Lima PD still risking lives to make drug arrests
Police find $15K in cocaine in drug raid
LIMA -- Lima police recovered $15,000 in cocaine during a drug raid at a local residence.
Police also found two handguns and a shotgun inside the home, all of which were loaded. The shotgun was reported stolen from Shawnee Township, police reported.
Two people were arrested during the raid at 409 W. Wayne St. Those arrested were Ricky Brown, 26, charged with possession of cocaine, and Kimberly O'Dell, 24, charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of marijuana, police reported.
Here is yet another example of a Police Department using military force against two residents because they were wanted on nonviolent drug offense. These kinds of raids endanger not only citizens, but also the police officers. Such raids escalate the situation and bring unneccesary violence on what should otherwise be a routine police procedure. People are arrested every day, but when drugs are involved, police departments, like Lima, are routinely resorting to military tactics just because they can. Such actions have not tactical value and are inherently dangerous for the cops and others.
Such force is not necessary and is, in fact, more dangerous than simply arresting those involved on the streets and then searching the residence with a proper search warrant. Had the feds followed that procedure at the Branch Davidian compound in 1993, more than 50 people would still be alive today, including a few law enforcement officers.
Federal charges against Chavalia?
Derek Sells, an attorney for the Wilson family, announces the federal lawsuit while Darla Jennings, Tarika Wilson's mother, dabs tears in the background. (Photo by CRAIG J. OROSZ/The Lima News)
The FBI has concluded its investigation of Lima Police Department Sgt. Joe Chavalia's negligent shooting death of Tarika Wilson and has forwarded its findings to the U.S. Justice Department. The Justice Department will have to make a decision as to whether the shooting warrants federal charges.
Clearly it does.
The acquittal of Chavalia on Monday was nothing less than jury nullification. The jury was provided with clear and convincing evidence that Chavalia negligently discharged his weapon, killed an unarmed woman, and maimed a 1-year-old boy.
Wilson, the physical evidence showed (despite Chavalia's contradictory testimony), was complying with his orders when he ended her life.
For his part, Chavalia heard gunfire and, without even attempting to identify where that gunfire originated, fired his weapon into the room at the woman and baby on the off chance that was from where the gunfire was coming. This despite his own admission that he saw no hands, saw no gun and saw no muzzle flashes. The lack of muzzle flashes in the dark should have set off alarm bells for him, especially with his many years of experience and training.
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Chavalia verdict a defeat for rule of law
Lima Police Department Sgt. Joe Chavalia sits in court Monday, August 4, 2008, during the fifth day of his trial in Allen County Common Pleas Court. (Lima News photo/ KELLI CARDINAL)
The not guilty verdict in the Sgt. Joe Chavalia case was an injustice. However, it came as no surprise because juries only rarely convict police officers. Just another sign of our burgeoning police state where people respect law enforcers more than they do the rule of law.
It's a sad day indeed when a city employee can kick in the door of an American citizen in the middle of the night and negligently shoot an unarmed, kneeling woman holding a baby from five feet away and not even be held accountable for those actions.
This is not the kind of America envisioned by the Founders. It is certainly not the kind of government activity one would expect in a free country.
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Chavalia trial verdict: NOT GUILTY!
The jury is in and it found Sgt. Joe Chavalia not guilty of all charges.
Unfortunate.
Chavalia trial: Jury is returning ...
Jury is about to release its verdict. Stay tuned.
Chavalia trial day 5: Scanlon lied
Lima Police Department Sgt. Joe Chavalia sits in court Monday, August 4, 2008, during the fifth day of his trial in Allen County Common Pleas Court. James Scanlon, a Columbus police officer and witness for the defense, was the last to testify before closing arguments. An eight person jury will decide if Chavalia is guilty of negligent homicide for the death of 26-year-old Tarika Wilson and negligent assault in the wounding of 1-year-old Sincere Wilson during a January drug raid on Third Street in Lima. (Lima News photo/ KELLI CARDINAL)
Officer James Scanlon lied under oath today when he said not only would he have fired his weapon at Tarika Wilson, he would have done so sooner than did Sgt. Joe Chavalia.
It was a lie.
There is no way Scanlon could possibly know how he would have reacted in that situation. I guess if you pay a witness enough money, he will say whatever necessary to excuse someone else's actions.
When it comes to cop trials, the testimony of other cops, except those actually involved in the investigation, is automatically suspect. There is a long history of cops protecting their own.
While Scanlon was not there, Sgt. Ron Holman, who was a mere inches from Chavalia, testified he did not believe they were under fire and therefore would not have, and did not, fire his weapon.
Now whom are you going to believe? A Columbus cop who makes a living militarizing SWAT teams, or a Lima sergeant who was actually at the scene and a mere few inches from Chavalia when the shooting occurred?
Now that the testimony is over, if I were on that jury, I don't see how I could vote any way other than guilty.
Let's recap:
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Chavalia trial day 4: Testimony was unpersuasive
- Sgt. Joe Chavalia illustrates the direction he had his gun pointed on the stairs in the house during day four of his trial. (Lima News photo/KELLI CARDINAL)
Sgt. Joe Chavalia's testimony Thursday was unpersuasive. In fact, parts of it seemed to contradict expert testimony as well as the physical evidence.
Given the choice between believing the suspect and the physical evidence, the choice is clear. I am sure all you cops reading this would agree that you would not believe a suspect if his or her statements contradicted the physical evidence, unless of course the suspect was one of your own. Then it's time to circle the wagons.
At one point, Chavalia flat-out lied on the stand when he said he properly identified his target. He clearly did not. If Chavalia had identified his target, he would not have fired. If he identified his target and still fired his weapon, he would have crossed the line from negligent homicide to murder. I don't believe that happened.
At another point in his testimony, Chavalia said he kept seeing this shadowy figure appear in and out of the doorway. However, the physical evidence shows without a doubt that Tarika Wilson was in a near prone or kneeling position when she was shot. She was not moving in and out of the door frame in that position while holding an infant.
Chavalia also admitted that he did not see hands, a weapon, or muzzle flashes coming from Wilson's room. The wood around him was not splintering, which would have happened because Chavalia was behind a wooden railing and, when he shot Wilson, had to fire through the railing and he even splintered the wood.
Also, he was unable to explain why the officer directly behind him, one with less experience, was able to determine that the gunfire was from downstairs.
Nor did he adequately explain his inability to see Wilson. She was in a lit room and Chavalia had a flashlight on her from only five feet away. In fact, he said he was able to tell she was an adult. I don't know about you, but I would not be able to tell the difference between an adult and a child based simply on a silhouette or shadow.
That Chavalia had the time to twice bark orders to Wilson tells me that he wasn't acting out of surprise.
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Chavalia trial day 3: Looking bad for the sergeant
- John Foy, a firearms expert with the Ohio Peace Officers Training Academy, examines Sgt. Joe Chavalia's weapon Wednesday during the third day of Chavalia's trial. Foy testified he believes Tarika Wilson was obeying Chavalia's orders when she was shot. (Photo by Kelli Cardinal/The Lima News)
Now that the prosecution has rested, it is Sgt. Joe Chavalia's turn.
He has a difficult road ahead. The case against him is strong.
After Wednesday's testimony, it is clearer to me that Chavalia fired his weapon in a negligent manner.
The defense, in order to win me over, will have to convincingly explain several things:
Why did Chavalia have his weapon on automatic when the rest of the Special Weapons and Tactics team were operating on semiautomatic?- Why did he think he was being fired on from a woman holding a child who was getting on the ground as he ordered?
- Why did he think he was being fired on when he saw no muzzle flashes from the room?
- Why did he think he was being fired on when the officer directly behind him (so close, in fact, that Chavalia could not retreat) did not suffer the same illusion?
- Why did he not exercise proper restraint and identify his target as he was trained to do?
Testimony that Tarika Wilson was on her knees and leaning forward as in the process of getting prone was the most damaging testimony of the day. That is going to be a hard fact for Chavalia to get around.
Some of you, who are operating with emotions rather than logic, seem to think it is OK for cops to fire on civilians willy-nilly. This is a dangerous idea.
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Medal of valor for incompetent cops?
This story from The Associated Press is unbelievable. These eight cops, acting on a bad tip from an informant, kick in the door of the home of an innocent family Dec. 16 in Minneapolis. The owner of the home, fearing for his life, opens fire on the cops. Because the cops were wearing body armor, none of them were hurt
Still, the cops returned fire. Apparently, though, they need to spend a little more time on the firing range because all they managed to do was fill the house with bullet holes and broken glass.
Now, on Monday, the chief award these Keystone cops medals of valor while the family, including the children, are still suffering from the trauma of their mistakes.
It is shocking that in this day and age that cops continue to kick in doors based on the word of a street informant. A simple survelliance of the home would have told them it was the wrong house.
Still, in the end, even if the officers were not responsible, which they were, they certainly did not deserve medals of valor.
Despicable.
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Chavalia trial day 2: Looks guilty to me
- Crime scene investigator Keith Williamson handles the rifle used by Sgt. Joe Chavalia during day two of his trial. The 31-year veteran of the Lima Police Department was charged with two misdemeanors from the Jan. 4 fatal shooting of Tarika Wilson. (Photo by KELLI CARDINAL/The Lima News)
After the first real day of the trial of Lima Police Department Sgt. Joe Chavalia, I am more convinced than ever that this officer is guilty (Read the trial story here). Unfortunately, I do not think the prosecutor is hammering home the points he needs to get that guilty conviction. Seems he is putting on a softball prosecution because Chavalia is a cop.
There are numerous facts that point to Chavalia's guilt, but the most telling was the testimony of Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation Agent Keith Williamson. When defense attorney Bill Kluge asked Williamson about the bullet trajectories, Williamson said the three bullets Chavalia fired from five feet away crossed the doorframe's threshold at between 20 inches and 28 inches above the floor. The victim, Tarika Wilson, was 60 inches tall and the bullets hit her in the chest and neck.
In order for the bullets to have entered her body at that height, she would have had to been low to the ground, perhaps obeying Chavalia's commands for her to get down on the ground. Kluge will have to explain this away.
Some other facts to consider:
- Wilson was in a lit room while the rest of the house was dark. This would have made her extremely visible to Chavalia, who was only five feet from her position. Additionally, Chavalia's military-style AR-15 rifle had a flashlight attached to it. This would have put more illumination on Wilson. This calls into question his dubious claim that he could not see her well.
- Kluge claimed that Chavalia heard four shots fired when the officers on the first floor shot the household dogs. Chavalia, Kluge further claims, thought those shots were coming at him from above. This claim does not hold water. Shots below you and not fired at you sound distinctly different from shots fired near you or at you. I have been on both ends of that equation. You can tell the difference. In addition, the officer behind Chavalia on the stairs, Sgt. Ron Holman, said he thought the four shots were coming from the first floor. How did Holman, with less experience than Chavalia, correctly identify the gunfire and Chavalia did not? Probably because that excuse is simply not true and Chavalia is using it to excuse his failure to exercise proper restraint.
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