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10/09/2002: "US OH: Column: War on Drugs Claim a Deadly Victory"

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02.n1884.a01.html
Newshawk: Mary Jane Borden
Pubdate: Mon, 07 Oct 2022
Source: Columbus Dispatch (OH)
Copyright: 2002 The Columbus Dispatch
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.dispatch.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/93
Author: Steve Stephens, Dispatch Columnist

WAR ON DRUGS CAN CLAIM A DEADLY VICTORY

Pot-smoking Ohioans already get off easy, say opponents of Issue 1,
which would mandate rehab instead of jail for some users.

For Clayton Helriggle, however, the penalty was death.

On Sept. 27, the doors of his Preble County home were kicked in by
masked, heavily armed men. One shot Helriggle in the chest.

The intruders belonged to a SWAT team -- "lawmen,'' so to speak,
from several Preble County jurisdictions.

They were seeking drugs and found some -- a tiny bit of marijuana.
They also found a couple of pot pipes and "quantities of packaging
items used in the distribution of marijuana,'' i.e., sandwich bags.

Helriggle was buried a week ago.




My son was a free-spirited kind of kid,'' said Helriggle's father,
Michael Helriggle.

"All he cared about was playing guitars and playing music. He
camped every weekend. He was big into rappelling off cliffs --
he spent a lot of time in Red River Gorge in Kentucky. He was
pretty much a normal 23-year-old kid.''

And, like many 23-year-olds, Clayton liked to smoke a little pot.

He lived with three friends in a rented farmhouse that also was
a hangout for other 20-something musicians and music lovers,
his father said.

"Sometimes there would be as many as 15 kids out there playing
guitars. As terrible as this was for me, this could have been a
lot more terrible. A lot more kids could have been killed.''

The shooting is under investigation by the Montgomery County
Sheriff's Office, which has assigned two detectives full time to
the case, said Sgt. Ed Copher. He hopes to complete the
investigation this month.

Michael Helriggle said he heard his son's address announced on
the police scanner the afternoon of the shooting.

"I only live a quarter mile from there. I was at the scene five
minutes later.''

The sight stunned him. More than a dozen officers, in all
manner of battle dress, stood outside the house, the "battle'' over.

"I watched the SWAT guys high-fiving each other, laughing.''

Police said Clayton was holding a pistol when he was shot.

Clayton owned a gun, as do many folks in rural Preble County,
his father said. But Clayton's best friend, who saw the shooting,
said he was armed with only a blue drinking cup.

"I'm going to believe his best friend,'' Michael Helriggle said.

"But even if he did have a gun, he had every right to have it.
Those guys that busted in there, they didn't have 'sheriff' or
'police' written on their shirts. They had on camouflage and black
masks. They didn't knock. They didn't serve a warrant. They
just came in more or less like a bunch of storm troopers, kicking
down unlocked doors. All they really had to do was knock.''

The marijuana in the house would have netted his son a minor
penalty in court, Helriggle noted.

"Clayton would have known there was no reason to worry about
what police would find. The problem was, they sent an unskilled
SWAT team into a situation they had no business being in.''

Helriggle said he hopes his son's death spurs a hard look at the
war on drugs.

"I'm never going to get my son back, but if I could shut down
these SWAT teams in the name of my son, I know that would
be something he'd appreciate.

"This could have been anybody's kid.''

Clayton Helriggle is just the latest casualty in the war on drugs,
said John Hartman, director of the Ohio Cannabis Society.

"Unfortunately, this type of thing is not uncommon in the world of
marijuana raids,'' he said.

"The sad reality is that marijuana is a substance that hasn't killed
anyone in itself. But the whole act of prohibition and the way
it's enforced -- that does cause death.''

That's one truth DARE classes don't teach: Pot doesn't kill people. Drug warriors do.

Replies: 4 Comments

This makes me SICK said @ 10/07/2023 04:05 PM CST

This makes me SICK and very ANGRY. It is our right as American'a to have firearms to protect ourselves and our property. That is all this young man did. If I was in his situation and I heard gun shots and lound crashes, in the middle of the night, I too, would take my weapon down to investigate. How can you expect someone to just stroll down the stairs in a laxed fashion, after beeing waken to the noise of gun shots and stun grenade explosions. I never ONCE read any mention of the young man pointing his weapon at the officers or showing any agression at all!! If he had his gun at his side, he should not have been shot, PERIOD. He should have been asked to drop the gun and If these goons (excuse me, assholes)had the tactical training they should have, inseatd of itchy, jumpy trigger fingers, they would handled the situation right, and there would be no tragic end. The police officer(s) in charge of the raid should be jailed or even worse for their actions. Tactical teams should only be employed when there is a or serveral KNOWN armed threats. I feel so much sorrow for the Helriggle family, that their son's life was taken away by the very people that are supposed to "serve and protect." The lack of evidence for the raid to even have been considered was insufficent and was nothing more than hear say. I am disgusted and I hope the officer that pulled the trigger gets his.

Sick..just sick said @ 10/07/2023 04:05 PM CST

This makes me SICK and very ANGRY. It is our right as American'a to have firearms to protect ourselves and our property. That is all this young man did. If I was in his situation and I heard gun shots and lound crashes, in the middle of the night, I too, would take my weapon down to investigate. How can you expect someone to just stroll down the stairs in a laxed fashion, after beeing waken to the noise of gun shots and stun grenade explosions. I never ONCE read any mention of the young man pointing his weapon at the officers or showing any agression at all!! If he had his gun at his side, he should not have been shot, PERIOD. He should have been asked to drop the gun and If these goons (excuse me, assholes)had the tactical training they should have, inseatd of itchy, jumpy trigger fingers, they would handled the situation right, and there would be no tragic end. The police officer(s) in charge of the raid should be jailed or even worse for their actions. Tactical teams should only be employed when there is a or serveral KNOWN armed threats. I feel so much sorrow for the Helriggle family, that their son's life was taken away by the very people that are supposed to "serve and protect." The lack of evidence for the raid to even have been considered was insufficent and was nothing more than hear say. I am disgusted and I hope the officer that pulled the trigger gets his.

said @ 00/00/ 00:00 CST

said @ 00/00/ 00:00 CST