VIDEO: Utah Man Killed in Outrageous Police Raid

UPDATED: Shocking. That’s the only word that comes to mind when seeing the video of Todd Blair, 45, gunned down by armed police storming his home on a no-knock raid in Utah last September. Blair, no doubt surprised by the sound of yelling and having his door kicked in, emerges from an interior doorway holding a golf club over his head. Before Blair can react, Sgt. Troy Burnett shoots him three times and Blair slumps to the floor dead.

No “drop the weapon,” no “get down on the ground,” just bang!, bang!, bang! It’s a chilling scene that’s over before it started, and all the police found was a small amount of marijuana and an empty vial alleged to have contained other drugs.

This type of raid won’t come as a surprise to regular readers of our blog, of course. We see these stories all the time because they’re playing out every day in this country at an alarming rate. Lives are ruined and lost, and for what? A few grams of marijuana? It’s just another—albiet outrageous—example of how prohibition has failed as a policy at every conceivable turn. If videos like this aren’t a sure sign that it’s time to end marijuana prohibition and adopt sensible polices like taxation and regulation, then I’m not sure what is. (originally written by John Berry, with updates by Dusty Trice)

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73 thoughts on “VIDEO: Utah Man Killed in Outrageous Police Raid

  1. Grizzly

    Those mutherfuckers achieved thir goal. You have to give them credit for that.

    Bullet-ridden corpses don’t smoke pot.

    Problem solved.

  2. Iggysplat

    What happened in Arizona is just the beginning!!! This government has to be corrected!!! And I don’t think voting is the answer unfortunately.

  3. Randy

    How do you like the part where they shoot him 3 times and then tell him to get on the ground? WTF?! How dumb are these a**holes?

  4. It is Time

    It is time for Egypt style riots. Lets march on Washington and burn it to the ground. How can we stand for government policies that murder our own people?

  5. georgia mario

    If the Egyptians overthrow their government and take their grievances to the streets of Cairo why not us. Follow up please, MPP.

  6. hendog

    All you Obama backers I HOPE are getting your ass full of this sweet talking piece of crap..he has DONE NOTHING to curb this kind of actions, NOTHING. In fact its happening everywhere..not to this degree thank God but lives are being ruined because someone chooses to utilize a non toxic herb that has more medicinal uses then any other plant on this planet! Not to mention how fossil fuels that we go to war over would be totally done away with if we used the Hemp plant for fuel. 100% GREEN and puts more back into the soil and air then it takes away. FUEL, FOOD, FIBER, and Medicine…but the sonsabitches in Washington keep repeating the same old lies for the past 80 years..there is only one man we need to see in the Presidents chair and thats RON PAUL. and he will be getting the nod to run and if ANY of you decide to vote for someone else in 2012 you will be getting more of the same..Im sick to death the way We the People have been lied to in this country its time for REAL CHANGE..Obama is in the very same bed that Bush was in, only difference is Obama changed the sheets. And as far as MPP speaking out about Obama with his lies and deceit..dont hold your breath..I no longer support MPP (after many years) because they WILL NOT come to the aide of Rick Simpson in Canada nor even speak about the 100′s of people he CURED with cancer and other diseases with the HEMP OIL (Pheonix Tears) that he produced and GAVE AWAY. If you have not followed this story DO SO. Rick has a video out its called” Run From The Cure” all this hoopla over smoking Hemp (which is fine, Im 50 years old, have smoked almost every day since I was 16, in fact I can count on 2 hands how many days I HAVE NOT smoked in 34 years!! But the medicnal properties of hemp thats being smoked on a scale of 1-10 ranks a 3 the TRUE medicine and healing properties are in the OIL! And MPP (no matter how often you ask them) will remain silent on this issue. They should be doing everything in their power to inform EVERYONE about what this guy has done and what HELL the Canadian Gov. has put him and his family through..its mind bending. MPP has lost my contributions for ever, until they stand up and tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth…not one more red cent from me.

  7. blakmira

    No warning knocks, shouts or shots. Execution without a trial is now legal in your own home in America.

    Everyone knows potsmokers are a true menace to society because they tend to snack and giggle a lot while listening to music, and they are all dangerous domestic terrorists, hiding bombs in their bongs.

    3 shots was required to kill that useless eater with his golf club weapon, to make sure he never plays golf again. The Nazis were bummed that there was no dog in the house to kill too.

    Note: It said only a “small” amount of pot was recovered. Looks like the Jackboots got some smokes to sell too (surprise!) that never made it to the property room.

  8. RexT

    I’ll also mention jj’s point above as others have. It appears that MPP doessn’t respond, doesn’t read these comments, doesn’t know about Obama’s changed position on mj. Or so it seems.

    I’m angry that this police murderer killed a peaceful innocent man and of course gets away with it. I can’t actually recall any police department arresting any of it’s own for such crimes.

    So this is America? The criminals are wearing the badges and uniforms of police officers. They are sitting in high government offices. What are we doing? Sitting in our easy chairs — couch potatoes we are.

    This problem has definitely escalated over my life time, 53 years. It will get worse before it gets better. Much worse!

    Revolution? How so? You can’t even get people off the couch and organized to vote, let alone go after Nazi pigs.

    We can end the government’s war on the American people without retaliation and more bloodshed by electing leaders who will represent us. No politician should be elected unless his or her position on the constitution and cannabis is crystal clear. Those who side with the DEA should never get a position in public office. Those who will not state their position on cannabis should not get your vote. We have to force politicians to speak out against this evil.

  9. nileor

    all those “founding fathers” mentioned here ALL had hemp crops and smoked pot, this is a documented fact and they promoted it as textile industry until they figured out tobacco was addicting and the english would pay big bucks to get it, this was one of the true reasons for the war not tea, we are missing out on a 6 billion dollar textile industry with 100000′s of jobs because of big oil, dupont and lumber cazrs dont want hemp to be re-established as textile crop, it has no relation to medical side http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hemp+for+victory+1942&aq=1

  10. lowryder

    by keeping pills and alcohol legal they are doing there part to help the pharmicies and themselves rich and people to there graves faster. we need to overgrow this government

  11. g. mario

    I’ve voted for Ron Paul in every presidential election he’s been on the ballot. I switched to R to vote for Ron Paul in the R primary elections.

  12. J.W.

    It’s no wonder that random assh@les have started shooting police in the back of the head as they sit in donut shops.
    If you join a cult of thugs, you have no reason to bitch when people HATE you.
    See if you still want to call a cop after you read “Warren v. District of Columbia”

  13. ga mario

    TODD BLAIR, 45, gunned down by armed police. I pray for Justice. May today there be peace within. May you trust your highest power that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith. May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content knowing you are a child of God. Let this presence settle into our bones, and all our souls the freedom to sing, dance, and bask in the sun … it is there for each and every one of you. BLESSED BE.

  14. toborg214

    This is sad, but I didn’t hear them call for help, all you hear is one guy telling them to keep moving. They want to take guns away from everyone not to keep us safe so we can’t fight back. This is getting out of hand. I live in Rockford, Il and 2 cops chased a guy down and shot him alot. Then to find out it was the second time one of the cops kill someone else, no weapon quick death and the cop got a ribbon and a good job in the paper. I say if the cops pull you over your life is at risk, What happen to the land of the free. Now we hire muderers to police our states…..

  15. Greg

    The drug reform organizations have legal staff to present their cases to a U.S.A. prosecutor to put these murders, rapers, robbers. torturers, and other criminal activity in jail or the death penality. They should organize protesting marches every time the cops step out of line. I expect a response with in 48 hours of my request. Everyone has the 2nd Amendment right ot protect themselfs. Th U.S.A. Amendment rights should not be taken lightly. Please respond to your organizations personally.

  16. Josiah

    “Outraged” is an extreme understatement when it comes to the way I feel after watching this video! I almost punched a hole in my wall after reading the story and watching the video! The video should be evidence in a murder case! Sgt. Troy Burnett should at the very least do life in prison. Instead, he probably got some sort of honorable recognition that you can read about in that Utah city’s local paper. Way to “serve and protect” asshole!

  17. Joseph Gurbils

    These comments are the biggest load of crap that I have heard ever since Martin Luther Kings I have a dream speech. The video is fake you just can’t tell because you are high. rule 1 America wins every time Vietnam the nuclear bomb 911 the economy TSA. We cant loose said by my hero Mr George W Busch

  18. Joel

    Utah S.W.A.T. might as well have a death lottery on its citizens. If you own or rent a house in Utah you are eligible.
    The Utah S.W.A.T. will greet you with a surprise by kicking down your door and spraying you with bullets.

    (The Utah S.W.A.T. are not responsible and are exempt from any wrong doing in the state of Utah.)

    The humor is sick and so is the Utah S.W.A.T.

  19. Robert

    taxing = paying the mafia/government to stop attacking us
    regulating = giving the mafia/government “control” of the cannabis industry

    I personally think it’s time to change the dialog of this discussion. Visit http://www.potforfreedom.com/oklahoma for a new idea in reforming the existing laws that prohibit the American people (farmers, gardeners and average Joes/Janes) from growing and using this valuable crop.

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