Ruby Ridge East

O little town of Bethlehemp
how did the police despise

http://www.nj.com/news/expresstimes/pa/index.ssf?/base/news-8/1069754813
297780.xml


Hirko case likened to Ruby Ridge

State police document makes reference to highly criticized FBI siege in
Idaho.


Tuesday, November 25, 2003


By MICHAEL P. BUFFER
The Express-Times

ALLENTOWN -- A state police document compared the deadly 1992 Ruby Ridge
siege to the 1997 drug raid in which Bethlehem police killed John Hirko
Jr., a trooper noted Monday in the civil trial about Hirko's death.

State police investigated the 1997 raid and Trooper Edgardo Colon
testified that a document he prepared contained the phrase "Ruby Ridge
East." Colon said he doesn't know who wrote the phrase or who tried to
erase it from the document.


  From Our Advertiser




During the 11-day siege at white supremacist Randy Weaver's cabin in
Ruby Ridge, Idaho, federal agents shot and killed Weaver's wife and
teenage son. In 1995, the federal government paid Weaver and his three
surviving children $3.1 million in compensation.

"It is the greatest example of excessive force and cover-up in the
history of law enforcement," attorney John P. Karoly Jr. said after
Monday's court session.

Karoly is representing four plaintiffs seeking nearly $1 billion in
damages. The plaintiffs are suing the city of Bethlehem, a former police
commissioner and 13 officers.

Police killed 21-year-old Hirko, who grew up in Palmer Township, in a
SWAT-team raid at his 629 Christian St. rental home in Bethlehem. Police
shot him 11 times and left his body to burn in a fire started by a
flash-bang concussion grenade.

Five months after the fatal raid, state Attorney General Mike Fisher
concluded the homicide was justifiable because Hirko fired a gun first,
but Karoly insists Hirko was unarmed.

The document Colon was asked about is a diagram of the interior of
Hirko's rental home and it includes drawings of what police claim
transpired. After Colon unfolded the document, Karoly asked Colon if it
contained the phrase, "Ruby Ridge East."

"That is inaccurate, sir," Colon responded.

But after Karoly told Colon to take a closer look, Colon said, "Oh,
that's what it says."

Before Colon testified, Bethlehem police Lt. Wilfred Williams, who is
not one of the 14 police defendants, broke the blue code of silence with
testimony that helps the plaintiffs' case. Williams said Officer Edward
Hughes admitted in a conversation on May 8, 1997, that the Hirko raid
was a disaster.

"We really (messed) up," Hughes reportedly said.

Williams, who has worked for the Bethlehem Police Department since 1976,
said he and Hughes were friends at the time.

"It was my opinion it was (messed) up too," Williams told jurors.

Hughes was one of 11 officers to participate in the raid. Hughes said he
went home after the fatal raid to make a sandwich, took the sandwich to
the police station and interrogated Kristin Fodi, who lived with Hirko
and barely escaped the fire on April 23, 1997.

Fodi, one of the four plaintiffs, claims Hughes tried to pressure her
into saying Hirko was holding a gun. She insisted Hirko wasn't holding a
gun and denied she told police he held a gun.

On Monday, Williams said Hughes told him during the conversation on May
8, 1997, that Deputy Police Commissioner Herbert Goldfeder issued a
command not to record Fodi's interrogation. While cross-examining
Williams, city defense attorney Stephen Ledva suggested that Williams
was on vacation on May 8, 1997.

Williams said he returned from a vacation a few days after the Hirko
raid. He said he could not remember if he was on duty when he had the
conversation with Hughes.

Last week, Karoly said some Bethlehem police officers were trying to
intimidate Williams by hanging plastic rats by his locker and making
threatening phone calls.

On Monday, Williams said he encountered a group of the police defendants
inside the federal courthouse last week and one officer in the group
said, "Give us your Barabbas" -- a Biblical reference to the thief
Pontius Pilate pardoned instead of Jesus. Williams said the group
laughed and looked at him.

Williams said he complained in December 1996 that Officer Kirby Williams
should not be appointed as the sergeant in charge of special operations
and the department's SWAT team. Wilfred and Kirby Williams are not
related, said attorney Jim Heidecker, who is assisting Karoly.

Kirby Williams, one of the 14 police defendants, was not qualified for
the job because he was a patrolman and had no supervisory experience,
said Wilfred Williams, who added he applied for the job. Wilfred
Williams said he believed that only a detective/sergeant would be
considered for the position.

Eugene Learn, the city's police commissioner in 1997 and another
defendant in the Hirko civil trial, said Kirby Williams "was capable of
learning the job," Wilfred Williams testified.

"I was shocked. I just couldn't believe it," Wilfred Williams said.

Wilfred Williams said he gave Learn a warning in December 1996.

"I said if the wrong guy is in there, somebody could get hurt or
killed," Wilfred Williams said.

The trial is scheduled to resume at 9:30 a.m. today with John G. Peters
Jr., an expert in police procedures, testifying. Karoly hired Peters,
who began testifying Monday and became the trial's 31st witness.

The trial began almost nine weeks ago, and Karoly plans to rest the
plaintiffs' case today after Peters finishes testifying. After Karoly
rests, the defense can call witnesses and present evidence, and the
defense is expected to take over the case Dec. 1.

Karoly is representing Fodi, Hirko's parents and Tuan Hoang, the owner
of 629 Christian St. Huang briefly testified Monday and said the Hirko
raid damaged his property.

The claims in the lawsuit include wrongful death, negligence,
recklessness and the violation of Constitutional rights.

Before the trial began in September, Karoly said he would settle the
case for $20 million. The city offered $500,000, which is the maximum
amount that would be covered by the city's liability insurance.

The federal government should be sued for genocide.

voodoo disease 666

Death to the christian military.