Sunday, December 10, 2006

More Gasoline on the Fire

Via Firehand, who's now saying Kathryn Johnston was murdered, and I can't say I disagree with his assessment, comes this...

Police were led to the home of Kathryn Johnston, the elderly Atlanta woman killed by officers in a drug raid, by a man who was arrested only three hours earlier for allegedly selling marijuana, according to a police report.
He told police there was a kilogram of cocaine in Johnston's home, according to the report, which was made public Thursday.


But...

Markel Hutchins, an activist who has become a spokesman for Johnston's family, said the family "vehemently denies" knowing Sheats.
"They have no clue who he is. Never heard of him at all. This is yet another story that comes out of the Atlanta Police Department," Hutchins said. "The reality, there was no cocaine found there. This whole notion that there were drugs in her house is wrong."


Most of the time I am loath to believe the word of some aggrieved activist over the word of the authorities, but with all that's gone on in Atlanta with Kathryn Johnston, well, I'm just not so sure anymore. The fate this woman suffered would have been horrifyingly unjust even without everything that's come out about this case, but this just makes it that much worse. Heads should roll and certain, ahem, policies should be re-evaluated, but we all know they won't be because drugs 'r' bad, m'kay? And if it saves just one life, it's worth it, m'kay, and Kathryn Johnston shouldn't have had that gun anyway, m'kay?, As nonsensical as that sounds, we all know there are far too many people who believe it, far too many of whom are in some position of authority. Incidentally, it would have been very interesting indeed to see what Mayor Richard Daley's reaction (and that of his puppet down in Springfield) would have been had this happened in Chicago, where Kathryn Johnston's revolver would been yet another "illegal" gun...

"...Is the best of the free life behind us now, and are the good times really over for good?"