Police: No War Stress for Marine Who Killed Cop (Let the spin begin)

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

ERES, CA-January 16, 2005 — A Marine who killed one town police officer and wounded another one was a gang member who was high on cocaine, not a combat veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress, police said.

Investigators said they are discounting a theory that Lance Cpl. Andres Raya, 19, may have instigated a "suicide by cop" – provoking officers to shoot him – because he did not want to return to Iraq.

"During our investigation, we found he wasn't due to go back to Iraq, never faced combat situations and never even fired his gun," Stanislaus County Sheriff's Deputy Jason Woodman said Saturday.

Raya shot the two officers with a rifle outside a liquor store on Jan. 9 before police returned fire and killed him.

Raya's family and friends denied he was involved with a gang and said he was changed by the seven months he spent in Iraq before returning in September to Camp Pendleton near San Diego. They said he became withdrawn and unable to hold a conversation, and told them gruesome stories of house-to-house combat and of watching Marines commit suicide. They said he questioned the war and said he did not want to go back.

More: http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/news/01162005_iraq_marine.html

[karlrschneider]

1. Coke doesn't incite murder...this is bullshit (as you say)

:grr:

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

2. Sure it does...

Just like marijuana and being liberal, didn't you know that?

[karlrschneider]

7. Must. Drink. Kool-aid.

:eyes:

[NYC Liberal]

4. Coke doesn't incite murder...

Bush does!

[insane_cratic_gal]

30. If thats the case Bush ought to know

He was a coke sniffer himself until he found (anti)christ.

Maybe that explains his need to murder?

[genieroze]

33. Did * kill anyone? He was a cokehead.

[candy]

3. What spin? Are you anti-cop? Why would they lie?

[karlrschneider]

5. BWAHAHA...I worked my way thru college as a cop. THEY LIE ALL THE TIME

:eyes:

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

8. I think (hope) Candy was being sarcastic...

:toast:

[candy]

12. Nope.I wasn't being sarcastic.

I hate cop bashing,in this case to prove a point about the war.

Most cops are just plodding along trying to earn a living the best way that they can and,yes,there are some assholes,just like in every other job or profession.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

16. As someone who has been on the recieving end of a billy club,

for being a white guy in a black protest then jailed and beaten with the cop doing the beating telling me he was doing it because I reminded him of his son...

I tend to be suspect of many cops.

I have also had friends (acquaintances) who were cops. They always had the best dope. The original owners were in jail.

BUT! Where the hell did I "bash" cops in infering spin?

[candy]

10. You were a part time cop and gave it as much effort as a

part time anything. None.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

11. I take it back.... I don't think she was kidding....

:eyes:

Candy, Candy, candy....

[indigobusiness]

22. Good cops deserve the utmost respect. Bad cops deserve the utmost

contempt.

[Ignis]

14. Why would they lie?

To cover for a fellow officer?
To cover for the department?
To protect their own careers?
To assist the DA with an investigation?
...and the list goes on.

Please tell us that you're not seriously suggesting that all police officers speak the truth all the time. Mr. Diallo would probably disagree, for one.

[indigobusiness]

21. To stay out of jail

mainly.

[Ignis]

23. Perhaps.

I'd suggest that the risk of censure or reprimand is much higher than the risk of an officer being actually sentenced to and serving prison time, so it's not really a concern.

[indigobusiness]

24. Cops lie rather than admit participation in criminal activity.

That's a corrupt fact.

[Ignis]

28. Agreed, sadly.

My point above was simply that the threat of jailtime is pretty low on the list of a police officer's fears.

[indigobusiness]

29. The thin blue line protects them from consequences.

It is built on lies.

Cops have such a difficult job, I've always had a great respect for those that manage to keep the ugliness that goes with the job from rubbing off on them. I don't see how police forces aren't all absolutely corrupt, given the milieu. Some are, some aren't. Most are, a little bit, in order to survive.

Cops that buck the system, to do the right thing in the face of personal destruction, are truly heroic. IMHO

[peacebird]

6. sad story no matter how you look at it....

even if he was on coke at the time, could it not be to try to find a chemical "feel good" place to help erase the horror of what he had seen and done?

how many more human time bombs are we creating out of our own vets? how many Tim McVeighs? How many people must have their lives destroyed - both Iraqi and coalition forces? argh...

and bush today claiming the election proved that his approach in Iraq was right?

i need some chemical feel-good myself about now... time for a cold beer...

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

9. I'll join you. (nt)

[NYC]

13. My, my, my. What an amazing statement this is:

"During our investigation, we found he wasn't due to go back to Iraq, never faced combat situations and never even fired his gun," Stanislaus County Sheriff's Deputy Jason Woodman said Saturday.

I guess Raya's willingness to die rather than return to Iraq was not good publicity for Bush's war.

This is a fascinating article.

[NYC]

15. Did Jessica Lynch ever face a combat situation?

Wasn't she with supply? Therefore, not combat? Yet she (with her now you see it now you don't bullet hole stigmata) became the heroine of the Iraq War. Did she see "combat"? Just wondering.

My friend's brother is a National Guard mechanic. Does he see "combat"? He certainly sees violence and explosions.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

25. And, the aftermath of combat is often as bad or worse to witness.

You don't have the defense mode to help buffer what you see. You have to process the effect for what it is.

[NYC]

26. Agreed.

I think they have a narrow definition of "combat".

[proud2BlibKansan]

27. That's what I was going to say

does it really matter if he ever fired a gun or was in combat? I would think just being in Iraq is stressful enough.

[democracyindanger]

19. Members of his unit

said that they never saw combat. Reported locally here in the Bay Area.

There are better, clearer examples of soldiers doing crazy things to avoid having to go back to Iraq, than that of a coke-fuelled freakout.

[SouthernDem2004]

17. Cocaine does make some poeple freak out...

Some people just have a bad reaction to cocaine. You never know what they cut it with for one thing. Also, people with current mental problems often have bad reaction to cocaine.

I would not put to much stock on the family's version. Families always give the "he was a good kid" speech to the media. They never tell you his criminal history.

[africangreys5]

18. It sounds like he may have

had PTSD with a drug induced psychosis. I treat kids like this all the time. And yes, cocaine very frequently induces a drug induced psychosis. Happens all the time!

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

20. Welcome to DU fan of the best talking parrot!

:toast:

[insane_cratic_gal]

31. have you seen the stats on the vets

they followed the Vietnam vets for 5 years after the war ended. In those 5 years:

they were more likely to die from homicide, suicide and drug overdose. All from having PTSD.

So saying he didn't have it, is bullshit.

They just need to google PTSD vets, and death. You'll find years of research to back it up.

[Jamastiene]

32. Repukes and their cronies

don't believe in post traumatic stress disorder. I am being refused treatment for the correct condition which is ptsd right now as we speak by these vile people. They are trying to say I have some other disorder and refusing to give me treatment for something that is about to make me have to quit college. I'm not surprised by the spin they are putting on this story.