October 23, 2006

Hidden: Shaq raids home: Supposely Shaq raided the wrong home over a child-porn case.

posted by SDM to basketball at 09:41 PM - 20 comments

I highly doubt Shaq was leading the raid. Or that he was anything but a "face" for the police. That said, the cops are in deep, deep kaka because of this. You'd think people would have realized that IP addresses are not the same as street addresses. But I guess they need a few more lawsuits before they get it. I wonder if they'll go after him in the lawsuit as well?

posted by fenriq at 09:57 PM on October 23, 2006

Unfortunate situation, but no one can deny the intentions were good, and just. I hope they got who they were looking for.

posted by mjkredliner at 10:08 PM on October 23, 2006

Torquemada's intentions were good too. So? Raiding the wrong home is a truly bad and dangerous thing for a lot of reasons. And it sounds like they specifically did not get who they were looking for, which makes this whole operation (at best) sad and at worst, well, way worse. Suspected sexual predator is still on the loose, a community is now more afraid than before, time & money wasted, a lot of bad comes out of something like this. fenriq's right in that this has very little to do with Shaq, although it's disturbing to know that he (and presumably this is a regular occurrence) has been assigned to a place where he doesn't know the area, the layout, the demographics, or the individual people he is to serve at all. In fact, I'm not sure this belongs on SpoFi.

posted by chicobangs at 11:38 PM on October 23, 2006

Shaq's contract allows him to do this? I guess you just can't torquemada anything.

posted by BullpenPro at 11:53 PM on October 23, 2006

Hardly a realistic comparism, chico, and I seriously doubt the entire community is afraid because of one grievous error by the local PD. Let the people who were intruded upon file suit, they are entitled to that, but I say it was worth it if the police catch the lowlife they were looking for. Those people will get over their inconvenience, many children may not.

posted by mjkredliner at 12:08 AM on October 24, 2006

I was wondering the same exact thing BpP, with all of the clauses in contracts nowdays about harmful activities on a players offtime, you'd think participating in SWAT team raids would be a big no no.

posted by jojomfd1 at 12:23 AM on October 24, 2006

There's no proof that there even is a "lowlife," and there are laws to protect innocent people from having their dinner interrupted by gun-toting seven-foot cops who know absolutely nothing about the neighborhood they're about to invade and apparently don't have their street numbers right. This is not a sports thread, and no good discussion will come of it. I move for deletion. My email is in my profile.

posted by chicobangs at 01:51 AM on October 24, 2006

I agree, this raid was badly bungled, and inviting Shaq to participate was stupid and unethical, for this, I put as much onus on Shaq as the PD. I also believe that people who would exploit children in such a manner, or those who would collect/view such material, deserve the full brunt of the law. I would hope many agree.

posted by mjkredliner at 06:52 AM on October 24, 2006

It wasn't Shaq's fault that he was sent to the wrong house. It's not like he was leading the raid. Shaq was reserve officer in LA when he was playing there as well. He has gone through the academy and has received a lot of training since then. He went to school and studied to be a police officer and has gone through all the same training as the rest of the force that's out there. I don't see this as a problem, hell it is commendable in my opinion that he cares enough to do that kind of work when he doesn't have too. Was this a botched raid by the PD, hell yes, that family will get more than compensated for that by the time the lawyers are through. however to put any of the blame on Shaq or to knock him for giving a damn and wanting to be part of the police force is a bit much. He was following someone else's orders reserve officers do not lead raids. Notice that no one is singling out any of the other officers, including the ones that gave the wrong info to the SWAT team OR the person who actually was leading the raid. Wonder why that is?? :) MJK why is it "unethical" to have a trained reserve police officer on a raid?

posted by T.C. at 07:46 AM on October 24, 2006

This barely has anything to do with Shaq, and is no way sports-related. I second the suggestion to delete.

posted by psmealey at 08:26 AM on October 24, 2006

MJK, do you really believe anyone here is arguing with you over whether child porn is bad? Seriously? And this is about sports how, exactly?

posted by chicobangs at 08:31 AM on October 24, 2006

I also believe that people who would exploit children in such a manner, or those who would collect/view such material, deserve the full brunt of the law. I'd be interested to hear your opinions on fuzzy bunnies.

posted by yerfatma at 08:45 AM on October 24, 2006

This sports related because what they didn't tell you is that the Miami Police were running the Split Option Drag Screen play. They kicked down the front and the back doors and tore through the house. Officer El Nacho threw a line drive pass of the cuffs to Shaq who took the perp up for a slam dunk on the couch. After slapping the cuffs on Shaq handed him off to Officer Le Tour de France, who read him his rights in seven different languages, including swahili. After that they ran a fade play back to car, but the man's lawyer called interference and the ref ruled the arrest dead. Due to the misplay, Team Justice lost.

posted by apoch at 08:47 AM on October 24, 2006

No matter what the raid was for, I bet anyone on the other side of the door had to clean their pants when a 7'0 350+ man kicks in the door!

posted by warstda at 08:54 AM on October 24, 2006

Not Sports. Delete please.

posted by scully at 09:01 AM on October 24, 2006

Maddux is behind this somewhere, I just know it.

posted by jojomfd1 at 09:03 AM on October 24, 2006

DELETE THIS GARBAGE!!! WHO POSTED THIS NONSENSE, BILL O'REILLY???

posted by samPman at 09:29 AM on October 24, 2006

DELETE THIS GARBAGE!!! WHO POSTED THIS NONSENSE, BILL O'REILLY??? You've waited six months to make your first comment, and that was it? And what the hell does Bill O'Reilly have to do with anything? Good Lord, I fourth (or fifth, or sixth, or whatever the hell we're up to here) the call for deletion. Psst, samPman...if you hit the "Caps Lock" button again, all your letters won't come out as capitals.

posted by The_Black_Hand at 09:50 AM on October 24, 2006

Is it really possible to post to a thread that's been deleted?

posted by apoch at 10:22 AM on October 24, 2006

T.C., Unethical in many ways, but mostly because I'm sure Shaq was invited to participate only because of his celebrity instead of his qualifications. chico, I wasn't sure because of your vague reference comparing The Spanish Inquisition to police officers serving a warrant on a child porn suspect. yerfatma, Huh? apoch, I reckon it is.

posted by mjkredliner at 04:31 PM on October 24, 2006

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