SM Gibson

April 2, 2015

(ANTIMEDIA) DELTONA, FL. — Derek Cruice was fatally shot in the face by the Volusia County Sheriff’s Department in the early morning hours of March 4th.

The “official” account is that Derek was perceived as a threat to officers and aggressively advanced on a deputy. Sheriff’s Deputy Todd Raible then pulled the trigger of his firearm and discharged one bullet which struck the 26-year-old in the face. Derek was pronounced dead at the hospital, later that day.

It was initially reported by us here at The Anti-Media, along with many other local news outlets that no drugs or guns were present in the house, according to witnesses. Police contradicted these reports by releasing the following statement the afternoon of the shooting:

Todd Raible fired his duty weapon after Derek Cruice’s actions caused the deputy to perceive a threat. It has since been determined that Cruice wasn’t armed. During a search of the house, investigators recovered approximately 217 grams of marijuana, a scale, a drug ledger, marijuana smoking pipes, plastic bags and about $3,000 in cash. The circumstances of the shooting remain under investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. In a clarification to the initial news release, while Raible is a member of the Sheriff’s Office’s SWAT Team, he was there today at the scene in his capacity as a narcotics investigator for the Sheriff’s Office. The SWAT Team wasn’t deployed at today’s incident.

This statement even contradicted the Department’s own original press release regarding the situation. The report read,

Deputies were deployed at 831 Maybrook Drive to serve the warrant when someone in the house advanced on a member of the SWAT Team who was entering the residence.

At least one person inside the home recalled witnessing a “paramilitary” officer on the premises.

Despite the discovery and confiscation of marijuana on the property, no arrests or charges have yet to be filed on anyone who was inside the dwelling at the time of the raid.

According to Derek’s friends who were present in the residence at the time of his murder, he unequivocally did not rush, make any advancement, or present a risk to law enforcement. Derek was barefoot, dressed in basketball shorts, and was shirtless at the time of the incident. More importantly, he was unarmed. In fact, Derek had never even fired a gun in his life, according to friends.

Matthew Grady, who was present for the entire incident and witnessed his friend be needlessly slain, spoke with the Anti-Media and had the following to say regarding the tragic event that unfolded in front of him:

Derek was a guy, like you and I who may have chosen marijuana over alcohol, got blasted in the face. He was good… He was the person that people called when they needed someone to talk to. He did not have a weapon. He was not going to hurt anybody. He was scared and then he died.

Derek was a normal, mild mannered 26-year-old guy whom everyone loved. He enjoyed playing video games, hanging out with his family and friends, and was very involved with Dagorhir – a live action foam fighting/roleplaying sport. Imperial Atlantis, the name of the Dagorhir squad which he participated in, was a very integral part of Derek’s social life. The life-long Floridian was known as ‘Gridd’ to his foam-fighting teammates. Gridd also had an enthusiastic curiosity for science and loved to learn.

One thing is for certain, if archaic laws didn’t exist in this country which grant law enforcement carte blanche to raid homes and violently apprehend citizens over an herb from the ground, then Derek would still be alive today. An unjust law also turned a man into a killer. Todd Raible will have to wear that burden for the rest of his life. All of this in a state where over 55% of its residents recently voted to legalize medical marijuana. Yet, the initiative still failed because a 60% majority was needed.

Unfortunately, no law in the world will bring Derek back to his loved ones — and for them — justice should be served. Shooting an unarmed person who did not lay their hands on anyone is murder. Todd Raible needs be held accountable for his actions, not just for Derek’s family and friends, but for an entire nation. We have seen too frequently in recent months; people being robbed of their life and yet their killers have not even been charged with a crime due to a badge on their chest. It’s time we stop excusing murder because of the assailants job description.

How many more innocent lives have to be lost and how much blood needs to be shed before Lady Liberty is satisfied? When will she realize that the drug war is a lost cause? Why are we still allowing our children to be murdered over a plant?

This article (Still No Justice After Cop Kills Unarmed and Peaceful Man Over Weed) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author and TheAntiMedia.org. Tune in to the Anti-Media radio show Monday through Friday @ 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. Help us fix our typos: edits@theantimedia.org.

