January Drug War Deaths: Two in Night-Time Raids, One Unarmed and Fleeing From Police

At least three people were killed by American police enforcing the war on drugs last month, including one young man who died in a late-night drug raid that netted a little more than a quarter pound of marijuana.

Two of the dead were killed in night-time drug raids. Both were allegedly armed, although in neither case is it asserted that they fired on police. In both cases, police have not mentioned -- nor have local media asked -- whether these were kick-the-door-down, SWAT-style no-knock raids.

In a country where firearm ownership is both cherished and widespread, surprise police assaults that could be mistaken for home invasions can well result in homeowners grabbing their weapons to protect themselves and their domiciles. And then getting shot dead for doing so. Was that the case in these two deaths? We will likely never know. (The homeowners sometimes shoot and kill the invading police, too, but, unlike the police, they tend to get charged with murder.)

The third case raises a different kind of issue. Here, the victim was fleeing from police and made the all-too-familiar move "toward his waist band." He also had something in his hand, but it wasn't a weapon. And now he's dead, too. An unarmed man, running away from the police, is killed they were so quick to fear for their own lives.

Here are January's drug war deaths:

• On January 4, deputies in Louisiana's Beauregard Parish doing a night-time drug raid shot and killed Eric John Senegal, 27. They also shot and killed a dog at the house. The house was under investigation for drug activity and the deputies were serving a narcotics search warrant, according to State Police Troop D spokesman Sgt. James Anderson. Sheriff Ricky Moses later explained that the deputies "encountered an armed suspect who has been identified as Eric J. Senegal and an attacking dog which resulted in the deaths of both Mr. Senegal and the dog." The sheriff didn't say what kind of weapon Senegal had or whether the raid was a no-knock raid. The search warrant for the raid said deputies were looking for marijuana, cocaine, and illegal pills. There hasn't been any word on whether they found anything. State police have opened an investigation a A local television station's Facebook posting of a story about his death generated numerous and heated responses as the national debate over police use of force hit home for commenters.
• On January 5, police in Ceres, California, shot and killed Albert Thompson, 28, after he fled from them at a small apartment complex. The officers were on patrol "because of prior illegal drug activity there," according a Ceres Police news release. When the police arrived, Thompson took off running, and the officers gave chase. Police said Thompson reached for something at his waist, and the officers fired, striking and killing him. Initial police reports said an "item" was found near Thompson's body. It was later revealed that the item was a hand torch. Thompson was a parolee-at-large wanted by the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
• On January 16, West Virginia state troopers helping Elkins police execute a midnight drug search warrant shot and killed William Keith Waldron, 26, when he met them armed with a shotgun. Waldron "did wield a firearm and as a result officers did defend themselves by firing at the subject," prosecutors explained in the criminal case against one of the two other men in the home at the time of the raid. Police have not said whether the raid, which included at least seven officers, was a no-knock raid. They found a little over a quarter-pound of weed, some plastic baggies, and a scale.