Pueblo SWAT Team Draws Down On 60-Year Old Vet Instead Of The 18-Year Old They Were After
BY Herschel Smith
7 years, 1 month ago
The couple had moved to their house on Arroyo and Bohmen avenues less than a month before. The former tenants included a known gang member, Timothy Tafoya.
Four days before, Tafoya had shot and killed 32-year-old Ricky Muniz as he confronted Tafoya and another man as they spray painted gang-affiliated graffiti behind his house.
Pueblo police identified Tafoya as a person of interest and obtained several search warrants, including one to look for evidence of graffiti material, devices that hold photos and messages, gang paraphernalia and jewelry — but not a weapon — at the house that Tafoya hadn’t lived in for about two months after his family had been evicted, according to the lawsuit.
Police watching the house said they had seen Tafoya, who was wearing an ankle monitor, outside the residence, according to the lawsuit. But they did not see him enter or leave the house. Officers and SWAT were given a description and photos of Tafoya. Then, they surrounded the house.
But instead of a 21-year-old man walking out the front door, they were met face to face with a 60-year-old man with a bad back.
Officers shouted for Duran to put up his hands, which he did.
He exited with his hands up and was told to back up toward the SWAT officers, which he did until he backed into the barrel of a firearm at the back of his head, according to the lawsuit. He was then handcuffed and given to Officer Jackie Torres.
She forced him to bend over and walked him to a police SUV, putting him in the back. Duran has previously had surgery on his back and said he was screaming, “My back! My back! I’m disabled,” according to the lawsuit. Deborah Duran was also handcuffed and detained.
About 10 minutes later, Det. Glen Fillmore uncuffed William Duran, taking him out of the car, and saying, “Obviously, you are not the people we are looking for,” according to the lawsuit.
Good Lord. The guy they were after was wearing an ankle monitor. How much easier can this get? Do they have such things as detectives in this part of the world?
But hey. Most 60 year old and 18 year old men look the same to me too. The good news is that even though the cops violated the most basic rules of gun safety and reduced margin in the defense in depth to killing someone by pointing the muzzle of their weapons, at least they got to go home safely at the end of their shift.
As far as I’m concerned, nothing is more important than that. Not constitutional rights, not the fourth amendment, nothing. I know you all feel the same way.
On September 29, 2017 at 12:59 pm, Fred said:
Happens everyday, I’m looking for some 20 years old Mexican but start throwing crippled up Vietnam vets around and tossing them in the back of my car. What’s the big deal? In the 3 block war it’s the vet and his wife’s fault for being on the wrong block anyway.
On September 29, 2017 at 1:22 pm, Longbow said:
Hell, why didn’t he just submit and comply? Submit! Submit! Its what free men do!
Oh, thats what he did?
Well see? He was released after a little while. So it all worked out. So what if he got a little butt hurt? We’re talkin’ about Officer Safety here! And, everybody knows that an Officer’s life is infinitely more valuable than some “perp”…, Uh, I mean “civilian”.
Besides all that, if it was the Cops what dunnit, it was the right thing to do, ’cause it was the Cops what dunnit! So there!
On September 29, 2017 at 8:09 pm, James said:
Well,that seems like some real quality intelligence gathering on that raid,this gets uglier daily.
On September 30, 2017 at 10:15 pm, Michael said:
Cops in America = The biggest armed gang anywhere.
That pretty much explains everything. They can do what they want, where they want, when they want because they’re part of a street gang. And, gang members watch out for each other.