Utah police did little investigation before drug raid in which a poLiceman was killed
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RR Phantom
Location : Wasted Space Job/hobbies : Cayman Islands Actuary
Subject: Utah police did little investigation before drug raid in which a poLiceman was killed Wed Jul 23, 2014 10:58 pm
In January 2011, the Weber-Morgan County Narcotics Strike Force conducted a nighttime drug raid on the Ogden, Utah, home of Matthew David Stewart. An ex-girlfriend had tipped off the police that Stewart was growing pot in his basement. He was; Stewart, a former veteran, suffered from PTSD, and used the pot to self-medicate. The police had no evidence that Stewart was selling any of his pot. Once police took down his door with a battering ram, Stewart, who was sleeping, grabbed a handgun. A gunfight ensued. Five officers were wounded. Another, Jared Francom, was killed. Stewart was shot twice.
Stewart was later charged with capital murder — the intentional killing of a police officer. He had no prior criminal record. When he recovered in the hospital, Stewart said he had no idea that the men breaking into his home were police. Months before the Stewart raid, the same task force shot and killed a man named Todd Blair during a meth raid. Blair was not the suspect they were looking for. They were investigating his roommate. But when Blair responded to the sounds of men breaking into his home at night by running out of his bedroom with a golf club, they gunned him down.