Man seeks millions after being shot by police in game-related swatting incident

getstowly

I don't understand why more police agencies aren't being super careful with this stuff, especially if they're being sent to a house / location where no other crimes have been reported. It would be one thing if you have a call to a house that's had domestic violence calls, other shootings, etc. Instead, they're just getting a call and thinking, "Oh no! Danger!" and running in, guns blazing. I love the protection from the police but sometimes I'm afraid they don't think intelligently and instead just react.

phendrenad2

Time to start a new company, Swatly.ai, which listens in on 911 calls and warns police if they may be responding to a SWATting attempt. Working on integrating into their firearms so they won't fire unless the AI thinks it's load-bearing.

efnx

They need to get sued _hard_ and lose millions, as well as have cops put in jail before real change happens. I feel sorry for this kid but he's doing the right thing.

keeganpoppen

whoa. feel bad for the people of tuscon, because they didn't do anything wrong, but holy shit this case looks absolutely awful for the city and i hope they lose. big.

tokai

It really seems like something that could be fixed with proper training and protocol, when police forces the world over don't have this issue.

kaikai

There needs to be insurance for police, just like there is for doctors. Once an individual cop has repeated judgements against them they won’t be insurable, instead of the current result of them moving to a different city.

utternerd

It explicitly said in the article that he pulled out a gun. He shouldn't have been swatted, obviously. That said, if you pull out a gun when police are responding to what they believe is an active shooter, the chances of you being shot are extremely high. Additionally consider what would have happened if this had been an active shooting and they simply disregarded the phone call.

SlowFalcon

This happened to me in 2021 minus the being shot part. Called local PD to inform them; still had a full police response, luckily was renovating house but still.

alex1138

SWATing is a very common thing so police depts should be aware there's always a risk of it happening Take the call seriously, but be prepared it's not what you think it is, especially if you see a shocked gamer sitting at their computer monitor with no apparent hostages

giancarlostoro

Police agencies arent the only ones alone to take blame here, the judges who on a whim sign these warrants should face liability or be removed from their position if there are casualties as a result of a false report.

NotGMan

The need to find out who did the swatting and give him life in jail.

OutOfHere

176M is not enough for such an atrocity. It needs to be at least 10x more, i.e. 1.76B.

insane_dreamer

> Melendez did grab a "legal, registered" gun once he heard the glass shatter, Sethi said, but he ducked behind a partially closed door. It's horrible what happened to this boy, and the police should be sued/charged, but this is (yet another) reason why you're better off _not_ having a gun in your house. (You're statistically more likely to die from a gun in your own household than someone else's.)

6stringmerc

While I was incarcerated on a bogus Felony charge, a Corrections Officer made a false report to a neighboring Police Department that I had been “bragging about Swatting people” in that city. Totally false claim. Got a visit from Detectives while in my cell. They recorded the whole thing. The Thin Blue Line is real. I’ve moved on with my life. Mostly because there’s no way to hold them accountable so why try?