Supporters rally for victim of Derek Copp shooting… Deputy Ryan Scott Huizenga

Weep for me! I'll be worried about this case for the rest of my vacation!

This just in from the Department of Adding Insult to Injury:

Deputy Ryan Huizenga supporters to rally

Supporters of Deputy Ryan Huizenga will rally outside the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday, according to several Facebook groups created by friends and family of the deputy.

The rally is from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the sheriff’s office, 12220 Fillmore St. Organizers describe the event not as a protest or picket, but an opportunity to thank members of law enforcement for protecting the community.

…from young men sitting in their off-campus apartment late at night, minding their own business, not even smoking marijuana at the time and possessing only “a few tablespoons”.

Huizenga, 37, was arraigned Monday on a charge of careless use of a firearm for allegedly shooting and wounding college student Derek Copp, 20, during a March 11 drug raid at Copp’s off-campus apartment near Grand Valley State University.

Allegedly shooting and wounding?  Um, is that an alleged gunshot wound to the chest that allegedly sent Derek to the hospital, where doctors allegedly removed an alleged police-issue bullet from an alleged police-issue handgun allegedly belonging to Deputy Ryan Huizenga?  You can allege whether the shooting was careless, but the shooting isn’t a figment of anyone’s imagination and Derek wasn’t armed.

Plus, it wasn’t a “drug raid”, it was a “marijuana raid”.  No “drugs” were found.  This isn’t Tony Montana sitting behind a pile of cocaine in his Miami mansion with a couple of his “li’l friends”.  This is the off-campus college apartment of a 20-year-old student!  What anonymous tip, what surveillance, what investigation turned up the key piece of information that led you to believe it was necessary to send five WEMET deputies to the back sliding-glass door of an apartment at night with guns drawn?

None, nothing, nada!  This is just standard operating procedure in America! If we think you have weed, if we catch some dope-smoker who flips on you, regardless if there’s a chance in hell he’s telling the truth, if we think you’re using too much electricity or your walls are too warm, we will come to your house in the middle of the night, lob grenades into your home, shoot your dogs, tie you up to sit in their blood, put our knees into your back while we point assault weapons at your head, take away your screaming children, take anything we see that we like and destroy the rest, and if we’re feeling froggy, we just might shoot and kill you.  And don’t think “Well, I don’t smoke pot, so I’m don’t care,” because sometimes we get the wrong address on the warrant.

Now, if instead, you’d like to bring home a case of beer, get shitface drunk and beat your wife, if we get a call about that, we’ll send a couple of deputies over and knock politely on your door.  If she’s sobbing, bruised, and bloody, but refuses to press charges, we’ll just be on our way.  You have a nice night, sir.

It’s not a war on drugs, it’s a War on Americans who pick the wrong drug.  It’s a demonizing and a dehumanizing of drug users that leads to the logical conclusion of sending in well-armed “task forces” into people’s homes to save our society from these diseased vermin and dangerous animals.  It’s the picture conjured of vampiric cocaine fiends and zombie heroin junkies – the tiny few who do become desperately addicted – plus the gun violence of a few brought about by prohibition, all mixed for a broad brush called “drugs” that is painted over even the successful casual non-violent marijuana smoker.  It’s telling that the outrage is more over the absurdly light potential sentence than the sending of armed police, guns drawn, at night to shine their lights in citizens’ homes over enough pot for a joint or two!

In addition to Thursday’s rally, organizers announced they will launch a Web site, www.standupforryan.org, later this week.

Gee, I wonder if it will have a comments section?