milktree

http://centralstockton.news10.net/news/community/dept-education-breaks-down-stockton-mans-door/72578

(google for "STOCKTON, CA Kenneth Wright" without quotes to get lots of versions of this story)

UPDATE: the press got it wrong, sorta. See the bottom for more:

Short form:

Kenneth Wright, a guy with no criminal record, sees 15 cops outside his house at 6:30AM, he goes downstairs, whereupon the SWAT team breaks down his door, grabs him by the neck and drags him out to his front lawn, handcuffs him, and stuffs him into a cop car. They then take his three children and stuff them in the car too, leaving the four of them in the hot car for six hours while they search the house.

But wait! The search warrant wasn't even for him, it was for his estranged wife, who wasn't there! The search warrant was issued by the US Department of Education. Apparently she was in default on her student loans.

Let's assume for a moment that there's more to this story. Let's say, for the sake of argument, that she wasn't just out of work and unable to pay her bills. Let's say she was a convicted felon, with a history of violence and armed robbery, and a flight risk. Let's also say she had violated parole, or something.

I'm trying to imagine, even given those circumstances, how that level of response is anything other than crazy police state jack-booted thugs tactics.

Even if she was all those things I describe above, why the hell was the U.S. Department of Education issuing the search warrant?

How long does it really take to find a person in a house, anyway? I'd think, if you thought the hiding person was exceptionally clever, and she had help, it wouldn't take more than an hour.

I really really object when people describe income taxes as "stolen at gunpoint", using the logic, "if you don't pay them, you go to jail, and the people who come to get you have guns." It's an absurd way to look at it for lots of reasons which I won't get into.

But... then there's cases like this which ... well, look a lot like all those crazy anti-government folks might be right, or at least not wrong.

-- UPDATE --

U.S. Department of Education spokesman Justin Hamilton confirmed for News10 Wednesday morning federal agents with the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), not local S.W.A.T., served the search warrant. Hamilton would not say specifically why the raid took place except that it was part of an ongoing criminal investigation.

Hamilton said the search was not related to student loans in default as reported in the local media.

OIG is a semi-independent branch of the education department that executes warrants for criminal offenses such as student aid fraud, embezzlement of federal aid and bribery, according to Hamilton. The agency serves 30 to 35 search warrants a year.

That puts it in a different context, making my outrage... less deserved.