Pubdate: Thu, 17 Mar 2005
Source: Dundalk Eagle, The (MD)
Copyright: The Dundalk Eagle 2005
Contact:  http://www.dundalkeagle.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1781
Author: Jacob R. Noel
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

SHOOTING WAS UNJUSTIFIED

On Jan. 21, Baltimore County police served a search warrant on my parents' 
Del Haven Road home of a type that normal people think is used only against 
terrorists and drug kingpins. In the process of serving this warrant, a 
Baltimore County police officer shot my mother, Cheryl Noel, not once, not 
twice, but three times, killing her in her own bedroom.

The Baltimore County police have completed their investigation of the 
Baltimore County police and have determined that they were justified in 
killing my mother. Does that even sound right?

My mother was a good woman, she was a good mother and a loving wife. She 
was a true Christian and gave to her family, neighbors and community 
without reserve. She went to church on Sunday and was a substitute Sunday 
School teacher when needed. She led a Bible study group on her lunch break 
at work.

My parents had been together for 23 years and had just celebrated their 
20th anniversary. They were a nearly perfect couple. The back door of my 
parents' house was almost never locked. Neighborhood kids knew that it was 
a safe place if they needed to escape danger. Young people in the 
neighborhood also knew that they could come talk to my mother about 
anything and get advice and words of encouragement.

If the killing of such a kind, loving and wonderful person like my mother 
can be justified, who among us is safe? You may say that the police have no 
reason to attack you in this way. We didn't think they had any reason to 
attack us, either, until Jan. 21.

Anyone who knows this family knows that the police could have knocked on 
the door and they would have been admitted without resistance. The search 
warrant could have easily been executed in a number of other ways that 
would not have put anyone in deadly danger.

I've been told that the decision to use such tactics is left in the hands 
of the officers serving the warrant, not a judge. If you read up on such 
things, you will find that these tactics are used to prevent the 
destruction of evidence, or "flushing" as they call it. There was virtually 
no evidence in my parents' house to destroy, but evidently it was more 
precious than my mother's life. ...

I recently celebrated my birthday, my first one without my mother. Don't 
let this happen to you or your loved ones. My mother would not want this to 
ever happen to anyone else.

If you would like to help, if you find this situation frightening, or if 
you knew my mother and want to see justice done, here is what you can do: 
Call all of your elected officials (state and local) and demand further 
investigation of this case and the decision-making process for using these 
tactics. Tell them that there is no place in our neighborhoods for this 
kind of excessive force.

If we change the process by which this warrant was served, we can save 
other innocent lives and we might be able to feel safe in our beds at night.

Jacob R. Noel

Barry Road