Florida Deputy Fatally Shoots Unarmed Man In Face

The war on drugs claims another victim at the hands of law enforcement. While serving a narcotics warrant in Deltona, Florida, Deputy Todd Raible shot 26 year old Derek Cruice in the face.

Investigators said deputies were entering the home on Maybrook Drive when Derek Cruice, 26, allegedly advanced on a member of the SWAT team around 6:30 a.m. Wednesday.

The deputy claims Derek "advanced" on him which he saw as a threat.

“Volusia County Sheriff’s Office narcotics investigators and the Street Crimes Unit were attempting to serve a search warrant at a residence. They were met with resistance and a shooting occurred,” Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson said.

There were 5 other adults in the home when the shooting took place and they dispute the claim that Derek "advanced" on officers or that any threat was presented at all. They say Derek was wearing basketball shorts and nothing else.

Two of Cruice's friends, who told WESH 2's Claire Metz that they were inside the house when he was shot, insist that he did not threaten or resist the deputy.

“That is completely a lie. I was there; I watched the whole thing. There was no advancement. There was no reaching for anything. The guy was wearing basketball shorts like I am. It’s kind of hard to conceal anything or hide anything when this is all you have on,” said Cruice's friend, who asked not to be identified.

Police say drugs were found in the home though no firearms.

What we appear to have is a man getting shot in the face because he moved, in his own home, as a result of an armed force barging in with weapons ready. The term "advanced" of course will be the center of much debate. It could mean multiple things and I'm wondering why the police would use such vague terminology. Usually in circumstances like these they will claim the victim charged at them. Instead we get "advanced".

Now I know the train of thought some might take. "Well if he wasn't breaking the law it wouldn't have happened." Which is of course, true. Though is such a simplistic train of thought truly the most appropriate in such a case? Surely we shouldn't be so comfortable brushing off a man getting shot in the face so easily.

I look forward to further information that may help paint a more complete picture of what exactly took place.

Source

Back when I lived in the states I do hope if someone busted in my door, no matter what they were saying, I would have been quick enough to blow their frigging head off !

Many years ago there was a group of thieves who broke into homes while wearing police uniforms. They were finally captured because a home owner shot one of the dirt bags and the two others fled the scene only to be captured later that day.

No knock raids and Swat teams may be necessary in some peoples minds but IMO it is an extremely dangerous situation for both the residents and the officers..... especially when they get the wrong address which happens all to often as far as I am concerned.

This guy died for 7 ounces of weed....

How ridiculous is that, one state you can buy it like you would beer, and another state is shooting people in the face.

a reply to: jackjoedoe
F#n sick isn't it..what a waste of life and time/resources.

a reply to: jackjoedoe

How ridiculous is that, one state you can buy it like you would beer, and another state is shooting people in the face.

^^^^ This.

After watching in the video in the OP's link, the neighbors saw these dudes as no threat. A lady mentions that the residents would fight with swords and shields outside of the house (fake swords and shields). 20 something year olds acting out Dungeons and Dragons or whatever. They were a bunch of stoners that didnt even bother the people living around them.

Heck, if these guys lived next to me, I would probably ask to join their sword fighting match.

a reply to: FraggleRock

note not only do they use the vague term "advanced". but what does "drugs and paraphernalia were found in the home" mean? again that is rather vague. "drugs" can mean legitimate prescription drugs being lawfully taken and prescribed to someone in the home. this happened to a neighbor of mine, when he was raided because someone decided he must be selling drugs. all they found was the prescription pain killers (in a small amount) he was legitimately taking. but that was enough to charge him. what he was selling was Indian cigarettes, not drugs. yet they were there on a drug raid and drugs were found in the home. would he have won in court? we will never know since he died in great pain from the cancer he had, since because of the charge he was not allowed to even get his prescription pain medicine. "paraphernalia", is yet again ambiguous. it can mean things like a cigarette lighter, a tobacco pipe, a syringe that is used by a diabetic, rolling papers and cigarette rolling machines which can be legitimately used to roll cigarettes are all drug paraphernalia.

originally posted by: 727Sky
Back when I lived in the states I do hope if someone busted in my door, no matter what they were saying, I would have been quick enough to blow their frigging head off !

Many years ago there was a group of thieves who broke into homes while wearing police uniforms. They were finally captured because a home owner shot one of the dirt bags and the two others fled the scene only to be captured later that day.

No knock raids and Swat teams may be necessary in some peoples minds but IMO it is an extremely dangerous situation for both the residents and the officers..... especially when they get the wrong address which happens all to often as far as I am concerned.

I am against violence but have to agree with you on this one. When state and federal agents think they can just barge into any home, I think many more should be shot. I believe self defense applies here. Everyone has a right to defend their family and home no matter who kicks in your door. It is unfortunate to say this but this is the only way some agencies can understand before they change their policies. Those in charge of policy should be kicking in the doors instead they sit on their fat ass in a warm and cozy office eating donuts and making racists jokes with their "homies".

"Advanced" on him.
F***ing Coward
This makes my blood boil because these wannabe Rambos are so terrified they will shoot for any reason and get away with it. Their buddies will say the guy walked toward him in a threatening manner, so of course he had to put a bullet in his head. How much of a chicken sh** do you have to be to shoot someone just for walking toward you? With all his buddies around, this cop still felt so threatened that he had to shoot the guy. No tazer, no dog pile by 3 - 4 officers, just shot in the face.
The police are not your friend. They are not there to serve and protect and they do not care about you. There are no good cops. As long as they lie and cover for their "brothers" they are all as guilty as the guy who pulled the trigger or violated someones Rights or shot someones' dog.

Wtf man. Even if he did 'advance' what happened to using tasers and pepper spray?
Or even a warning shot or a shot to the leg???
Dark times man.

What a bummer.

It's so sad that our government is so far out of our own control that we can't put an end to this.

I weep to think how bad it will get.

originally posted by: DeathSlayer
I am against violence but have to agree with you on this one. When state and federal agents think they can just barge into any home, I think many more should be shot. I believe self defense applies here. Everyone has a right to defend their family and home no matter who kicks in your door.

This is why almost all other countries would never give their police these kinds of powers over the citizens. It's astounding that this is still happening in the US, and the rest of the world is looking at the US with utter contempt for things exactly like this.

This is the kind of response you should have o the threat of terrorism, or a hostage situation, or something in extreme where you know the potential for death is real. This is NOT the kind of response any police department should have in any other instance.

The fact that this is being allowed to continue says a lot about American culture too. No doubt there will be someone in this thread real soon to claim that if you even argue with a thug in uniform you "deserve" to be executed.

You've given your police far too much power, and far too little accountability or oversight. And, it seems, most of those who serve in the Police forces across the US have daddy issues and severe psychological problems which allow them to think they are superior to all others and have a right to murder people.

I've said for a long time that no matter where people stand on the previous examples of widely publicized deaths at the hands of Police, it all reeks to high heaven of corruption, abuse of power, public apathy, and that things need to change throughout American policing.

You need to abandon this notion that Police are there to "enforce" and support the idea that Police are there with the permission of the public, and that all citizens are equal regardless of the attitudes of an officer. You need to have extensive psychological profiling of anyone who wants to hold a gun as an officer, and you need to instantly remove any officer who shows any sign of believing that they have a right to judge a suspect.

I hope this case moves things on in the way the others failed to do, but with the apathetic nature of the American public and the irrational nonsensical belief that police are now allowed to be judge, juries and executioners if you so much as swear at them, I don't expect to see anything change.

a reply to: FraggleRock

My prediction is we will start seeing cops becoming targets in the very near future.

Sad and scary are the times that lie ahead.

An AD? Acidental discharge...a hyped up over equiped over trained not needed for the situation cop running around with ' finger on the trigger' , cause they were going after some dangerous potheads......

a reply to: jackjoedoe

Surreal isn't it?

Until the Feds can see that more money is to be had through legal taxation of a legal product this practice of raiding drug offenders will continue, with more deadly results.

a reply to: generik

While I understand what you're saying, in this case what they found in the home was marijuana. I notice my original source does not specify.

The sheriff's office allegedly recovered 217 grams of marijuana at the home, along with a scale, pipes, plastic bags and about $3,000 in cash.

Source

originally posted by: KawRider9
a reply to: FraggleRock

My prediction is we will start seeing cops becoming targets in the very near future.

Sad and scary are the times that lie ahead.

Unfortunately, this might be the case- but they will not stand for it. The moment cops become targets of violence, the gloves will come off- and they're better trained and better armed than everyone else- and they're above the law.

If we allow this to escalate to war between citizens and police, it's game over. Any cops worth having will walk away, and the ones who WANT to play judge dredd will be the only ones left- and the law will be on their side.

There's only two ways it can go from there- either the government is overthrown from the ground up, or the citizens are oppressed into the ground.
Seeing as how we have fewer rights every day, and the general population is completely apathetic to what's going on as long as they get their pretzels on Fridays and go home to their stories on the television, my guess is the latter.

Tear it down...

It appears the officer broke 3 of the 4 golden rules of firearm safety: finger on the trigger when NOT ready to fire, pointing the firearm at something he did NOT intend to destroy, and NOT being sure of the target and whats behind it.

I know some good and firearm savvy people who went through the police academy and have become officers, what they have told me is most police recruits are ignorant to firearm safety 101.

How far off the rails is this country when the bad guys are the ones all mellow and laid back and the good guys are the ones that shoot them in the face for it?

a reply to: FraggleRock
I really do wonder if Deputy Todd Raible will sleep well at night knowing he shot some Dagorhir foam-fighting, video game loving kid in the face... all because he claimed to have been "advanced" on.

If it was Deputy Todd Raible's natural impulse to just fire his weapon out of nerves, then he should really consider a different career - however, if he went home last night bragging to his wife about his awesome day at the office, and how he earned an Attaboy from his coworkers... then man... we're severely f**ked as a society!

Sucks that the kid had to die this way over pot and paraphernalia.
Oh... and charging an officer...

originally posted by: the_philth
If it was Deputy Todd Raible's natural impulse to just fire his weapon out of nerves, then he should really consider a different career

No, he should be charged with manslaughter and never have the opportunity to work in policing ever again.

There should not be any excuse for murdering an unarmed man who poses no threat, absolutely none, ever, no matter how "scared" the cop is.

I keep seeing this excuse put out there as if being afraid somehow exonerates someone from ENDING SOMEONES LIFE, it's insane that this excuse can ever be used by anyone, let alone a f-ing cop!

Being "afraid" is not an excuse to end a life, the moment it is accepted as an excuse all the gloves come off and anyone can go around murdering anyone they want and claim they were "scared". These are supposed to be trained professionals we charge with protecting and serving the public, and if they're jumping at the sight of their own shadow they should not be in that job.

Maybe this is how American policing has got to this point? Maybe the very first time a cop claimed "I was afraid" and was let off for murder it opened a floodgate of apathy and acceptable homicide?

The cop needs to be charged, and he needs to be charged now.

originally posted by: jackjoedoe
This guy died for 7 ounces of weed....

How ridiculous is that, one state you can buy it like you would beer, and another state is shooting people in the face.

It's terribly sad this man was shot IN THE FACE over a plant.

A plant that is a gift for many from Mother Nature herself. It's benefits to many who use it as medicine are unmatched. The fact that the male plant, AKA hemp, can be used for building, food, clothing, etc. is just more evidence (to me) that they are both God's gifts to us humans.

As far as this LEO who shot the man in the face? He'll be put on paid vacation leave during the investigation, which will end up clearing him of any wrong doing, and he will be back out serving warrants at the wee hours on people suspected of using and selling this illegal and evil plant.