Operation What Private Property?
Photo credit: James Nielsen/Houston Chronicle
Early one morning in 2012, Craig Patty got the weirdest phone call of his life. The owner of a small North Texas trucking company with only two trucks, Patty found himself being informed by a business partner that one of his drivers, hired only five weeks before, had been shot dead inside one of the trucks, which had been loaded up with with enough marijuana to, well, fill a truck. Stunned, Patty tried to figure out how he could have fallen in with drug dealers—but he hadn’t. He had fallen in with an undercover DEA agent, who had been using the truck to try to bust smugglers.
The operation had gone spectacularly awry when said smugglers attempted to hijack the truck and its shipment, killing the undercover operative in a hail of bullets in full view of a dozen federal agents and local police. The officers involved, not all of whom knew each other, even ended up shooting at each other in the confusion, with one Houston cop wounding a sheriff’s deputy.
A lawsuit brought by Patty against the DEA for more than $1.3 million was dismissed in 2015, finding that the DEA was not even liable for his bullet-riddled truck. The decision is currently being appealed.
Somehow this whole scenario just seems wrong to me. I realize that law officials have a job to do, but I do believe that they should take responsibility when things go wrong because of their mistake. Just my opinion...
Coffee out on the patio this morning.
8 comments:
I agree! Patio sounds good! Severe storm in our area at the moment:((
Our govt can do no wrong.
I totally agree with you Mr. Hermit. The government should take responsibility for their actions; especially in this case where it is apparent they screwed up. Foggy and rainy here. This is the third day in a row for rain. The ducks in my backyard are loving it - I am not.
Poor guy. The government should do the right thing, especially since he didn't even know about the undercover operation using his truck w/o his knowledge. but then, it's the government.
Hey Mamahen...
They say that the high today is only going to reach 88. That's a good thing!
Thanks for stopping by today!
Hey Bigfoot...
It certainly looks that way.
Thanks for coming by this morning!
Hey Linda...
Sometimes the government is slow to accept responsibility, if they ever do.
Thanks for the visit today!
Hey Momlady...
They do work on their own set of rules, for sure.
Thanks for stopping in today!
Can you imagine how many of these gone wrong stings we don't know about and how many citizens get stuck with the bill for there property? This is so wrong.
Patio time sounds wonderful
Our government is too big to care, knows they have much deeper pockets & realizes that the citizens they burn only get as much justice as they can afford.
We should all be afraid when our government is too big to care.
The US governments motion to have my case dismissed, was rejected by the US Count of Claims on Feb 14, 2018.
That was over a year ago. We continue in talks with the DOJ and Court.
Going on 7 1/2 years now.
cp
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