Georgia Drug Raid Results In Homeowner Dead, No Drugs, Police Unpunished
A drug raid in Georgia turned out to be a complete bust. There were no drugs found, but homeowner David Hooks, 59, was shot dead. Police have not been punished for the mistake.
According to family lawyer Mitchell Shook, Hooks was shot in the back and head as he lay face down.
It all began when confessed methamphetamine addict Rodney Garrett allegedly broke into the family’s property in East Dublin and stole one of their vehicles. Garrett said he stole a baggie which he had thought contained money. Instead, what he allegedly found was 20 grams of meth and a digital scale, and he said he was scared.
Garrett allegedly turned himself in to the sheriff’s office because he allegedly feared for his own safety.
Where is the National Media Attention over the David Hooks Story? http://t.co/EPERgdin4D @abcnews @nytimes @WNTonight #ferguson #EricGarner
— Alan Wood (@MichaelAlanWood) December 10, 2014
The Hooks family remembered it differently, confirming him to be the burglar and leading to his arrest the day after the Georgia homeowner was shot dead in a fruitless drug raid.
Rodney Garrett‘s report was what led to the search warrant two days later, after investigators claimed to remember the address from a similar report in 2009. A previous informant allegedly claimed to have given methamphetamines to David Hooks, who allegedly resold it.
Hooks’ wife Teresa says she clearly remembered the night her husband was shot in the drug raid on September 24.
“Between 10:30 and 11, I turned the light off upstairs. I heard a car coming up the driveway really fast, and I looked up the upstairs window. I saw a black vehicle with no lights. I saw 6 to 8 men, coming around the side of my house, and I panicked. I came running downstairs, yelling for David to wake up. He was in the bedroom asleep, had been for about an hour and a half. When I got downstairs to the bottom of the stairs, he opened the door and he had a gun in his hand, and he said, ‘Who is it?,’ and I said I didn’t know. He stepped back into the bedroom like he was going to grab his pants, but before he could do that, the door was busted down. He came around me, in the hall, into the den, and I was gonna come behind him, but before I could step into the den the shots were fired, and it was over.”
Mitchell Shook claimed the drug raid was illegal, the SWAT team allegedly never announcing their presence prior to the search, and asked the FBI to investigate.
The family has claimed that David Hooks was a legitimate businessman who ran a construction company and also did some work on military bases. Hooks had security clearance, according to background checks, and was clean. The five-year-old tip leading to further suspicion of the Georgia homeowner turned out to be a false claim, even though it made it onto the warrant application.
In the United States’ war on drugs, the struggle continues, and cases like this one make it even more difficult. Police are already under scrutiny after the killings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner.
Do you think the drug raid on David Hooks’ home was set up, or a massive misunderstanding?
[Image via Police State USA, Wikipedia]
