Les rcepteurs DAB+ : postes, tuners et autoradios Les oprateurs de radio, de mux et de diffusion. Jonathan Ayers; Toccoa, Georgia, 2009. 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. Innocent civilians have more to fear from botched drug raids and careless police work than they do from drug dealers. Sheriff's Employee Embezzled Funds in Keeping with the Spirit of Civil Asset Forfeiture, The Jones Act Is Driving Up Prices and Making Crises Worse, How SCOTUS Promoted Pernicious Myths About Sex Offender Registries. WebLast September, Ayers, a 28-year-old Baptist pastor from Lavonia, Georgia, was gunned down by a North Georgia narcotics task force in the parking lot of a gas station. And even today, police acknowledge he was not using or trafficking in illicit drugs. A man shot another family member, an adult, whom he mistakenly believed was a burglar, Attorneys for the city of New York agreed to pay $1.6 million to Spruills family. Narcotics officers who kill innocent people in the war on drugs often dont even face suspensions, let alone criminal charges. The officer that was struck by the car was treated and released at a local hospital. 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. 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. Subscribe to Reason Roundup, a wrap up of the last 24 hours of news, delivered fresh each morning. Ayers crashed his car, was taken to a hospital and died hours later in surgery. So its hard to argue they cared much either, at least not enough to let the kids safety trump the safety of the officers, or the need to get into the home quickly to prevent any evidence from being destroyed so they can preserve their conviction. undercover with the Mountain Judicial Circuit Narcotics Criminal Investigation and Suppression team on the night of the shooting, Sept. 1, 2009. They are no better than a domestic terrorist, because they dont care about families they didnt care about the family, the children living in that household to be selling dope out of it, to be selling methamphetamine out of it. "Concerning the actions of the officers involved in the death of Jonathan Ayers on Sept. 1, 2009, we find that the use of deadly force by Agent Billy Shane Harrison was legally justified based upon his objectively reasonable belief that such use of force was necessary to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or others," a statement signed by the grand jurors read. WebAfter Ayers tried to drive past the descending officers, Harrison shot and killed him. AlthoughChavalia was acquitted of criminal charges, Wilsons family was awarded $2.5 million in 2010 in a civil lawsuit against the city of Lima. 1, 2019 at 5:28 PM EDT. In fact, the 75-year-old minister was a substance abuse counselor in Boston and had a long history of doing good work in that citys African-American community. The war on drugs is not only fought aggressively, it is fought carelessly and haphazardly, and a long list of innocent victims have been killed or maimed in the process. When they broke in, Johnston (who lived alone in a high-crime area of the city and kept a gun in her house for protection) assumed she was being the victim of a home invasion and fired a shot. Officers said they were in plain clothes but wore badges around their necks and identified themselves as police. In a democratic republic, the innocent until proven guilty concept is supposed to be sacrosanct.Jurors, police officers, judges and prosecuting attorneysat least in theoryare required to err on the side of caution, and if a guilty person occasionally goes free, so be it. But a lot more shooting was done by the officers: a total of 39 shots were fired, several of which hit her. 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. Police would later acknowledge he was not using or trafficking in illicit drugs. The surveillance video was on the Internet within a day of the shooting, fueling speculation and half-accounts that were repeated online and in letters to area newspapers. 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. Read our republishing, terms of use and privacy policies here. They also had badges around their necks.". The same Mountain Judicial Circuit Narcotics Criminal Investigation and Suppression Team involved in the death of Jonathan Ayers did conduct the alleged drug buy and investigation before last weeks raid. The police found no illicit drugs in his car, and there was no trace of any illegal substance in his body. Smith, Junnier and Tesler faced a variety of charges from both the federal government and the state of Georgia. Mike Ayers, who was in charge of the investigation for the GBI, is not related to Jonathan Ayers. Though Ayers widow announced this week that she would file a federal lawsuit over her husband's death, her attorney said she is not a part of the backlash campaign against the investigation. They say Ayers backed his car into one agent and another fired at him as he maneuvered his car in a threatening manner. Drug Team involved in the September 2009 incident at a Toccoa gas station in which the Rev. Still, many residents are unconvinced. 3.1.2023 12:01 AM, 2022 Reason Foundation | A similar tragedy occurred in San Jose, Calif. on February 17, 2004, when plainclothes officers were attempting to serve a warrant for a drug-related parole violation and 43-year-old Rodolfo Cardenas, a father of five, had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Radley Balko is a senior editor at Reason magazine. 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. Neither the family or Mrs. Ayers have embraced any of this, attorney Richard Hendrix said. 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. But that's really only the beginning of this mess. Ayers is yet more collateral damage in the boundlessly tragic and wasteful drug war, as are his widowed wife Abigail and the child she was carrying at the time of his death. Accelyne Williams was no drug dealer. 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Spotting the vehicle parked outside a gas station and recognizing Ayers as the man they had seen earlier, officers rushed to question him, blocking him in as he started to back out of a parking space. These are some of the best places to take them in Hall County, Best breakfast in Hall County? 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. 5. WebArmed agents dressed in street clothes then rushed Ayerss car. Idexx Laboratories Inc. Chairman, President and CEO Jonathan Ayers is on a medical leave of absence following a serious cycling accident that occurred Thursday. Want to share a story? 2023 Baptist News Global. Hours before Ayers was killed, police say Johanna Barrett sold undercover officer Chance Oxner $50 worth of crack cocaine. A jury awarded Abigail Ayers $2.3 million, but a judge reduced the amount to $1.64 million after reassessing lost wages. The most recent, entered into court records Aug. 17, asks District Judge Richard Story to grant summary judgment, a determination made by a court without a full trial. Last September, Ayers, a 28-year-old Baptist pastor from Lavonia, Georgia, was gunned down by a North Georgia narcotics task force in the parking lot of a gas station. Ayers, who had known Barrett for a number of years, offered her a ride back to the motel and gave her the money in his pocket, $23, to help pay her rent. Ayers told hospital staff was that he thought he was being robbed. Rev. WebJonathan Paul Ayers, a pastor at the small Shoal Creek Baptist Church, was shot outside a Toccoa convenience store by plainclothes drug agents on Sept. 1. He called the charges a self-defense case but didnt provide any further details. But with the war on drugs, the concept of innocent until proven guilty has fallen by the wayside on countless occasions. Ayers left behind a wife, Abigail, who at the time of his death was pregnant with her first child. Another then opened fire, killing him. Roland Stroberg, the attorney representing Ayers widow, said the family was "extremely disappointed," and that a lawsuit would be forthcoming. Select the best result to find their address, phone number, relatives, and public records. Authorities say they found nothing illegal in Jonathan Ayers' car after he was slain during a drug sting. Privacy Policy | Yet somehow he had been given a position on a narcotics task force, a position that not only gave him a gun but put him in volatile, high-stakes situations where he might be tempted to use it. In the burned toddler raid, Terrell told the paper thatDistrict Attorney Brian Rickman had already cleared the task force of any wrongdoing. Franklin said Ayers touched a lot of people and that makes it hard for some to accept that he may have had a relationship with Barrett. The two said they thought the driver of the burgundy Honda may have been her drug source. Ayers' last words to his family and medical staff were that he thought he was being robbed. From the moment the 28-year-old Lavonia Shoal Creek Baptist Church minister was shot, the rumors began. He shot the 28-year-old Ayers in the parking lot of a Toccoa convenience store when the victim accidentally walked into an undercover drug investigation. A national expert on police shootings was consulted. Parlez-en ! A federal jury in Gainesville, Ga., said a reasonable officer would have realized that Ayers' WebIn February, I posted about a settlement in the death of Jonathan Ayers, an innocent pastor that this same drug task force killed in a drug operation in 2009. Those were bad. Jonathan Andrew Barley was booked Saturday night According to a report of the proceedings on Rickman's website, the Stephens County district attorney, whose office overseas the drug task force, explained to grand jurors his consideration of legal and ethical obligations to remain the chief prosecuting officer in the case, including consultation with members of Ayers' family. He suggested allowing a grand jury to investigate further about possible policy violations or civil liability. Ayers was shot in the liver and later died in a hospital operating room. 8. Stephens County District Attorney Brian Rickman and Assistant District Attorney Rick Bridgeman presented the case. Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start! WebATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- A north Georgia pastor was shot to death by police when he struck an officer with his car after he was seen in a vehicle with a drug suspect, An 18-member grand jury in Stephens County in northeast Georgia ruled that the officer who fired two shots that fatally wounded Jonathan Ayers, pastor of Shoal Creek Baptist Church in Lavonia, Ga., was justified in using lethal force because he reasonably believed he was in physical danger. An unmarked Escalade pulls up and three men jump out in masks and guns. Jesse Jackson to right-wing libertarians like Ron Paul, Walter Williams and 2012 Libertarian Party presidential nominee Gary Johnsonhave pointed out that the war on drugs has become much deadlier than the drugs themselves. Friends said Ayers had been ministering to the woman trying to convince her to get off drugs. "They approached the vehicle. WebLOGAN A 29-year-old Ogden man has been arrested for allegedly shooting at a group of teenagers in Providence Canyon. More astonishing, Harrison apparently had no training at all in the use of lethal force. The person I blame in this whole thing is the person selling the drugs, Terrell said. This article was published more than8 years ago, (CORRECTION: The copy below is slightly incorrect. On August 9, 1999, 64-year-old Mario Paz was in his home in Southern California when up to 20 narcotics officers for the city of El Monte conducted a no-knock raid and used a grenade during the attack. In the end, Ayers was innocent, and a federal jury awarded his widow a $2 million settlement. Joe Lancaster 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. 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