Colorado, again

Associated Press story posted at cbs4denver.com

A tactical law enforcement team broke into Tom Shiflett's home and took his 11-year-old son to hospital for court-ordered medical treatment for a minor head injury.

Garfield County's [Colorado] All Hazards Response Team raided the home Friday night, a day after Jon Shiflett fell after grabbing the handle of a moving car. The child was returned to the family at about 2:30 a.m. Saturday, hours after the raid.

“Inappropriate is not nearly strong enough a word. It was gross irresponsibility and stupidity,” said Ross Talbott, owner of the Apple Tree Mobile Home Park south of New Castle who rents to the Shifletts and who witnessed the raid. “Is this Russia? I don't know what we're coming to when they think your kid needs medical help and they send a SWAT team.”

But...

Use of the Garfield County All Hazards Response Team (AHRT) was appropriate to seize Tom Shiflett's son for medical care because of Shiflett's confrontational history and repeated lack of cooperation, according to Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario.

“I wouldn't have done it if I didn't think we would have been able to accomplish it with just the deputies we had on duty,” Vallario said. “The end result of what happened was based on (Shiflett's) decisions, not mine.” – Glenwood Springs Post Independent

But...

Vallario said Shiflett was arrested in 2005 on suspicion of felony menacing after chasing someone down the street with an ax...

The 2005 arrest was never prosecuted... Vallario said he didn't know why the decision [not to prosecute] was made.

Shiflett said he did.

"I was completely within my rights under the Make My Day law," he said.

That Colorado law allows homeowners to use deadly force defending themselves from an intruder who is considered to be a threat.

Shiflett said he picked up the ax and chased the man out of his yard after 40 minutes of listening to his threats. He said he was the one that called the sheriff's office. – Glenwood Springs Post Independent

From Phil Dean's comment at Instapundit:

Based on the facts we know, I don't agree that the raid was necessarily excessive. Consider: the police have to enforce the court order. They sent two deputies to knock on the door and ask. They were unsuccessful. THEY STILL HAVE TO ENFORCE THE COURT ORDER. Now, whether this particular court order was reasonable or not is a separate issue, but that's not the cops’ doing. And as far as “accountability” goes, they can also be held accountable for NOT executing a court order pertaining to the health and safety of a child. Just another one of the damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't scenarios that make modern law enforcement so much fun.

Except, as somebody remarked recently, the “I was just following orders” defense was ruled invalid internationally at Nuremberg, and domestically with Watergate.
Notice also the silence from the Child Protection people who requested the order, and the judge who issued it.

Another datapoint making Colorado a less attractive place to live.

Previously: Welcome to the Peoples Republic of Colorado. Your papers, please.

Via: Instapundit

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 16:21:58 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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