Guerena family files $20 million lawsuit
Ponsdorf sends us a link to a Pima County local TV station which reports that Vanessa Guerena has filed a twenty million dollar lawsuit against Pima County agencies. ms. Guerena is the widow of former Marine and Iraq veteran, Jose Guerena who was murdered by police while they attempted to serve a warrant in early morning hours.
Chris Scileppi says he is filing the lawsuit to send a strong message to law enforcement officers everywhere. Was a SWAT team warranted to issue this search warrant? “We are not living in a police state here. There is still a bill of rights. There is still a constitution. Under certain circumstances of course it’s warranted to send a SWAT team in, but not this,” said Scileppi. He said the eight seconds officers gave Guerena was not enough time for anyone who was asleep, to respond. Scileppi also said, Guerena was armed with a rifle because he believed someone was trying to break into his home, and was not aware it was police officers outside.
This is video of the aftermath of the killing when Pima County’s SWAT Association took Ms. Guerena into custody after she had to step over the body of her husband’s bullet riddled body;
This is the most damaging evidence against the SWAT Association, in my opinion. It’s the door frame of the Guerena house which shows conclusively that members of the SWAT club were firing indiscriminately into the house like it was some grand mad-minute event at the county fair;
Category: The Guerena Killing
Good for Ms Guerena.
I hope she and her lawyer are able to draw a decent judge, and win against the Pima County SWAT and Sheriffs. The authoritahs must be brought to heel on a short leash.
As various of my NCOs taught me over many years, there are two places where you can grab a soldier’s attention — their time, and their money. This will definitely grab them in the money department.
Oh, and no “secrecy” clauses, or “we’ll pay it but won’t admit to any wrong-doing”. Let it all be out in the open, with an up-or-down, guilty or not guilty.
Five shots to nowhere just in that one photo. No fire discipline, crappy tactics and the inability to actually shoot well are apparently not a bar to joining Pima County’s SWAT team, eh?
Hopefully she sticks through this thing. No one wants this to turn into another one of those incidents where the defendants offer a quarter of the original dollar amount, the plaintiffs agree, and the defendants admit no wrongdoing.
Pima County should pay the 20 million before they change their minds, they’re getting a break here. This is a triple digit suit if ever I saw one.
I’m willing to go way out on a limb for our law enforcement but this is the most outrageous thing I’ve seen in quite some time. All of those rejects should be in jail and the county should pay her the $20 mill before she changes her mind and go’s for $200
I can’t believe those big old boys dragging her out like that. She’s no bigger than a minute. They could of grabbed her up around the waist and carried her all the way to Timbuktu with no sweat.
I hate when some untrained part of our law enforcement community messes up like this just as I hate seeing a military unit really mess up. Everyone forgets the other 99.9% out there doing their job in a professional manner some of them serving communities where they are never given the credit they deserve.
Someone’s head should roll on this one though and really I put the blame with those tasked to oversee and train these men.
Why are these Barney Fifes always more heavily armed and less responsible for their actions than soldiers?
Pretty typical of the Barney Fife jackass SWAT teams that every police department now has.