A&E has a show called The First 48 Hours. in one of the episodes, Detroit police entered the wrong house and during the assault killed a 7 year old girl. According to the lawsuit, the police were told by the producers of the show that they wanted great footage so that people would tune into the show. The suit says because of wanting to make the show's producers happy, the police went crazy on their commando raid. Apparently police were looking for one address, but went into the wrong house. The girl was sleeping on a couch and was harmed by a flash bang grenade. Then, while police stormed the house, others outside started shooting into the house and struck the girl in her head. She died later and her family says the girl was in terrible pain before she died.
Of course no one had any comment. I hope the family gets paid a lot of money by everyone involved.
can we wait and hear all the facts first, please? i'm not saying all this isn't accurate, but there COULD be another side to the story entirely.
ReplyDeleteDid this happen in Vancouver? Just askin', cause our police are known for this shit, too.
ReplyDeleteHorrific. Take them for all they've got.
Anytime you put a camera in a situation emotions and drama increase 10x.
ReplyDeleteThese cops need to stop letting production assistants dictate how busts go down.
I sincerely hope this incident leads to a law that reality tv cannot follow law enforcement officers.It seems like a recipe for disaster.
ReplyDelete@nancer - the news reports on this have been out for a while now, it's the lawsuit with A&E that's recent.
Actually I don't know any production assistants that have that much power. It's usually the producers, but regardless of how emotional or amped up things were, the police should have known where the hell they were going. If you don't go into the wrong house, shit like this probably won't happen.
ReplyDeleteHow tragic. I've seen this show a few times before and it always seemed more low-key than what is in the post. Unlike COPS. What I've seen is detectives following leads to try to solve a murder, as it is more difficult to solve after 48 hrs.
ReplyDeleteAgree with above, let's here the rest of the story.
Reality TV cameras have no business at active crime scenes, busts, medical and police emergencies, etc.
ReplyDeleteNO. BUSINESS.
Do NOT get me started on this case. Yes Aiyana Jones is an innocent life lost, but the family knew they were harboring a murder suspect, and the police told them numerous times to send him out and they didn't. There were also rumours that the mom in this had a gun pointed at the officers.
ReplyDeleteIronically, Geoffrey Fieger became their lawyer the day after this and is suing left and right for money for the family - he has been shot down in court already.
I am sorry that little Aiyana died, but the family was in the wrong in the first place. The SWAT team that did the entry is on Detroit SWAT.
@Bubbles I was being sarcastic. But I worked at A&E for a hot minute years ago. But most of these "producers" are young kids out of film school trying to make names for themselves.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletewho wants to watch the fucking police on tv anyway?
ReplyDeleteif people didn't want to watch this rubbish, it would decrease the odds of such unfortunate accidents happening.
The police went to the right house. The murderer was sleeping upstairs. The grandmother was in the living room and fought the police as they entered. The girl was killed in the struggle. Very tragic and sad situation both for the family of the girl and the family of the boy that was murdered by (IIRC) the girl's father.
ReplyDeleteGeoffery Fieger, legal whore extraordinare is handling the wrongful death suit by the girl's family.
http://articles.cnn.com/2010-05-16/justice/michigan.police.child_1_officer-fires-detroit-police-department-search-warrant?_s=PM:CRIME If you want to learn more.
I am super confused by this post. I remember reading this story and A&E had nothing to do with it. Are they saying now that because A&E was filming the cops regarding this murder case, it is their fault that the girl died? Crazy. That seems like so long ago.
ReplyDeleteThis is all fishy to me. I've seen the 48 hours show and it's usually pretty tame. Everything is usually shown after the fact, and arrests aren't often made on camera. It always struck me as less sensationalist than Cops or similar shows. Not that this couldn't have happened.
ReplyDeleteAlso, why did police shoot into the house if other police were already in the house?
The alleged house is in reality two homes. You people have heard of Duplexes before haven't you? The man wasn't in their rented section. He lived in the rented upstairs section. Considering it was the first time the Detroit police used a flash grenade to do that sort of raid... there could have been issues, but that doesn't explain why one Officer decided to shoot through the window. It's kind of sad they set her on fire with the grenade too. I guess by killing her, they saved her some pain, eh? They had to know other people were there. They do gather evidence before they go busting into places don't they?
ReplyDeleteI don't care if the parents are considered scumbags. Their innocent daughter didn't get a choice in the birth lottery. Yes, the City needs to pay out cash.
I wonder how many other major cities crying broke have had to make payments out for brutal inhumane police actions?
While you're cutting taxes, and trimming fat take a good look at those expenditures. Me thinks it's a huge amount of money and could be easily avoided.
that's some serious blood on your hands you have there, a&e.
ReplyDeleteyou too, detroit pd.
*heartbreaking*
As much as I hate the current state of reality TV, I doubt the producers goaded them into an assault. Yes everyone wants to be a reality star but having been on plenty of police ride alongs with film crews, I find it hard to imagine that the police were not 100% in charge the whole time. They take their jobs seriously, their own lives are on the line, and doc crews who go out on dangerous shoots generally know their stuff too; know how to be careful and how to stand back and let the cops do their jobs. No one on a doc crew wants to get shot for the sake of a show, either. That's just in my personal experience.
ReplyDeleteThe one exception I've noted recently is the Steven Seagal reality show. In that one, it's clear that the police bow to the needs of the show. The poor cops in that department have to suck it up and make it look like Seagal is the one who makes all their arrests, solves all their cases, hits all the targets that the regular cops can't hit, etc...all for the sake of the show. It's pretty disgusting. I wonder if the country or department is getting paid or something?
In this case a teenager (Jerean Blake) was shot and killed because someone thought he gave them a dirty look. The getaway driver for his murder was Aiyana's father. Duplex or no, her family knew who was under their roof.
ReplyDeleteAiyana wasn't the only child who died in this situation, and her family is partly or wholly accountable for both.
One of the most confusing and horrifying stories I've heard in a while. I'm with poster #1 - let's get all the facts because this is beyond bizarre. Why where people outside shooting!!??
ReplyDeleteAs many others pointed out - it's terribly sad an innocent child died. However, this post is pretty one-sided. The girl's uncle-to-be was the person they were looking for, and he lived in the same DUPLEX as the girl. Here's an older article that points out some of the discrepancies in the stories:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2010/05/tensions_build_as_aiyana_jones.html
It's not as black and white as Enty makes it seem, except that a poor little girl died.
@Mia--well said.
ReplyDeleteLink:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2010/05/tensions_build_as_aiyana_jones.html>
Clean their coffers!
ReplyDeleteYou know what? I read enough news to know that sometimes the police are gun happy and shoot people they shouldn't be shooting. They're just like us. With guns and a very stressful, adrenaline-pumping job at times.
ReplyDeleteI lived in Vegas, and there were many suspects who were shot in the back by the cops and no one was called to account. I don't think you can blame the show - as others have said, it's pretty tame. Scapegoating is the oldest trick in the book. Even if the producers wanted more action, I would hope that the policemen would be professional and not shoot it up for the cameras. That would be THEIR problem, not "48 Hours".
The show is called The First 48. No 'hours'. (wasn't that a movie from the 80's?)
ReplyDeleteAnyway, its a great show. It's not over the top, nothing at all like 'Cops', and I can't hold A&E or this show accountable at all whatsoever.
If anyone, I hold the DPD accountable - however, there are many details in this case which are sketchy. Were they harboring a murder suspect upstairs?
Geoffry Feiger is an idiot.
But over all of that, RIP to that little girl. :(
Are you kidding me? They're blaming producers? Wow. I'm going to bring an A & E producer with me everywhere then. Evidently their power makes officers mindless.
ReplyDelete