influence, according to police records.

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Dayton Daily News
10/01/02
Cathy Mong

Dozens protest Preble County police shooting

Slain man’s roommates say he was unarmed

EATON - Preble County law-enforcement officials declined to talk publicly Monday as they turned information about Friday's fatal shooting by a police officer of a 23-year-old man over to detectives from the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office.


Montgomery County investigators, called in by Preble County Sheriff Tom Hayes, also said they would not talk about their review of the shooting by a member of a Preble County's emergency services group — officers from a number of police departments who are trained to handle drownings and hostage and other situations.

However, it was anything but quiet outside the Preble County Courthouse, where dozens of friends and relatives picketed and said that police were covering up what happened to Clayton Jacob Helriggle, 23, of 1282 Ohio 503 South.

The protesters disputed police claims that Helriggle had a gun when he descended a stairwell and was shot by a Lewisburg police officer, whose identity has not been released. Friends and relatives on Monday carried blue plastic cups similar to the one they said Helriggle had in his hand Friday night.

Among the protesters were four of Helriggle's roommates, three of whom said they were inside the brick farmhouse when police stormed the house to serve a warrant to search for narcotics.

Maj. Wayne Simpson of the Preble County Sheriff's Office declined to discuss information about what happened Friday night and said a report on the shooting of the Preble County man had not been completed. Preble County Prosecutor Rebecca Ferguson said she sealed the search warrant after the shooting, and had no comment regarding the investigation.

"They're a professional group of officers, that's what their job is, and I'm not going to second-guess them. Whatever (Montgomery County officials) come up with, they come up with," Ferguson said.

Friends called Helriggle "peaceful and nonviolent," but police said the 1997 Twin Valley South High School graduate held a 9 mm handgun, not a blue cup, in his right hand when he descended the dimly lighted stairs. Roommates said Helriggle owned a 9 mm gun, but that it was upstairs when police entered their house.

"It's like we were armed, hardened criminals waiting inside to take them on," said Wes Bradley, 26, who lived in the bottom of the six-bedroom farmhouse with his girlfriend, 22-year-old Tasha Webster.

Bradley said he and Webster were near the kitchen next to the stairs, when officers "broke through the back door with battering rams and started throwing in flash grenades three at a time, to blind us."

The officers wore full body armor and carried shields, he said.

Another roommate, Ian Albert, said he had returned home from the grocery store with Chris Elmore, 24, who remained outside while Albert ran into the house.

"We saw at least two paddy wagon-type vehicles, like a SWAT bus," Elmore said. "About 30 officers stormed out of the woods" surrounding the farmhouse. "They'd cut the barbed wire, and you could see a staging area, like where 25 to 30 uniformed cops had been lying down and slithered along the grass."

Officers ordered Elmore to get on the ground, and he said he heard three pops, which he said could have been the flash grenades and gunshot.

"I yelled 'Nobody's armed,' and they told me, 'Shut up, shut up.' ”

Elmore described the action "like a movie, in slow motion."

Inside, Albert said, the police threw him against the staircase, "with my head on the second step up. I wanted to yell at Clay, but I looked up and saw him, rounding the stairway, and he had this look on his face, like, 'What's going on?' and the cops yelled, 'Get down' and then 'boom.' ”

Albert, who completed four months of Navy Seal training, said he reached up for Helriggle, "and I tried to apply pressure," he said, placing his left palm on his right chest, where Helriggle was struck by the gunshot.

"He died in my arms," he said. "It took about two minutes."

Albert said he was placed in a sheriff's car, and Helriggle's parents arrived.

"They saw me, drenched in Clay's blood, and they ask me, 'Is he all right?' and I just shook my head. The cops are smoking and joking, high-fiving each other. Wow, I think, they took down a farm of unarmed hippies.

"If they would have come to the door and said, 'Give us your dope, hippies,' we'd have gotten about a $100 ticket."

Police said they confiscated a small amount of marijuana, pills, drug paraphernalia and quantities of packaging items used in the distribution of marijuana.

The four roommates said they smoke marijuana from time to time and that they had marijuana pipes in the house. Bradley said he had a prescription for Fiorocet, a codeinelike painkiller, for a bad knee. They said the packaging police referred to was a box of plastic sandwich bags.

Webster said there was nothing in the house "that a good divorce lawyer couldn't have gotten us out on a misdemeanor," and said an old shotgun and a .22-caliber rifle found there were used for hunting.

"We target-practiced outside all the time, shot at bales of hay, jugs, that sort of thing," Webster said.

Bradley and Webster said Helriggle took a nap around 5 p.m. and had made plans to meet his girlfriend later.

"I'm not sure if he woke up from the bashing on the door or what," Bradley said.

All four said they were not read their rights or told what charges were filed against them. They were released from the Preble County Jail around 1:30 a.m. Saturday. No criminal charges have been filed.

Nancy Fahrenholz, the daughter of Everett "Bill" Fahrenholz, an attorney and former country prosecutor, hugged Bradley on Monday at the courthouse. Helriggle and five roommates rented the house from the Fahrenholzes.

"I'm so sorry," said Fahrenholz, a Rhode Island resident in the area to finish up the estate of her father, Bill Fahrenholz, who died a month ago.

"(Dad) would have been furious at this," she said. "We're all very distressed."

She said Helriggle "was a really nice guy," and that her family was pleased with the five young people's work on rehabilitating the farmhouse.

Helriggle's 77-year-old grandfather, Donald, a Miamisburg resident and Ohio Bell retiree, said his grandson rented the farmhouse "so they could play their instruments, listen to their music and drink a little beer. . . . They just wanted to be doing what 23-year-olds do."

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www.csdp.org/news/news/justcriminal.htm

Ohio Man's Death In Police Raid Sparks Protest; Outside Prosecutors Appointed To Investigate Case
Clayton Helriggle, 23, was shot to death by a police SWAT team during a raid on his Lanier Township, Ohio home on Sept. 27, 2002. According to the Dayton Daily News on Oct. 5, 2002 ( "Tip Led To Deadly Raid In Preble"), "A tip from an informant about marijuana trafficking led Preble County authorities to send the sheriff's emergency services unit on a surprise drug raid to a rural farmhouse on Sept. 27, Sheriff Tom Hayes said Friday. The specially trained police squad rarely is assigned to serve a search warrant, Hayes said."

As the Daily News reported, "Minutes after the officers forced their way into Clayton J. Helriggle's rented farmhouse at 1282 Ohio 503 outside West Alexandria, a Lewisburg police sergeant assigned to the group shot and killed the 23-year-old man. The officer, 41-year-old Sgt. Kent Moore, has been placed on administrative leave while Montgomery County sheriff's officers investigate Helriggle's death, Lewisburg Police Chief John Wright said. 'He is in seclusion,' Wright said Friday. 'Naturally, he's taking it very hard.' Moore, a Lewisburg police officer since 1983, also is a certified weapons instructor who serves as a sheriff's deputy when the Preble County emergency services unit is activated."

Some details of the incident are being kept from public view for the time being, the Daily News article reported. "Eaton Municipal Judge Paul Henry approved a search warrant earlier on Sept. 27. On Monday, he ordered it sealed until the investigation is complete."

An initial report on the death issued by the Preble County Sheriff's Department has been released, according to an article in the Eaton, OH Register-Herald on Oct. 9, 2002 ( "Shooting Incident Report Released"). The Register-Herald reported that "The facts of that report are being questioned and contradicted by Helriggle's family and those who were at the residence. A group of Helriggle's friends protested the shooting for more than a week, claiming it was unjustified. The incident has become a widespread controversy fueled by various media reports and contradicting accounts of the incident. Meanwhile, the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office continues its investigation and the officer remains on administrative leave." According to the Register-Herald, "The search warrant, according to Hayes, was not a 'no knock' warrant. He added, when officers approached the residence, they did knock on the door and announce themselves. He added, however, officers did not receive a response and eventually entered the residence through an unlocked back door. Hayes also stated, because the investigation led them to believe 'up to a dozen people' may have been at the house, the situation was considered a 'high-risk' operation. Therefore, he stated, the Emergency Services Unit was used and took all necessary precautions, including full protective gear."

Yet, again as the Register-Herald reported, "Hayes also stated, those expected to be at the residence did not have any prior violations involving weapons or other assault-related incidents. Although only a small number of drug-related items were found in the home, the sheriff's office believes more intense drug-related activity was going on in the residence."

In fact, according to another article in the Dayton Daily News on Oct. 4, 2002 ( "Lewisburg Officer Involved In Shooting Identified"), "Deputies from both counties executed the search warrant Sept. 28 and the Preble County report notes that they confiscated a small amount of marijuana, two containers of pills, several pipes, rolling papers and plastic sandwich bags. Weapons also were seized, including a 12-gauge shotgun, BB gun, ornamental sword, knives, a hatchet and a grenade. Investigators also confiscated wallets containing $469 and $288.56. Helriggle's roommates were jailed the night of the shooting and released about 1:30 a.m. No one has been charged."

The question of whether officers properly identified themselves is also in dispute. According to the Daily News, "Family and friends of Helriggle said this week that they dispute police accounts, especially about how officers entered the farmhouse and what Helriggle was carrying in his right hand as he descended the stairs and was shot by Moore. Officers said they knocked on the door and identified themselves as sheriff's officers; Helriggle's roommates said they did not hear anything until a flash-bang grenade was tossed inside and police broke through the doors. Helriggle was unarmed, according to his roommates, and carrying a blue plastic cup of water. Law officers said he held a gun."

Family and friends of Clayton Helriggle have rallied to protest his death. The Eaton Register-Herald reported on Oct. 6, 2002 ( "Helriggle Family, Friends Protest Death") that "Nearly 30 people marched in front of the Preble County Courthouse for hours on Monday, Sept. 30, protesting the death last Friday of 23-year-old Clayton Helriggle. Helriggle was shot and killed during a drug raid near West Alexandria on Friday, Sept. 27. Since the incident, and as an investigation by Montgomery County authorities proceeds, two differing accounts have emerged. Officers at the scene said Helriggle approached with a handgun. Family and friends contend he held only a blue glass of water in his hand when a Preble County officer fired a single fatal round from a shotgun. The protest on Monday brought to light much of the family's belief about what happened. Helriggle's family and friends carried poster board signs professing 'They murdered my friend' and 'God won't forget.' Several carried blue cups, signifying what they believe the officers saw."

The investigation continues, and part of it is being carried out by authorities outside the area. The Middletown, OH Journal reported on Oct. 10, 2002 ( "Outsiders To Probe Preble Shooting") that "The Greene County prosecutor and his first assistant have been appointed special prosecutors in the case involving the Sept. 27 fatal shooting of Clayton J. Helriggle by a Preble County Emergency Services Unit member. Helriggle, 23, was shot during a drug raid at his home south of West Alexandria. Preble County Prosecutor Rebecca J. Ferguson voluntarily handed the case over to William Schenck on Wednesday after speaking with Helriggle's family, according to a media release from her office. Suzanne Schmidt, first assistant prosecutor in the Greene County office, will assist Schenck. No one from either office could be reached for comment. Preble County Sheriff Tom Hayes turned the investigation over to Montgomery County Sheriff Dave Vore's office. Vore has said the results of criminal and administrative investigations could take weeks."

The incident was the subject of a column by Steve Stephens of the Columbus (OH) Dispatch on Oct. 7, 2002 ( "War On Drugs Can Claim A Deadly Victory"). As Stephens put it, "Pot-smoking Ohioans already get off easy, say opponents of Issue 1, which would mandate rehab instead of jail for some users. For Clayton Helriggle, however, the penalty was death. On Sept. 27, the doors of his Preble County home were kicked in by masked, heavily armed men. One shot Helriggle in the chest. The intruders belonged to a SWAT team -- 'lawmen,' so to speak, from several Preble County jurisdictions. They were seeking drugs and found some -- a tiny bit of marijuana. They also found a couple of pot pipes and 'quantities of packaging items used in the distribution of marijuana,' i.e., sandwich bags. Helriggle was buried a week ago."

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www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n992/a05.html?157


US OH: The Death of Clayton Helriggle

URL: www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n992/a05.html
Newshawk: Ohio's Forum www.drugsense.org/dpfoh
Votes: 0
Tracknum: 24802.5.2.0.9.0.20030701202436.049f4060
Pubdate: Sun, 29 Jun 2003
Source: Dayton Daily News (OH)
Copyright: 2003 Dayton Daily News
Contact: [e-mail]
Website: www.activedayton.com/partners/ddn/
Details: www.mapinc.org/media/120
Author: Cathy Mon
Bookmarks: www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids)
www.mapinc.org/people/Helriggle (Clayton Helriggle)


THE DEATH OF CLAYTON HELRIGGLE

A Deadly Raid

Shooting Prompts Questions About Lack of Training, Poor Planning, And an Encounter at an Eaton Bar

EATON - After an evening of heavy drinking on Sept. 17, off-duty Preble County sheriff's Deputy Terry Petitt flirted with a group of men half her age at the 230 Club in downtown Eaton, paying special attention to 23-year-old Clayton Helriggle, witnesses said.

"( Petitt ) wanted us to touch the hole in her jeans," located in the upper thigh area, Tim Suter, a high school classmate of Helriggle's who was at the bar that night, later told investigators.

Petitt, 44, "really took a liking to Clayton," Suter said.

Before Petitt threw up into a wastebasket and was taken home, Suter said, she hugged and kissed the three men at the far end of the bar -- Suter, Helriggle and his roommate Ian Albert -- and exchanged sexual banter.

Petitt told the group "she was getting divorced," Suter said. "She mentioned she had a son our age -- the age thing was an issue. She could teach us young ( guys ) a few things."

Ten days later, on Sept. 27, Helriggle lay dead in an ill-fated drug raid led by Petitt's husband, Detective George Petitt Jr., 54, then commander of the Preble County Emergency Services Unit. Terry Petitt, too, was in on the raid, assigned to guard the perimeter of the house at 1282 Ohio 503, south of West Alexandria.

Minutes after the shooting, Terry Petitt trained her weapon on a blood-soaked Albert, in whose arms Helriggle died inside the house.

Terry and George Petitt have not commented about the events of Sept. 27, and the days leading up to it. But an 800-page supplemental report of more than 50 interviews by the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office special investigations unit, reveals previously undisclosed details about the scope of the failed planning and execution that resulted in Helriggle's death.

Members of the main entry team had just four hours of tactical training in the nine months leading up to the raid. Others at the Helriggle farmhouse that evening had never trained with the team, and found themselves in unfamiliar roles as the plan changed during the critical early moments. The information used to obtain a search warrant was largely based on overheard conversations, a few hours of surveillance and the word of a convicted felon who had recently lied to a court to remain free on bond.

One expert said more small, rural police departments, using mostly inexperienced and largely untrained officers, are practicing a dangerous game: urban, guerilla-like warfare. He calls it the "militarizing of Mayberry."

"( Preble's unit ) certainly fits the dangers of jumping into something like this with no real training," said Peter B. Kraska, a University of Eastern Kentucky criminal justice professor.

The use of special weapons teams to force their way into private residences "should occur only when you have overwhelming evidence that this is a large drug operation and the people inside are known to be armed and dangerous," Kraska said. "That kind of situation comes up very infrequently; hardly ever in small communities."

A grand jury concluded that no police officer engaged in criminal wrongdoing, nor did any of Helriggle's four roommates. A Montgomery County sheriff's investigation also determined that Helriggle had a gun -- not a plastic cup as a witness first claimed -- when he descended the stairs during the commotion of the raid.

But an administrative review has been launched of the mistakes that contributed to the fatal shooting, and the victim's family is pursuing legal action.

Investigators also examined whether George Petitt had a hidden motive for pursuing a drug raid at the Helriggle house: his wife's friendliness toward Helriggle on Sept. 17 at the 230 Club.

During a Nov. 1 interview with Montgomery County sheriff's investigators, Terry Petitt acknowledged being at the 230 Club but initially denied having any "contact" with Helriggle.

Later, in the same interview, she said she knew Helriggle was at the bar and recognized Albert when he was led from the house the night of the shooting.

Montgomery County Sheriff's Detective Greg Laravie then asked: "At any time did you discuss what happened in the 230 Club with your husband as far as seeing Clayton Helriggle?"

"Absolutely," she said. "He knew all about it."

"Did he know about it prior to the search warrant?" Laravie asked.

"I don't know," she said. ". . . I'm not sure if George and I were separated at that time or not. I don't recall."

In his interview with sheriff's detectives Nov. 12, George Petitt Jr. said he knew nothing about his wife's encounter with Helriggle during the planning stages for the raid.

"I was unaware that my wife was even at the bar until after the search warrant was issued and conducted, and the other part about holes in the pants or something, this is my first knowledge I have about that at all."

Details of the Search Warrant

The informant said Kevin Leitch was planning yet another burglary.

Leitch, 21, was well known to Officer Jeff Cotner, Eaton's only detective, and Cotner spent hours looking for him before spotting his car on Sinclair Street in Eaton about 12:30 a.m. Sept. 26.

Leitch was free on bail and awaiting sentencing on more than a dozen residential burglaries in the county. The informant said Leitch and an accomplice were planning another heist, this time at an old farmhouse that four young men and one girlfriend were renting at 1282 Ohio 503.

The house was said to contain 10 to 15 pounds of marijuana every weekend, according to the informant.

Hours before pulling Leitch over, Cotner enlisted the help of Preble County sheriff's Detective George Petitt Jr., who often assisted in city investigations. As Cotner patrolled the streets looking for Leitch, Petitt conducted surveillance on the farmhouse.

Cotner searched Leitch's car and found two rifles and a handgun, all of them stolen. A passenger in the car, 18-year-old Samantha "Sammie" Webster, was released and never questioned by Preble County officials. Sammie was the younger sister of Tasha Webster, who lived at the farmhouse with her boyfriend, Wesley Bradley.

After he was arrested and booked into the Preble County Jail, Leitch told Cotner he drove Webster to the farmhouse twice that week to buy small quantities of marijuana. He told the detective the house included up to 12 people, two to three dogs and "pounds and pounds of marijuana," Cotner recalled to sheriff's investigators.

Cotner said he believed Leitch, even though he was seeking to revoke his bond after learning he had lied to the court about pursuing classes at Sinclair Community College and caring for his infirmed grandfather.

"Surprisingly, I consider Leitch real reliable to the way he has confessed his life away," Cotner told investigators. "He trusts me like you wouldn't believe."

Meanwhile, George Petitt was parked at the American Legion on Ohio 503 and watching traffic go in and out of the nearby farmhouse property. Another officer was parked nearby.

"( Petitt's ) impression right off," Cotner told investigators, was that "'this is a dope house, just by the activity.' "

Petitt told investigators: "I'd see cars coming and going. I'd pull out to attempt to get a license plate number. From where I was sitting, I wasn't able to really observe the house but simply the flow of traffic in and out of that property."

Although Petitt was in charge of planning the raid, he told investigators he didn't have first-hand knowledge of anyone selling marijuana from the house.

Nor did he know who had allegedly bought any drugs there.

"Was there any marijuana in evidence that was placed in your evidence room or Eaton police evidence room that was purchased in one of these buys?" Detective Laravie asked him.

"Not to my knowledge," Petitt said.

Helriggle, 23, awakened by all the commotion and armed with a handgun, peeled down the back stairs.

George Petitt III then saw 42-year-old ESU Team Leader Kent S. Moore, a Lewisburg police sergeant, fall over on his butt as if he'd been shot.

"At that time, I was not sure if he was hit or not," Petitt III told investigators. "I didn't know what caused him to go to the ground that fast and then within an instant or a second is when I seen him in a control fashion, lift the shotgun up and fire the shot."

From a crouching position, Moore fired a single shot to Helriggle's chest, killing him.

"I saw ( Helriggle ) slumped over," Petitt III said. "He was on the ground."

Moore, who still wasn't sure if he'd been wounded, stood and joined other officers as they made their way through the house. Medics examined the officer later and found him unharmed.

The raid was over in less than two minutes.

Among the first on the scene were Michael and Sharon Helriggle, Clayton Helriggle's parents, who heard the call for Care Flight on their home scanner.

Preble County Prosecutor's Investigator Dave Lindloff, also the assistant coroner, began video recording the scene minutes after the shooting.

On the tape, obtained by the Dayton Daily News, a cell phone is heard and a dispatcher announces the time as Lindloff approaches the back door. It is 7:08 p.m.

Lindloff then announces that he ordered Lewisburg paramedic Kenny Pierce and James Williams, a Lewisburg police officer, to "stay exactly with the body till we can take control of the situation."

Stepping into the kitchen, Lindloff focuses the camera on a somber-faced Pierce, who is kneeling. Pierce, who was on call outside the house before the raid, was brought into the house to assist shortly after Helriggle was shot.

Before the shooting, Helriggle's roommate, Ian Albert, had been ordered to the floor at the base of the kitchen stairs by police. After the shooting, Albert pulled his friend down to him and applied pressure to the wound.

Pierce arrived and cut Helriggle's blood-soaked blue T-shirt from his body and applied a tourniquet -- too late to help him -- to Helriggle's right arm.

The camera scans the stairs, stopping on the fifth step where the handgun Helriggle carried, rests. A slipper is on the sixth step.

Lindloff scans the kitchen, showing the doorway leading to the bathroom.

He ends the tape by ordering officers to "stay at the back door to be sure no one comes in, either."

Later, as dark descended, Preble County Assistant Dog Warden Lee Richardson was called to lock up the loose dogs so the dead man's body could be removed from the kitchen. When Richardson shone his flashlight on the table, the shadows revealed two dogs, guarding, prone at Helriggle's side.

Unit Disbanded

Sheriff Hayes disbanded the Emergency Services Unit shortly after the shooting, citing financial constraints.

Hayes also relegated Detective Petitt to road patrol after he was observed in November spending work hours at the American Legion and falsifying time cards. Petitt did not return to work and retired on medical disability March 28.

Terry Petitt told investigators that the couple had reconciled shortly before the shooting, but split up again a month later.

"I have had little contact with him since Oct. 22," she told investigators.

Kristi Deaton, a Preble County corrections officer who accompanied Terry Petitt and Camden Mayor Jerry Wood to the 230 Club on Sept. 17, told investigators she drank Pepsi throughout the evening but that Petitt was "highly intoxicated."

At one point, she said, Petitt brought Helriggle over to where she and Wood were sitting. "She just introduced him as Clayton, and she had made the comment that, 'did you know he could be my son?' " Deaton said.

Although Deaton noted she may have seen Petitt hug Helriggle, "It wasn't anything emotional," she said. "It was just . . . when friends get together and you give them a hug and stuff like that."

Deaton said she never questioned Petitt about her behavior that night.

"I figured she's a big girl," Deaton said. "She knows what she's doing. If she wants to flirt, then she can flirt. If she wants to chat with them she can."

After the shooting, Hayes called in the Montgomery County special investigations unit, which spent 4 1/2 months interviewing dozens of witnesses. The report was turned over to Greene County prosecutors, who presented the case to a grand jury. The grand jury declined to indict anybody in connection with the raid, which netted a small amount of marijuana.

Hayes also asked Montgomery County Sheriff Dave Vore to conduct an internal administrative review into the events leading up to the raid and its fatal consequences, including the amount of training for officers and the issuance of search warrants.

Sgt. John Brands said his special services unit will not make recommendations to Hayes, "but we'll point out issues we came across. It will be up to Preble County to make decisions on anything they want to do."

The Helriggle family said it plans to file a civil lawsuit and hired James Swaim of Dayton and David Ewing of Louisville, Ky., as its legal counsel.

Helriggle's mother, Sharon, said her son's death remains fresh, his memory alive.

"I always think of him," she said. "He's never off my mind, first thing getting up or when I'm up in the middle of the night pacing the house. It doesn't go away. It doesn't get any better."

She said she doesn't blame the man who shot her son. "I never had any hatred in my heart for him. But someone should have said, 'whoa,' and stopped it. There was no rush."

Sgt. Moore, the Lewisburg officer who fired the fatal shotgun blast and who was placed on desk duty after the raid, returned to his job as a supervisor in February.

In his interview with investigators, Moore gave a vivid account of the chaotic seconds when he heard Helriggle on the stairs saying, "What the ( expletive ) is going on down here?" and holding a gun in his right hand "with his finger in the trigger guard."

"Do you feel that you were in imminent danger of your life when you discharged your service weapon?" Detective Rick Ward asked him.

"Yes, he was going to kill me," Moore said.

The raid changed how some officers view their jobs.

Greg McWhinney, a former corrections officer who had been a full-time sheriff's road deputy only four months when he was deployed to the Helriggle house, told investigators the trip from the farmhouse after the shooting was "dead freaking silence."

"That is the first one of those I had ever seen and I will be honest: I felt like puking my guts out," McWhinney said.

For others, the raid became a dim memory, best forgotten.

"I have kind of put it out of my mind for so long now that some of the details are a bit sketchy," George Petitt III, the detective's son who watched Helriggle die, told investigators two months after the shooting.

"It's not something I try and dwell on. I'm trying to move on from it because it wasn't pretty."

He added: "There isn't anything about it I'm proud of in any way."

[admin]

www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1677/a03.html

US OH: Helriggles Question Convict's Lie

URL: www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1677/a03.html
Newshawk: Rob Ryan
Votes: 0
Pubdate: Mon, 27 Oct 2003
Source: Dayton Daily News (OH)
Copyright: 2003 Dayton Daily News
Contact: [e-mail]
Website: www.activedayton.com/partners/ddn/
Details: www.mapinc.org/media/120
Author: Mary McCarty
Bookmark: www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids)
Bookmark: www.mapinc.org/topics/drug+raid+death
Bookmark: www.mapinc.org/people/Clayton+Helriggle


HELRIGGLES QUESTION CONVICT'S LIE

Sharon Helriggle will never stop asking herself, "What if?"

That's true of any parent who loses a child to violence. But for Helriggle and her husband, Mike, the litany of "What ifs" only grows longer with time.

It grew longer still with the recent release of a Montgomery County Sheriff's Office investigation into the shooting death of her 23-year-old son, Clayton Helriggle, in a 2002 raid on a Preble County farmhouse.

The report is an administrative review of the practices and training of the Preble County sheriff's now-disbanded regional SWAT team. There it is, in black and white, on page 21 of the 31-page report:

Kevin Leitch - convicted felon, burglar and a key witness in the case - - told investigators he mistakenly told a Greene County grand jury that Clayton Helriggle was the one selling drugs from the house. The grand jury did not issue any indictments against the officers or the farmhouse residents.

"That part of the report upset us greatly," Mrs. Helriggle said. "I don't know if it would have changed the outcome of the grand jury, and we'll probably never know."

What if Leitch had told the truth to the grand jury? Would Helriggle's parents feel any closer to justice for their son?

"That's my war cry - 'Justice for Clayton,' " Mrs. Helriggle said. "He deserves to have his name cleared."

After reading the report, she also was stunned by the near-total silence from the officers involved in the raid. Acting on the advice of their lawyers, they refused to be interviewed by their brother officers in Montgomery County.

"When I first saw the report I was thoroughly disgusted," Sharon Helriggle said. "But it has stirred things back up. People are mad because the police won't cooperate. It makes the public wonder if they do have something to hide."

Preble County Sheriff Thomas Hayes declined comment because of the civil lawsuit the Helriggles filed in federal court last month against Preble County and 20 individuals involved in the raid, claiming wrongful death and violation of their son's civil rights.

Suzanne Schmidt, first assistant Greene County prosecutor, said Friday that she and Greene County Prosecutor William Schenck plan to review the report closely as well as speak with the Montgomery County investigators. "Bill and I will take a look at this report and see if anything further needs to be done," Schmidt said.

It has been more than a year now since the chaotic raid, during which Lewisburg police Sgt. Kent Moore shot Helriggle as Helriggle descended the back stairway to the kitchen. A previous Montgomery County investigation concluded Helriggle was carrying a 9 mm handgun ( a claim the Helriggles continue to dispute ).

On Sept. 27, the anniversary of Clayton's death, Mrs. Helriggle gathered to pray with several dozen friends at Fair View Cemetery in Lanier Twp., close to the farm. "It hadn't been raining but we looked over and saw a huge rainbow on the site of Clay's farm," she recalled. "We felt that was a sign from Clayton that he was OK."

She clings to that image, that one clear sign in a world in which the line between between truth and untruth seems to be constantly shifting.

[admin]

www.walterindenver.com/archives/000687.html

XENIA -- Greene County Prosecutor Bill Schenck said he intends to meet with investigators Feb. 2 to discuss possibly reconvening a Preble County grand jury to revisit the Sept. 27, 2002, shooting death of Clayton Helriggle by a police officer.

Helriggle was killed when, carrying a handgun, he came down the stairs of the home where he was living, surprising officers during a drug raid. One year ago, a grand jury declined to hand up any indictments in the shooting. Schenck, Greene County prosecutor, was appointed as a special prosecutor in the case, which was investigated by the Montgomery County Sheriffs Office.

"Some cases beg for their day in court. This case needs to be aired," Schenck said Monday. He and Suzanne Schmidt, a Greene County assistant prosecutor who also worked on the case, are concerned about a public perception that Helriggle was a drug dealer. They and investigators will look into possible perjury charges against Kevin Leitch, whose grand jury testimony in January 2003 conflicted with what he earlier told Eaton and Preble County law officials.

"I think it's fair to say there was no drug dealing by Mr. Helriggle," Schenck said.

This is a popular theme in drug investigations. A single witness, himself a druggie, provides 'evidence' that the police rely on to stage a surprise raid. It's a very dangerous practice.

[sr1234]

What a pleasant surprise to see this site. Thank you so much for including Clayton's story. This is something that we had wanted to do for along time, but didn't have (or didn't utilize) our resources.

I'd like to thank everyone in the community for supporting our family in our time of need. We would like to try and return the kindness and empathy shown to us. This life altering event has not only affected our immediate family, but those that embraced us have also been forever changed. Bless you for having the courage to get involved and stand up for what is truly right.

This site has brought all of us together, we know each other's heart aches and the frustration of fighting the "system", we know about being afraid, of losing trust in everything. May we'll find strength in numbers through this site.

[admin]

sr1234, Clayton's story IS our story. We are all family, and we are all here for each other. Thank YOU for allowing us to have Clayton's story join the others on this forum - we realize that it keeps the pain alive, along with Clayton's memory. By sharing your tragedy you are allowing us to get the word out that many are suffering, and we need help before there are many more.

Thank you for posting, sr1234!

[admin]

groups.google.com/group/nyc.general/browse_thread/thread/1af32bf5f1baf45c/26247501efed2510?lnk=st&q=preble+county&rnum=2&hl=en#26247501efed2510

Found in Google Groups, a commentary about the investigation of the shooting, dated 10/04/02...

The shooter will get off with no problem, despite any 'evidence' that
is generated.

Sgt. John Brands of the Inspectional Services Unit of the Montgomery
County Sheriff's Office is most likely involved in the investigation.
The irony is that Mr. Brands just assumed his position after being
investigated at least twice by the same internal affairs division in
the past year for false statements and excessive force.


It is 'nice' that the Preble County Sheriff's Office is going to
another county for an objective investigation, but why choose such a
corrupt office like that in Montgomery County? John Brands cannot
offer an objective perspective in this investigation. I hope that the
family pursues civil action against the Preble County Sheriff. They
will get no support in any criminal action when the police protect
themselves.

MONTCNTY.COM exposes abuse in government.


www.montcnty.com/

[admin]

groups.google.com/group/misc.activism.progressive/browse_thread/thread/f88b3dd6ace32ade/1beaf24e2cb603f1?lnk=st&q=preble+county&rnum=357&hl=en#1beaf24e2cb603f1

A day earlier, Clayton J. Helriggle, 23, of West Alexandria, OH,
was shot and killed by a Lewisburg, OH, police officer during a
drug raid on a farmhouse. Police SWAT team members had entered
the house and encountered Helriggle coming down the stairs when he
was shot. Preble County Sheriff's Captain Mike Simpson told the
Dayton Daily News that Helriggle was armed with a pistol, but
Helriggle's father, Michael Helriggle, said his son was carrying a
glass of water, not a weapon. He also accused police of "high-
fiving" each other after the raid.

"They were so busy celebrating and everything," he said. "It was
like a carnival to them. They all got to use their new guns and
stuff." And Helriggle faulted the police for their SWAT assault
tactics. "There was no reason for them to come in there that
way," he said. "I lost my son over this. It's turned my family
upside down. He absolutely wasn't a drug dealer."


Captain Simpson said police were executing a marijuana warrant
involving another resident of the house. Police seized a small
amount of pot, some unknown pills and drug paraphernalia.


By this Monday, local newspapers reported dozens of people
protesting the killing at the Montgomery Courthouse. Helriggle's
roommates carried blue plastic cups similar to the one he was said
to be carrying when shot. Roommate Ian Albert described to the
Dayton Daily News how Helriggle was killed: "They threw me down
onto the stairs with my head on the second step up. I wanted to
yell at Clay, but I looked up and saw him, rounding the stairway,
and he had this look on his face, like, 'What's going on?' and the
cops yelled, 'Get down' and then 'boom,'" said Albert. "The cops
are smoking and joking, high-fiving each other. Wow, I think,
they took down a farm of unarmed hippies. "If they would have
come to the door and said, 'Give us your dope, hippies,' we'd have
gotten about a $100 ticket."

[admin]

Just found this thread at PrebleCounty.com....

www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/post/preble/vpost?id=1407440&highlight=lindloff&trail=10

Copwatcher, we will be happy to post any information or documents on this forum for you, and we will teach you how to upload them. If you are interested, please PM admin or Tai.

R.I.P., Clayton

[copwatcher]

admin said:

groups.google.com/group/misc.activism.progressive/browse_thread/thread/f88b3dd6ace32ade/1beaf24e2cb603f1?lnk=st&q=preble+county&rnum=357&hl=en#1beaf24e2cb603f1

A day earlier, Clayton J. Helriggle, 23, of West Alexandria, OH,
was shot and killed by a Lewisburg, OH, police officer during a
drug raid on a farmhouse. Police SWAT team members had entered
the house and encountered Helriggle coming down the stairs when he
was shot. Preble County Sheriff's Captain Mike Simpson told the
Dayton Daily News that Helriggle was armed with a pistol, but
Helriggle's father, Michael Helriggle, said his son was carrying a
glass of water, not a weapon. He also accused police of "high-
fiving" each other after the raid.

"They were so busy celebrating and everything," he said. "It was
like a carnival to them. They all got to use their new guns and
stuff." And Helriggle faulted the police for their SWAT assault
tactics. "There was no reason for them to come in there that
way," he said. "I lost my son over this. It's turned my family
upside down. He absolutely wasn't a drug dealer."


Captain Simpson said police were executing a marijuana warrant
involving another resident of the house. Police seized a small
amount of pot, some unknown pills and drug paraphernalia.


By this Monday, local newspapers reported dozens of people
protesting the killing at the Montgomery Courthouse. Helriggle's
roommates carried blue plastic cups similar to the one he was said
to be carrying when shot. Roommate Ian Albert described to the
Dayton Daily News how Helriggle was killed: "They threw me down
onto the stairs with my head on the second step up. I wanted to
yell at Clay, but I looked up and saw him, rounding the stairway,
and he had this look on his face, like, 'What's going on?' and the
cops yelled, 'Get down' and then 'boom,'" said Albert. "The cops
are . Wow, I think,
they took down a farm of unarmed hippies. "If they would have
come to the door and said, 'Give us your dope, hippies,' we'd have
gotten about a $100 ticket."

smoking and joking, high-fiving each other I can't express how upset I get when I read this. Clay's mom was brought directly to our house shortly after he was killed. She was hysterical, screaming "they killed my baby!" She said "they were joking & high-fiving each other" Interestingly enough, Chris the roommate that was taken into custody outside wrote in his statement later that night "they were high-fiving each other." Most interesting though is that Sharon & Chris did not talk to each other until the next day after both had reported the LEO dispicable antics. Coincidence? I think not. How dare they deny it but it isn't surprising in light of everything that took place during this raid.

[admin]

This case is a mess as are all the others. One lie takes another to cover up the first, followed by another, then another... People that have nothing to hide have no reason to lie.

And the families...the families must first deal with the unimaginable pain of the original incident, then have salt rubbed in the wound time and time again. OBCI and FBI need to realize that law enforcement are the last people who should be interviewed, and certainly not at all if they want truth.

Hopefully the pain you are suffering by sharing these stories and bringing them once again to the forefront of your every thought will be the beginning of healing for all the survivors of our beloved victims. Surely we are establishing a pattern of lack of credibility with authorities, and outside investigating agencies will have solid proof that they cannot obtain a reliable account of any incident from a legal entity in Preble County.

[DADDY WORRIES]

I send my condolences to the Helriggle family. It is very late coming but I hope you know that many, many people knew what happened to your son was not right. My wife told me about seeing a bunch of you at the courthouse one day having a demonstration. I thought to myself at that time people just don't do that unless they either can prove they are right or feel it so deeply they just can not give up. After some time I guess we all found out it was both. God bless you are prayers remain with you.

[copwatcher]

Thanks a lot Daddy Worries. It is still comforting to receive those kind words. All of the surviviors here are touched any time someone shares condolences. Our loved ones are never far from our thoughts. It is our responsibility as the left behind to do what ever it takes to get justice for our own. And if we can do so it may save the life of someone elses husband, son, brother etc. We are in the midst of unknown territory for we all were raised to believe that LE was at least the one group we could all trust. At least my very aged parents taught me that because that is what they were taught & what they believed. It is so sad to see them so disallusioned so very, very late in their lives.

[mamasheri]

Thank you DADDY WORRIES for your condolences. We spent many a cold day in front of the courthouse and were encouraged by all the passerbys that honked or brought us coffee, pizza, tea, etc. As you see, even though we're not standing on the corner anymore, we're still here fighting - not only for Clayton, but for all the families that have been "touched" by preble county's finest.

[mamasheri]

The 5th anniversary of Clayton's death is approaching. On 9/27/07 at 6:30pm we will be having a memorial balloon launch at Fairview Cemetery, West Alexandria. The public is welcome to attend. The past year has been spent trying to heal, both physically and mentally. The four years of fighting the case knocked the wind from our sails, but we are trying to get back to a normal life, without Clayton.

Please join us if you can.

[admin]

Mamasheri, this is too important to be buried at the bottom of an old thread...I am creating a new thread to announce the memorial.

I think of you often and miss you terribly. I will be with you in spirit at the memorial. Donnie is also buried there...please blow a kiss his way for me.

[mamasheri]

Thanks for posting the new thread about Clayton's memorial. Even after five years, I'm not very good at dealing with these things. We've always had so many supporters turn out that year after year I am blown away! It makes me ashamed that I haven't recipracated for other families, but hopefully, that'll come in the years to follow. I'm still licking my wounds.

[smokesbiggestfan]

Mamasheri please know you are in my thoughts and prayers. None of us expect reciprocation because we understand the pain you have gone through. I don't expect you to be able to deal with this without having deep wounds. He was your baby and you will always feel the void. Just know many of us have not forgotten nor will we forget to send out prayers for you and the entire family.

[mamasheri]

Thought this was a good article that was posted on theagitator.com

Americans have long maintained that a man’s home is his castle and that he has the right to defend it from unlawful intruders. Unfortunately, that right may be disappearing. Over the last 25 years, America has seen a disturbing militarization of its civilian law enforcement, along with a dramatic and unsettling rise in the use of paramilitary police units (most commonly called Special Weapons and Tactics, or SWAT) for routine police work. The most common use of SWAT teams today is to serve narcotics warrants, usually with forced, unannounced entry into the home.

These increasingly frequent raids, 40,000 per year by one estimate, are needlessly subjecting nonviolent drug offenders, bystanders, and wrongly targeted civilians to the terror of having their homes invaded while they’re sleeping, usually by teams of heavily armed paramilitary units dressed not as police officers but as soldiers. These raids bring unnecessary violence and provocation to nonviolent drug offenders, many of whom 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.

This paper presents a history and overview of the issue of paramilitary drug raids, provides an extensive catalogue of abuses and mistaken raids, and offers recommendations for reform.

[admin]

Just diggin up some old stuff on the net...

smallestminority.blogspot.com/2004/01/clayton-helriggle-deceased-might-get.html#

Clayton Helriggle (deceased) Might Get His Day in Court

I covered the case of Mr. Helriggle (briefly) back in November in a piece I titled The War on (some) Drugs™ Claims Another Victim. Unfortunately, the first of the earlier links is broken, but the second works.

Well, it appears that his family hasn't given up, and the local prosecutor is considering convening a grand jury to review the case.
Helriggle death may be revisited

Greene County Prosecutor Bill Schenck said he intends to meet with investigators Feb. 2 to discuss possibly reconvening a Preble County grand jury to revisit the Sept. 27, 2002, shooting death of Clayton Helriggle by a police officer.

Helriggle was killed when, carrying a handgun, he came down the stairs of the home where he was living, surprising officers during a drug raid. One year ago, a grand jury declined to hand up any indictments in the shooting. Schenck, Greene County prosecutor, was appointed as a special prosecutor in the case, which was investigated by the Montgomery County Sheriffs Office.

"Some cases beg for their day in court. This case needs to be aired," Schenck said Monday. He and Suzanne Schmidt, a Greene County assistant prosecutor who also worked on the case, are concerned about a public perception that Helriggle was a drug dealer. They and investigators will look into possible perjury charges against Kevin Leitch, whose grand jury testimony in January 2003 conflicted with what he earlier told Eaton and Preble County law officials.

"I think it's fair to say there was no drug dealing by Mr. Helriggle," Schenck said. "To have that (testimony) circulating bothers me and Suzanne, and it bothers the officers in Montgomery County, who spent months investigating the raid. If I knew my child was not a drug dealer, I would want that to be known," he said.

Helriggle's mother said she has dogged the prosecutors to consider charges against Leitch. "I think he should pay for lying," Sharon Helriggle said. "I don't think he should be able to get away with it."

Mrs. Helriggle said prosecutors told her they wanted to shield her from having to appear again before a grand jury. "They said they didn't want to open my wounds. I had to laugh when I heard that. My wounds haven't closed; they probably never will."

Michael and Sharon Helriggle in September filed a federal civil lawsuit, seeking damages for what they allege was the wrongful death of their son.

Schenck said he would like to know what caused Leitch to change his testimony. "Was he just confused? If he was lying, why?"

The warrant to search Helriggle's farmhouse at 1282 Ohio 503 North was based solely on Leitch's information that his girlfriend purchased a small amount of marijuana there and that she told him up to 13 pounds of pot would be on the premises the day of the raid. Police found only a small amount of marijuana in the raid.

Leitch, who was awaiting sentencing on more than a dozen Preble County convictions of forgery, theft, burglary, breaking and entering and safecracking, told officers and deputies that one of Helriggle's roommates was dealing marijuana from the house. At the grand jury, however, Leitch, now serving a three-year term at Lebanon Correctional Institution, contradicted his earlier statements and said Helriggle was the drug dealer.

Four days before the raid on the Lanier Twp. farmhouse Helriggle shared with four roommates, Eaton Police officer Jeff Cotner told investigators he heard from a confidential informant that Leitch planned to break into the farmhouse and steal the marijuana. The day before the raid, police stopped Leitch's car, found a cache of stolen weapons, and took him in for questioning. It was then Leitch told officers about the alleged 13 pounds of marijuana. Authorities then went to a local judge for a search warrant, and the raid was hastily planned.

A subsequent investigation by the Dayton Daily News found the officers had little or no training for such a SWAT-type raid; little or no intelligence was gathered about the layout of the farmhouse; the number of people inside; and what, if any, weapons might be inside. As officers were nearing the gravel drive to the farmhouse, the original plans for the raid were changed.

As the raid unfolded, the wrong entry team entered the house first; shots were fired by police at two dogs inside the kitchen; and a flash-bang grenade added to the confusion. One officer, hearing the shots behind him and thinking he had been shot, saw a figure coming down a back stairway — which officers did not know was there — and fired a single round from his shotgun, striking Helriggle in the chest. He died at the scene.

Schenck said he and Schmidt will speak to the Montgomery County investigators who put together an 800-page report on the shooting and subsequent administrative review. On the advice of their attorneys, the officers involved in the raid did not cooperate in the administrative review, which was intended to see if procedures and policies were followed.

Schenck praised the the grand jury and Montgomery County investigators, and "quite frankly, even the Preble County officers, for the most part, who were out there. They were just doing their job."

He said, however, questions remain unanswered.

"The whole scenario, for whatever reason, just leaves you wringing your hands," he said. "All of us who spent time on this case feel a tremendous amount of pain."
Understand this: due to the War on (some) Drugs™ agents of the State can get a search warrant on the word of one known criminal, perform a no-knock raid on your house, shoot your pets, and kill an innocent family member.

And suffer no penalty for it.

It's "just doing their job."

And people say the War on (some) Drugs™ is a good thing.

Sorry. I don't agree.

UPDATE, 1/21/04: More links to stories about the incident:

Family, friends of man killed by police dispute authorities' account

War on Drugs Can Claim a Deadly Victory

(Not specifically related to this case:) EXPLOSIVE DYNAMIC ENTRY

From this op-ed:
The most telling aspect of Montgomery County Sheriff Dave Vore’s investigation into the Preble County sheriff’s now disbanded regional SWAT team was its members’ refusal to cooperate.

...AND...

Latest Report on Drug Raid Cites Lack of Cooperation
www.policeone.com/SWAT/articles/70230-Latest-Report-on-Drug-Raid-Cites-Lack-of-Cooperation/

EATON, Ohio (AP) -- Police officers involved in a drug raid in which one person was killed refused to cooperate with investigators reviewing the unit that carried out the raid, a law enforcement report said.

Preble County Sheriff Thomas Hayes asked for the review of the county Emergency Services Unit that led the raid Sept. 27, 2002. Clayton Helriggle, 23, was shot to death in the raid on a West Alexandria farmhouse where he lived with four others.

The Montgomery County sheriff's office compiled the report, which was obtained by the Dayton Daily News.

Police believed at the time that the house was the center of a major marijuana-sales operation, but only a small amount of marijuana was found.

During the raid, Lewisburg police Sgt. Kent Moore shot Helriggle as Helriggle came down the back stairway to the kitchen, investigators said. A previous investigation of the shooting concluded Helriggle was carrying a 9 mm handgun.

A Preble County grand jury on Feb. 4 did not issue indictments against any officers involved in the raid or against any of the home's residents. Helriggle's family filed a civil suit in federal court last month against Preble County and 20 individuals involved in the raid, claiming wrongful death and violation of Clayton Helriggle's civil rights.

Messages seeking comment were left Thursday with the Preble County sheriff's and prosecutor's offices.

Investigators have found that the warrant for the raid was based on information from a convicted felon. The felon told the investigators he had lied to police about some facts and mistakenly told a subsequent grand jury investigating the raid that Helriggle was the one selling drugs from the house.

The 31-page report said that wrong dates were used in an affidavit, and investigators questioned why so little time was provided for surveillance of the house and why there were no controlled narcotic purchases from the house.

The report said Montgomery County sheriff's investigators attempted for months to interview two Eaton police officers, two Preble County sheriff's detectives, a Preble County prosecutor's investigator, a Preble County assistant prosecutor and an Eaton Municipal Court judge.

The judge who signed the warrants for the raid was the only person who cooperated with investigators, the report said.

The lack of cooperation from those involved in the raid prevented investigators from making any conclusions about the amount and type of training received by the Emergency Services Unit before the raid, the report said.

"We couldn't complete it because some of the officers involved in it weren't able to talk to us," Montgomery County Sheriff David Vore said Thursday. "So we couldn't draw any conclusions in some of those areas. I have no authority to order them to do anything."

Eaton police Chief Phil Romero said the two Eaton police officers were acting under the advice of their attorneys.

An earlier report by the investigators said that the officers who stormed the house had just four hours of tactical training in the nine months leading up to the raid.

The latest report contained a letter from Hayes dated Aug. 8, in which he tells Vore that the unit had been disbanded, and the officers had been ordered by their attorneys not to discuss the matter.

[admin]

Found the following discussion on a now-defunct local forum called EatonLink. The archived link is here...
web.archive.org/web/20030428134630/www.eatonlink.com/main/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1911

I am going to copy the posts here for fear that these pages could one day no longer be accessible...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Drug tip led to Preble raid, search warrant reveals
By Cathy Mong
e-mail address: [e-mail]
Dayton Daily News

EATON | A confidential informant told Eaton police Detective Jeff Cotner on Sept. 23 that he had overheard two Preble County residents hatching a plan to rob a farmhouse of 13 pounds of marijuana they thought was stashed in a safe there, according to a search warrant released from Preble County court files Wednesday.

Four days after the tip, two teams of specially trained police officers from the Preble County Sheriff's Emergency Services Unit, armed with shotguns, sidearms, a flash-bang grenade — and the search warrant — stormed a house at 1282 Ohio 503 south of West Alexandria.

Minutes later, 23-year-old Clayton R. Helriggle lay dead, fatally wounded by a shotgun blast fired by Sgt. Kent Moore of the Lewisburg Police Department.

An affidavit used to obtain approval on Sept. 27 for the search warrant from an Eaton Municipal Court judge also indicated that police believed that it would be "extremely difficult" to approach the farmhouse without being noticed.

Cotner wrote in the court records that "those who purchase and deal in illegal contraband are frequently armed and dangerous and inclined toward violence" and that at least "two guard dogs of a viscious (sic) breed" are at the house, and that any "notice of an impending search could result in the destruction of marijuana."

Few other details about the shooting have been available, and the search warrant was ordered sealed by the Eaton Municipal Court judge on Sept. 30.

On Tuesday, a Preble County grand jury concluded there was no criminal wrongdoing by Moore or any other officer involved in the drug raid at Helriggle's rented house. The grand jury also decided it would not indict any of Helriggle's four roommates who lived in the house where police said they had found a small amount of marijuana.

The grand jury also heard findings from a report by the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office. The report has not been made public, and Montgomery County Sheriff Dave Vore said Wednesday that Montgomery County Prosecutor Mathias Heck's staff is reviewing the investigation and will determine if the report can be released. Vore declined to comment further.

Other details were released Wednesday with the search warrant, which Judge Paul D. Henry approved in Eaton Municipal Court on Sept. 27.

According to an affidavit included with the search warrant, two men, Kevin Leitch and Kevin Osborn, were believed to be planning to steal marijuana from Helriggle's house.

Leitch and Osborn had been found guilty in Preble County Common Pleas Court of multiple residential burglaries and were free on bond and awaiting sentencing.

The affidavit stated that Leitch learned about marijuana supposedly at Helriggle's house through a girlfriend, Samantha Webster, whose sister, Tasha, was one of Helriggle's four roommates.

On Sept. 24, the confidential informant told Cotner, the Eaton police detective, that Helriggle's rented house was the former home of a well-known criminal, according to the affidavit, which also noted that David Lindloff, an investigator with the Preble County Prosecutor's Office, "knows from personal experience" that "said address matches exactly the description provided" by the informant.

Preble County sheriff's deputies watched Helriggle's house for 45 minutes on Sept. 25 and observed six cars arrive and leave, according to the affidavit. Leitch also said that earlier on Sept. 25, he drove Samantha Webster to Helriggle's house and bought a $60 "quarter bag" of marijuana there, and on the next day she bought a $30 "eighth bag" of pot at the same address. According to the affidavit, the girlfriend told Leitch that an unidentified "dealer" living at Helriggle's house received weekly shipments of between 5 and 10 pounds of marijuana, that Friday was the "busiest day of drug trafficking activity," and that "no sales occur after 10 p.m. because the residents of the house work in the morning."

Leitch, 20, was sent to Lebanon Correctional Institution on Nov. 5 to serve a three-year prison term for forgery, theft, burglary, breaking and entering and safecracking. Osborn, 18, an inmate at Madison Correctional Institution since Dec. 18, is serving four years for burglary, theft, safecracking and breaking and entering.



I been reading the paper for along time and haven't quite read anything like this before.When did the paper start telling us who said what to get anybody in trouble.And who is buying drugs and for how much?.And what in the hell does it matter who lived in that house before them.That was then this is now.And I didn't think that the people that live there before were criminals,don't you got to be in trouble with the law first.

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I saw that article after the grand jury on the Helriggle case found no reason to send the case to trial. I think it is a bit fishy about the appeareance of the article and all the detailed info. Also the informants were sentenced to prison quite awhile after the original incident happened.It is a shame that there wasn't better research done or conducted on the farmhouse, that sounds really fishy to me. That's just my opinion.Also, FYI.. from other reports...I find that the excuse for ceasing the entire emergency team was an act of extreme parinoia. I think that using the county's bad financial situation is hardly a good reason to get rid of a department that was so important before this incident occurred and that it had been in the budget in the last budget cycle. Also, I know that recently there has been county expenditures for new bullet proof vests for the sherriff's department. I am sick and tired or this good ole boy attitude more than many of you can ever imagine.. don't just sit and take this anymore.. it's just like the landfill, and the children's home. Aren't you sick of this.?

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This is a sad situation. But it is very evident from this news article that someone really messed up the affair big time. Look at the facts.

They took the word of two people with past records and took action against people who had NO record. They did so with little surveillance and verification.

They made a lot of unfounded assumptions that led to a person's death. What is really a dead give away they are covering their rears is the fact the house was owned by a Preble County attorney and his family and they made every attempt to asswage the errors.

What I see in this is a huge lawsuit against Preble County that the Helriggles will WIN. In addition, the major blame lays squarely on the shoulders of those who ordered the hit. There should be some serious resignations as well.

ALL Preble County citizens should demand that this case not be swept under the carpet and the FEDS called in to do a more thorough investigation. You have to remember that this Grand Jury was ONLY for the purpose of determining whether any criminal charges should be filed against the officer who shot and killed the boy.

It is NOT the END of the matter. This situation was messed up from the outset. And there is a major legal case for excessive use of force and failure to confirm probable cause, and on and on.

I see some resignations and some heavy lawsuits before this is ever over. The reputation of the criminal justice system inPreble County has been dealt a serious blow and a black cloud still hangs over the County.

The alarming thing is this situation could happen to ANY citizen and for that reason Preble County citizens should DEMAND MAJOR CHANGES and resignations. Starting with the County Prosecutor and going from that point.

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I believe that the information is being given to reduce the impact of the Grand Jury investigation.
The more horrendous the actions, and the more shady the character of the residents and those around them can be made to sound, the easier it is to let it go, or at least to not blame the officials who (in my humble opinion) did not do their job with the utmost care and conscience nor for the good of the people (it was to put themselves in the spotlight).
Names are being used now to discredit and shame individules into silence. Again, this is my opinion.
As for being able to approach the farmhouse without being noticed, and that they (the residents) might destroy "the evidence" if they saw them coming, is a bit on the ridiculous side... I think if anyone tried to flush something of that nature and that much (13 pounds) down the toilet (cause for gosh sakes, you know you cant smoke or eat 13 pounds of fibrous material in 5 minutes, even if you have a goat in the room with you!) there would be some very drippy consequences.
The "Guard Dog Theory" made me chuckle....but it forces people who know no better to take a side...its for looks and to once again to throw a smoke screen over the facts of what was really in the house. And not being able to spell vicious right (even with spell check) makes me smile to myself.
And by the way...I don't remember ever seeing a safe on the list of evidence taken from the home, baggies yes, a safe, no.
So this leads me to believe that the information given was not researched or checked. I hope no one reports me for zip locks, because Kroger just had the super double coupons and I have at least 6 boxes!
And as for criminal wrongdoing on the side of the law, I choose not to use those words, but my own..Negligence and poor planning. They are the law and will never allow those words "criminal wrongdoing" to be used in the same sentence, even if true. However, other words fit the senerio.
And as for those who "spilled their guts" in regards to what was in the house, my next question is WHY? Maybe to lighten their sentences that are being so openly noted in the paper now? And if someone else turned them in, (as is being said) again, I ask what was the motive? A concerned citizen in a local watering hole? A nosey neighbor? Probably not. Unless the two Kevins were totally ignorant, their conversation was probably not held in the Courthouse foyer. So who was the knight in shining armor? And what did the information hold for him or her?

"On Sept. 24, the confidential informant told Cotner, the Eaton police detective, that Helriggle's rented house was the former home of a well-known criminal, according to the affidavit, which also noted that David Lindloff, an investigator with the Preble County Prosecutor's Office, "knows from personal experience" that "said address matches exactly the description provided" by the informant. "

Well the bit about the house being the the former home of a well-known criminal, what does that have to do with the price of tea in China? Was it Bugs Malone, Bonnie and Clyde? Then Hell, someone should have made it a museum and charged admission...The pool sure could use the financial help.
My next question is what does "said address matches exactly the description provided" by the informant. " say...They have been in the house too??? How about that?!?! Wonder why?

As far as cars coming and going, I have a house filled with teens and grownups, we have cars going in and out and sometimes at odd hours, but that dosent mean I have something sinister in a safe in my underground tunnel...oh maybe that was too much information....
I ask alot of questions, but is there anyone willing to provide the answers??
Well, I will end with the same statement with which I opened,,,
I believe that the information is being given to reduce the impact of the Grand Jury investigation. What do you think???

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After first reading the DDN article, I was struck by the fact that they based their "investigation" on what is essentially a rumour that a CI overheard 2 criminals allegedly planned on ripping someone off, and that 13 pounds of "supposed" dope was the target of the rip off. I say supposed because no one had seen the stuff. That is a pretty weak chain of evidence to be basing a SWAT raid on especially one that turned out so tragically. And then shortly after the grand jury's held, we start reading about the PCSO and how the SWAT team is being shut down for budgetary reasons. Coincidental?

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Well, it doesn't bring Clayton back, but the Helriggles and others are going to get PAID PAID PAID by Preble County Government.

It's obvious from the County's actions subsequent to this situation, there's a huge liability hanging out there and a cash settlement will likely still be cheaper than a protracted civil case.

Wrongful death anyone?

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and the rest of the story goes like this:

Preble sheriff closes unit
Leader charged with dishonesty, breaking rules

By Cathy Mong
e-mail address: [e-mail]
Dayton Daily News

EATON | The Preble County Sheriff's Emergency Service Unit, the group that stormed a farmhouse Sept. 27 and fatally shot a 23-year-old resident, has been shut down — at least temporarily — and its commander disciplined after being found guilty of neglect of duty, dishonesty and malfeasance on the job, said Sheriff Thomas Hayes.

Detective George L. Petitt, head of the specially trained unit since Oct. 23, 2001, violated sheriff's department rules and was observed frequenting the American Legion post on U.S. 35 West during work hours between Nov. 15-27, according to sheriff department records.

Petitt is on sick leave and has applied for retirement based on medical disability, Hayes said Friday.

The emergency services unit has been out of commission since the ill-fated drug raid because of budget cuts, Hayes said. Its 15 members were drawn from four Preble County police agencies to handle search-and-rescue operations, hostage negotiations and other high-risk situations.

By closing the emergency services unit, Hayes said he can save $21,000 a year in overtime charged by the squad's officers to attend training.

Hayes said Petitt's discipline had nothing to do with the raid at a farmhouse at 1282 Ohio 503, south of West Alexandria, during which Clayton Helriggle was shot and killed by Sgt. Kent Moore, a Lewisburg police officer. Hayes said a handgun was found near Helriggle's body.

Petitt's disciplinary conference was held Dec. 6. In addition to administrative charges of neglect

He didn't deny being at the tavern during the hours observed.

"If my car was there, I was there," Petitt said, according to a Dec. 9 memorandum to Hayes written by Sheriff Investigator John Krock.

Hayes suspended Petitt without pay Jan. 6-8, and assigned him to road patrol effective Jan. 11.

A report is expected to be made public Monday or Tuesday by the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office about its investigation of how the Preble County Sheriff's Emergency Service Unit handled the raid. Hayes asked Montgomery County Sheriff Dave Vore to investigate.

Hayes said he also asked Montgomery County to do an administrative review of the Preble County Emergency Services Unit. Other disciplinary action against officers involved in the raid could result, Hayes said.

He also said he has asked Vore to provide emergency services should Preble County need SWAT-type assistance.

Results of the investigation into the shooting were turned over to Greene County Prosecutor William Schenck, who presented findings to a Preble County grand jury.

On Tuesday, the grand jury voted not to indict any officer involved in Helriggle's shooting or anyone living in the farm house, where a small amount of marijuana was found.

Moore, who has been on leave from the Lewisburg Police Department since the shooting, is expected to return to work Monday, said Lewisburg Chief John Wright.

Police stormed Helriggle's house after obtaining a search warrant, based on a tip supplied by an unidentified informant and corroborated by convicted felon Kevin Leitch. The search warrant had been sealed until Wednesday.


Now my questions are if Petitt wasn't disciplined for actions concerning the raid
1. Then why does it say later in the article "Other disciplinary action against officers involved in the raid could result, Hayes said."
2. I understand that Petitt was disciplined for breaking the rules but what about the dishonesty? Where in the article is this explained because it says he admitted to his whereabouts!
3. If someone is so sick they are applying for a medical disability and on sick leave and obviously frequenting taverns then WHO??? would put someone with these problems in the position of being Head of the SWAT unit.
4. Was the grand jury made aware of the disciplinary procedures that happened before the grand jury met?


I agree with Freak that none of this will ever bring back Clayton and his smile that could lighten up the darkest days but suddenly it seems that a lot of the information that JOHN Q PUBLIC wouldn't believe or even consider on a former thread of West Alex Shooting is now all coming to light.

mal•fea•sance

Pronunciation: (mal-fE'zuns),
—n. Law.
the performance by a public official of an act that is legally unjustified, harmful, or contrary to law; wrongdoing (used esp. of an act in violation of a public trust).

Gee it seems like the only one involved in this situation with clean hands is Thomas Hayes how coincidental with re-election just around the corner.

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How much can the county save by not paying out false "disability" claims?

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I have stated my position, have held tight to that position, and it seems that now the old closet doors are creeking open and the skeltons are gonna start falling out! In other words.... heads are gonna roll!

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But will heads really roll or will they just get a dutch rub to try to soothe over a few citizens that are afraid of having their home invaded because they have too many friends or as Samcyn says teenagers in their home. Think about it they observed the home for 45 minutes and observed 6 cars coming and going. Come on their were 5 people living there.

On any given day there may be as many as 10 cars come and go from our home. Any one of our 7 kids and their friends and their significant others. Then there also could be the pizza guy who happens to be a friend and great with helping us fix our computer through it's many crashes, not to mention our nieces, and nephews and at least half a dozen that we have taken into our homes when parents have to go off to war or foreign exchange students who need a place to stay when the family they came to live with didn't match their personality and siblings and parents. Luckily I live in a neighborhood where I know all my neighbors on a first name basis and they can probably tell you the name of almost anyone who walks through my door along with the connection each has and means to us.

Clayton was one of these such kids, he not only was welcome to walk into my home at any time of the day or night and as I have said before he had a smile that could brighten up any day.

So many of Clayton's friends have been through Hell not only the ones living within the home but longtime friends that feared being catergorized and fearing for their jobs or positions in the community so likewise they haven't truly been given a chance to gather and grieve with their friends.

I know, like I have said before I come on a little bit strong on this subject but it does lay very heavy on my heart. I can't hate the Policeman who shot Clayton because no amount of hate toward this man or no amount of discipline given will ever come close to matching the guilt that he will suffer for the rest of his life. It's just like war, talk to any veteran who served and had to kill a man it eats at his soul everyday like it was yesterday and it took a part of who they were away from them.

I know there will be many many hours of trials and investigations that
will follow in the weeks and months ahead for the Helriggle's and all I can say is ye who are so quick to judge, think about if this would have been your child and at least pray that these parents have the strength and perserverence to be able to finally get peace.

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If the thin blue line is not broken, it will become a noose that will hang them all. There are too many good officers out there , Wake up LEO's! The crooked ones make you all look bad.

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I know Ill be standing by myself on here but I think that a grand jury has ruled what the silent majority has thought all along it was justified. Message is come at cops with gun they will shoot. Thats my 2 cents. Yours may look diffrent!

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Message from my neighborhood bust into my house unannounced I don't care who you are and you will also be met with a gun. It is my right to protect my property and my family.

Also the Grand Jury sent out a pretty strong message with the fact that no one living in the house will face charges either. Seems the police has ill informed informants. Just wonder how many years was cut off their sentences for misinformation.

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Yeah I take my sawed off to the door to answer it when the door bell rings I got no beef with what your saying. But when they start to yellin that they the POLICE and DROP THE GUN then I would put Betsy down. Seems the grand jury ruled that our boy didnt do that. If they thought he did that and got shot any way than they would have strung up the officer.

Like I said they ruled with the silent majority of the county. We should quit being silent and go up and march in favor of law and order. Any one want to join me?

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Why not shoulder ol' Betsy and let off a round? Ever hear of a home invasion?

Back to the thread though, everything that led up to the shooting sounds like a hastily thrown together, shake and bake investigation, based on rumor, innuendo, urban legend, and who knows what else. And then after the grand jury's ruling, all the other stuff starts floating up to the surface. How can a guy who's the head of the SWAT team, be in bad enough shape as to need to take a medical retirement right after getting slapped down for bar tending during work hours? When my wife worked for the State, if she took a medical retirement she got a LOT MORE per month in retirement. You don't think that's what Petit is after, do you? Nooooooo!!! Never in a million years!

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I predicted that any ruling either way by the grand jury would not bring about any type of resolution to this matter. A civil suit will not do that either. I have said that it is an unfortunate incident that resulted in the loss of a life and that is a terrible burden to bear on both sides of this subjective issue.

I have confidence in the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office and their Internal Affairs division that conducted the investigation. I have personal knowledge of how the MCSO will hang officers who choose to break the law and try to hide behind their badge, rank and other officers. Ed Copher headed up the investigation and I know him personally.

The family and friends of Clayton would like to have closure. They'd like to be able to point the finger at anything or anyone other than Clayton. That is understandable. They would like to see many things. They'd like to see the legalization of marijuana, they'd like to see Kent Moore go down for his actions, they'd like to change the system. All of this is expected reaction to tragedy.

Others would like to say they would shoot first and look later. They say they would have shot at the officers. They exhibit a culpability that the officers didn't have when executing the warrant. Unfortunately, emotions have a tendancy to cloud reason when dealing with something or someone close to you.

Everyone wants answers. Answers come and if they don't fit your prejudiced, pre-determined outcome for justice, they are no longer answers, but excuses. There is correct answers out there, it depends on your position whether or not you believe them. None of these answers will be the right answer unless it fits what you expect. "Quick to judge" goes both ways.

I have never really expressed that I fear the only resolution or closure to this will be with God. I'm not much for preaching, but in cases like this, the healing will not come from money, blame or lawsuits. Healing will come from knowing that Clayton was chosen by God to leave this earth. Remember that there is no higher court than that of God and in knowing that, the healing can begin.

There were many lessons to be learned by this whole thing. It is up to each individual to objectively question themselves if they learned the right ones.

Personally, I do not rejoice in the decision by the grand jury. I don't disagree with it either. It would be easier, for those on a personal basis, if they found that it was negligence or culpable on the part of Officer Moore. I'm sure it would be easier on everyone if they had a clear cut case either way.

I'm rambling and it pisses people off when I write anything more than 3 sentences, so I'll shut up now. I just hope the family, friends and others find a way to start the healing. If it takes bickering about the legalities of marijuana, talking about shooting cops when they come busting in your door, then so be it. If it helps, then have at it.

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Your posting pretty much sums it all up.

The Grand Jury's finding was exactly as I had written that it would be back in November. (However that certainly does not make me a genius) Despite the "Ian Albert" ranting about his lie detector test and the fact that he was going to bring down the cops with his testimony, all the emotions and all the hopes and wishes of the unfortunate families in this case were not enough to change the facts. There was no criminal intent by officer Moore or the team. Now a civil suit will take place, and there may in fact be money awarded, but I’m sure that means nothing to Clayton’s family or friends.

And it’s always good for us to understand, that, no God did not call Clayton home, or decide that his time was up on earth. Nowhere, in the Word, beyond the new covenant, does it say that God comes to “rob, kill, steal, and destroy” but rather that comes from the opposite source. But there can be comfort in the knowledge that he may in fact be there now.

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(not currently able to access page 2 of this thread, but will be sure to post should it become available - admin)