We hope you will! He then put the car in drive and accelerated forward, nearly striking Billy Shane Harris, an agent for the Mountain Narcotics Criminal Investigation & Suppression Team. They followed him to a gas station where he stopped to withdraw money from an ATM machine. "The vigilantes will get their justice, hopefully, in civil court. One of the people he had been helping was a woman who had a history of problems. The man that Harrison, a Stephens County sheriff's deputy, killed in downtown Toccoa was Jonathan Ayers a young, popular preacher who had inadvertently stepped into an undercover drug investigation. When he returned and got into his car they pounced. These officers jumped from an SUV waving their guns commando-style over a possible $50 drug transaction. Some say Ayers was obviously frightened by two men running to his car and he did not know they were police, though witnesses told the grand jury they heard Harrison and Oxner identify themselves. Ayers was shot Drug task force that killed an innocent pastor in 2009 also involved in burned toddler story*, For Ovechkin in winter, a deadline sell-off makes sense this spring, Commanders cut Carson Wentz and Bobby McCain, clearing cap space, The NFL deserves every bit of its raging Daniel Snyder headache, burned a toddler with a flashbang grenade. Ayers was shot in the liver and later died in a hospital operating room. Learn how your comment data is processed. Neither the family or Mrs. Ayers have embraced any of this, attorney Richard Hendrix said. In a lawsuit filed last week, Abigail Ayers makes some astonishing new allegations about the competence of the police officers who killed her husband, the supervisors who hired them, and the law enforcement agencies and the grand jury that investigated Ayers' death. In my post on Ayers, I noted how little professional accountability there had been for the death of Jonathan Ayers. Police said they later observed a white male in a red Honda Civic give the woman money. They pulled up behind him in an unmarked black SUV. So maybe we should take Rickmans quick assessment of this weeks raid with a grain of salt. She prohibited him from possessing weapons or consuming alcohol if released from jail. They ordered him not to put the car in reverse, but Ayers did so anyway and accelerated, making contact with an officer behind the car. They also had badges around their necks.". He put his car in reverse and attempted to escape. Tragically, that cost Ayers his life when, on September 1, 2009, he gave a woman named Johanna Jones Barrett $23 to help her pay her rent. Drug raids are often conducted based on information from informants (many of them drug users and/or low-level drug dealers), but all too often, the information is unreliable and costs innocent victims their lives. Yards down the street, Ayers car jumped a curb and hit a tree. Dorothy Duckett, a 78-year-old neighbor, told the San Jose Mercury Newsthat when Cardenas was running away, he had his hands in the air and was yelling, Dont shoot.. She also received If the story ended there, it would merely be enough to boil your blood. Despite the fact that Harrison had killed a man suspected of no crime months earlier without having undergone lethal-force training and certification, the officer was still carrying his badge and gun up until the time of the WSBTV report. | A 34-year-old Snellville woman has been identified as the victim of a fatal shooting that occurred at her place of employment in the Centerville area on Friday. The officers saw the woman in a car with Ayers and saw what they believed was a drug transaction, Bankhead said. I'm thinking of Dustin Pigeon, Andrew Thomas, Daniel Shaver and Jonathan Ayers. In September 2009, Johnathan Ayers, a 28-year-old Baptist pastor from Lavonia, Ga., was gunned down by a North Georgia narcotics task force in the parking lot of a gas station. Privacy Policy | Local citizens held several vigils calling for a complete investigation into the police shooting. These are some of the best places to take them in Hall County, Best breakfast in Hall County? Hall school board approves $11M for giant classroom touchscreens. He died four hours later at the local hospital of his gunshot wound. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment at Fort Bragg, N.C., before reporting to the 173rd in July 2006. An investigation revealed that after Johnstons death, a major coverup was attempted, including planting bags of marijuana in her house and trying to bully White into lying and saying that Johnston was selling crack cocaine. He says he and his wife have been followed, even down the mile-long dirt road to their house. Bob Claytor, pastor at Grace Baptist Church in Toccoa. WebA Stephens County grand jury decided that narcotics officers Billy Shane Harrison and Kyle Bryant were justified in shooting Jonathan Ayers, 28, pastor of Shoal Creek Baptist Ayers, who was white, had a reputation for being the type of Christian who didnt spend all of his time on a soap box preaching about sin and salvationhe actually put his money where his mouth was, became active in his community, and did things to help people. But instead of apprehending her at the motel, they instead followed Ayers, the stranger they'd just seen give her a ride and hand her some cash. | Jonathan Ayers; Toccoa, Georgia, 2009. Select the best result to find their address, phone number, relatives, and public records. Apologists for the killing claimed that Mena (a Mexican immigrant) had a gun, and LeRoy Lemos (a community activist) responded: If police hadn't gotten the wrong house, Mena would be alive. Officers claimed Navarro had a gun and fired at them, but ballistics tests proved that all 30 shots were fired by the officers. The badges they had hanging from their necks, seen in this photo, were far from conspicuous. According to an interview Barrett gave to the North Georgian newspaper shortly after Ayers' death, the pastor had seen her walking near a gas station on her way back to an extended-stay motel where she was living with her boyfriend. One of the most disturbing examples of "collateral damage" in the war on drugs was that of the Rev. The officers were undercover, dressed in shabby clothes and ski-mask caps. One such victim was 22-year-old Pedro Oregon Navarro. Bob Allen is managing editor of Associated Baptist Press. Harris fired twice at the fleeing vehicle, grazing Ayers on the arm and striking him in the torso. Wanis Thonetheva, thats the person I blame in all this. Published: Jul. U.S. District Judge Richard Story also decreased the initial amount awarded in damages and expenses. undercover with the Mountain Judicial Circuit Narcotics Criminal Investigation and Suppression team on the night of the shooting, Sept. 1, 2009. A grand jury on Friday found that an officer-involved shooting in which a Lavonia minister was killed was justified. After GeorgiasMountain Judicial Circuit Narcotics Criminal Investigation and Suppression Team burned a toddler with a flashbang grenade during a drug raid on Wednesday, Habersham County Sheriff Joey Terrell told Access North Georgia: Of course, Terrells task force didnt even know there was a child in the home. Although Paz was a gun owner, he never shot at the officershe didnt live long enough. Not surprisingly, no drugs were found in either Ayers vehicle or on his dead body, although one of the officers claimed that before the killing, Barrett had sold him $50 worth of crack cocaine. After causing Spruills death, the officers realized that they had just killed an innocent person. Vous avez des problmes de TNT ? Cardenas, clearly, found himself in the same position as Ayers: he was violently confronted by police officers he didnt know were police; he ran for his life and was shot dead. 10. But the kicker has to be that the subsequent police-led investigations of this high-profile case failed to turn up such a critical piece of information. According to Joe Key, an expert on police shootings, the time between the car hitting Oxner and Harrison pulling the trigger was a quarter of a second. On January 4, 2008, narcotics officer Joseph Chavalia shot and killed 26-year-old Tarika Wilson in Lima, Ohio. Reproduction of material from any Salon pages without written permission is strictly prohibited. "I think I would try to run over them or get away the best way I could.". This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Hall school board approves $11M for giant classroom touchscreens. "And later he ran off the road. Your email address will not be published. When they approached to question him, Ayers reportedly tried to flee and his car struck one of the officers. Whether youre a lifelong resident of D.C. or you just moved here, weve got you covered. The two outside prosecutors were asked by Rickman to review the case and talk to the grand jury about the case and the law. They first said he was part of their drug investigation all along, then retracted. The Cache County Deputy Attorney Tony Baird said Barley was arrested by Cache County Sheriffs deputies after he allegedly shot at the group of teenagers. Family members said he asked who shot him and said he had done nothing wrong. It was WWII. Rev. Until we're ready to dispense with the notion that gun-toting cops in ski masks going commando at a public gas station is an appropriate response to an alleged $50 drug transaction, we're going to see a lot more Jonathan Ayerses. And a Plains teen girl borrowed Jimmy Carters clothes. OnJuly 12, 1998, Houston officers raided Navarroshome based on an alleged drug users claim that drugs were being sold there. Here's some tips, Column: Cherish your memories while you have them, Column: The journey to Athens used to be a five-hour railcar ride, Column: Buttering up guests with fresh biscuits, Local practice offers expert medical care, GoToHearing provides professional, caring service, Have guests in town? "Dear Billy Shane," was written inside the card. 3.1.2023 12:01 AM, 2022 Reason Foundation | But that's really only the beginning of this mess. The decision to raid the Paz home, according to Ankeny, was made after narcotics officers found some bills and Department of Motor Vehicle records containing the familys address among the possessions of a drug suspect named Marcos Beltrn. A total of 30 bullets were fired, and Navarro was shot 12 times. The woman reportedly told detectives she didn't have the amount that had been agreed upon, but she would get it later in the day. Officers said they were in plain clothes but wore badges around their necks and identified themselves as police. The person I blame in this whole thing is the person selling the drugs, Terrell said. The Stephens County, Georgia Sheriff's Department initially said Ayers was a drug suspect, but later had to retract. When task force members saw Ayers alone in the car with the woman, they switched their focus to him. 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