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from the who-feels-safe-in-Florida-now? dept.
Armed police raid home of Florida scientist fired over Covid-19 data
Rebekah Jones, the Florida data scientist embroiled in a dispute with the state's Republican governor over the handling of coronavirus figures, had her home raided on Monday by armed police who confiscated her computers.
In a stream of posts on Twitter, Jones posted a video of the raid that showed state police carrying handguns escorting her out of her Tallahassee home. She can be heard saying: "He just pointed a gun at my children," with her husband and two children apparently upstairs at the time.
Jones claimed in her tweets that the raid was the work of Ron DeSantis, the governor with whom she has clashed repeatedly since she was fired by the state's department of health in May in a row over Covid-19 data. She compared the incident to sending "the gestapo", adding: "This is what happens to scientists who do their job honestly. This is what happens to people who speak truth to power."
The Florida department of law enforcement confirmed they had entered Jones's house on a search warrant. But in a statement the department said the action was related to a recent computer hack of the health department website, in which emergency response coordinators were sent an unauthorised message.
Also at CNN, The Verge, and The Hill.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by PiMuNu on Wednesday December 09 2020, @09:24AM (3 children)
> Stupid broad
Why the sexist slur? That's beneath you.
> she opens her door before looking to see who the hell is out there?
Maybe that's an American thing? Here in the free world we don't expect armed attackers every time we open our door.
(Score: 2, Flamebait) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday December 09 2020, @01:20PM (2 children)
She's not a stupid kid. She's not a stupid dude. She's not a stupid animal. She's not a stupid kitchen range. She's a stupid broad.
The video seemed to show her walking to the door, and opening it wide without looking to see who it is. In retrospect, she's stupider than I thought, for having denied the police entry for several minutes after learning that they had a valid search warrant.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday December 09 2020, @04:50PM (1 child)
Right, so I guess her "stupidly" opening the door makes it OK for them to send the Gestaop out to round up inconvenient scientists.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday December 09 2020, @06:11PM
I didn't say anything like that. However, in the USA, if law enforcement can get a judge to sign off on a warrant, we have to respect that warrant. Refusing entry to a cop with a warrant in his hand often results in SWAT forcing entry, and killing every living thing as they come in. Refer to Breonna Taylor, in which case the warrant wasn't exactly properly served - "no knock".
You almost never win when resisting the cops, you certainly won't win if the cop has a valid warrant in hand.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.