No knock warrants:

Nine seconds:

"Police! [Garble. Garble.] Get on the Floor! Police!  [Garble.] Get on the fucking floor."

Bang. Bang. Bang.

The words are nearly unintelligible because four or five men were shouting at the same time.  Watch:

Click here. 

The Minneapolis police were investigating a murder that took place in the neighboring twin city of St. Paul, Minnesota. The police were not looking for Amir Locke, the man who was shot and killed, but he was on the couch of the place searched. He was wrapped in blankets just inside the door. He had a gun in hand when he was seen by police. A police officer entering the room decided in that instant that lives were in danger. A police officer shot and killed him.

The police department's interim chief said that their entry was announced. Officers "loudly and repeatedly announced ‘police search warrant’ before crossing the threshold into the apartment.” I have listened multiple times to the recording and cannot decipher the word "warrant" but I did hear "police" and "get on the fucking floor." Mostly I heard a cacophony of shouting. I watched them enter immediately, not after a warning.

I imagined myself being asleep in my bed in the middle of the night. I identified with Locke, startled out of sleep by angry shouting. The warrant was served just before 7:00 a.m. according to reports. Sunrise in Minneapolis is at 7:30. It would be dark out.  

Maybe Locke was awakened from sleep. I would have been wide awake for several hours at that hour, preparing a blog post. I would have been startled and frightened, but not groggy. Amir Locke may have been asleep and confused. It is not unusual or criminal to be asleep on a couch a half hour before sunrise. 

He was holding a gun. Guns seem suspicious to me. Very possibly he was up to no good. I don't identify with a man sleeping near a gun, but I am aware that many people keep guns in their houses for protection against intruders. I am reminded by conservative readers that it is a 2nd Amendment right. Having a gun at hand doesn't need explanation or justification under the law. It isn't criminal. 

I don't keep a gun near my bedside, although I consider it. I sometimes get unhinged comments sent to this blog. I send some of them to the police for a file they keep of these comments. They tell me they are evidence of disturbed thinking, but the letters and comments are not criminal in themselves. Carrying a handgun for personal protection is a two-edged sword. It might protect me from an intruder. If I were startled awake by the sound of a door crashing and men shouting and coming toward me and my wife, my instinct certainly would be to reach for a gun if one were nearby. Wouldn't anyone? If it were a thief or crazy person, I would be glad to have it. If it were the police, it might get me killed. Of course, having no gun may not protect me against police moving quickly in the dark. Consider the speed of their entry, the obscurement of the blankets, and the near-instant decision that there was a deadly threat, all amid the chaos of officers moving quickly and shouting. In the uncertain light police might mistake my black bedside telephone for a gun if it appeared suddenly out of blankets. 

I understand that police have every right and need to protect themselves. They undoubtedly thought they were going into a dangerous place. And they were. They encountered an armed man there. They were in uniform and shouting verbal commands, the first two steps in the continuum of force. Under the circumstances, in a dark room with bright lights shined at Locke, their uniforms would have been unseen, especially if he was groggy with sleep. He would have been blinded by their high-powered flashlights. Giving clear commands is step two. My sense is that a half-dozen men each shouting different things to a man wrapped in blankets is better described as a chaotic provocation, not a clear command. 

I think police escalated this encounter. They could have gotten themselves and multiple innocent parties killed in the apartment and ones around it. As it was, one person was killed, and he was doing nothing criminal.

Oregon has outlawed no-knock search warrants. So has Florida and Virginia. Note that the Minneapolis police may not consider this a "no knock" warrant. After all, the interim chief claimed the police "loudly and repeatedly" gave warning before crossing the threshold. This simply isn't true. They burst in. 

I was brought up to respect the police. My assumption has been that police officers are the good guys and would be reliable witnesses. I have mentioned this assumption to former trial judges and attorneys who work criminal cases. They laugh at my naïveté.  

I have placed inquiries with the City of Medford police and the Jackson County, Oregon sheriff department to learn their on-the-ground practices when making searches. Southern Oregon has illegal cannabis grow-sites and there are announcements of busts and seizures of cannabis and cash every week. I will report what they tell me.