here's another one of those breaking news situations an unarmed local kid was just shot in his bed by police who busted in his house with a SWAT team this would be national news but we're talking about the poorest area of West Virginia on March 10th the West Virginia State Police Special Response Team executed a search warrant in McDowell County West Virginia and shot 21-year-old Darius Lester multiple times yesterday I went and met Darius and his family and examined the scene of the shooting the truth is far from what the state police gave to the news media let me tell you what really appears to have happened by the way this is the same state police currently all over the news for being exposed as completely untrustworthy at the highest levels as I just detailed in a recent video foreign here's the information that was given to the news media by the state police one man was injured Friday during an officer-involved shooting while Troopers with the West Virginia State Police were serving a search warrant at about 5 45 AM members of the West Virginia State Police SRT acting in cooperation with the FBI served the search warrant at the residence of Jeremy Lester upon entry members were confronted by Darius Lester 22 of Big Sandy who was armed and attempted to attack the members with a hammer members engaged the suspect and shots were fired stopping the threat first aid was administered on scene until EMS arrived Darius Lester was transported to Raleigh General Hospital for his injuries and here's what really happened Darius had been asleep on the couch in the home's living room where he liked to sleep Darius was unarmed at the time that he was shot and was still on his bed as indicated by the pool of blood on and underneath the couch where he was sleeping which I looked at yesterday Darius had no criminal record he was not under arrest he was not suspected of having committed any crime he was merely sleeping on the couch in a house where police were executing a search warrant completely unrelated to him Darius works as a coal truck driver he works the night shift so he had just gotten off work at around 4am he then went to sleep shortly after getting home then sometime just after 5 a.m the State Police SWAT team showed up and inside the house everybody was asleep including Darius I've already examined the actual search warrant that formed the basis of the raid it did not provide for a no-knock entry it also contained no allegations that anyone inside the home was armed or dangerous in fact from my understanding nobody who lived inside the home even had a criminal record at all law enforcement was there to execute a search warrant based on the illegal possession of explicit photographs allegedly downloaded by darius's Uncle there were no allegations alleged in the warrant application that executing this particular search warrant posed any threat of danger to law enforcement so why call out the state police's SWAT team the SRT e the allegations against the uncle solely pertain to downloading illegal photographs there was nothing in there about violence or physical danger to police officers who would be executing a search warrant it's my understanding that the uncle had no prior criminal history nor were there any allegations at all against Darius the Press really said that they knocked on the door twice and there was no answer of course there was no answer you got there at 5 00 am on purpose so that there would not be an answer the occupants of the house were sleeping and whatever knocking they did did not awaken anyone inside it was dark both outside and inside the house they came in with flashlights the press release also said that quote upon entry they encountered Darius Who Had A Hammer well the photographs I took yesterday show where Darius was when they encountered him asleep on the couch in the living room which is quite a ways away from where they actually made entry through the front door they would have made entry and then walked through the house and then rounded the corner into the living room before ever encountering Darius and waking him up up out of his well-deserved sleep after working a night shift hauling driving coal trucks he would have woken up startled with flashlights in his eyes probably very confused and rightly so the photographs of the blood-stained show where the Violence by the police occurred right on his bed slash couch where Darius had been sleeping although he did have a bedroom in the house he liked to crash where he felt comfortable on this particular couch I'm happy to tell you that today's video is sponsored by America's largest injury Law Firm Morgan and Morgan injured and don't know where to start with Morgan and Morgan it's so easy you can submit a claim without ever having to leave your couch in eight clicks or less you can submit a claim to Morgan Morgan everyone knows that size Matters I mean they don't call me Big John for nothing Morgan Morgan has over 100 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Darius attack a SWAT team with a hammer that's absurd he wasn't under arrest he hadn't done anything wrong why would Darius attack a SWAT team with a hammer it's just absurd perhaps it's more likely that once they realize that they shot an unarmed man who wasn't even the target of their investigation they grabbed a nearby hammer and came up with a cover story for why they shot him why would a SWAT team in full body armor be in fear for their lives of a guy who had no criminal record no criminal charges allegedly holding a hammer especially one in his own bed are they that afraid I mean really a hammer I've dealt with the West Virginia State Police SRT team before I had a case in federal court in the Northern District of West Virginia up in Doddridge County where the state police SRT busted in on an elderly man my client who likewise had done nothing wrong they were looking for a third-party fugitive who used to work for him and they literally just scared this guy to death while they searched the house they put him in handcuffs and they made him stand in the kitchen this old man in poor health began having trouble breathing he asked to be released from his handcuffs the tough guy state trooper SWAT team dude wearing full body armor and holding a machine gun literally a machine gun as it was a full auto select fire weapon he refused because as he explained to me when I took his deposition well there were officer safety concerns because they were in a kitchen and you know know there are sharp knives around when you're in a kitchen and I'm not even joking this tough guy Trooper let this man just die in handcuffs unable to breathe because he was afraid this completely innocent guy who wasn't charged with anything they're just searching his house he could have theoretically gone and gotten a kitchen knife and come after this full body armored state trooper with a machine gun they just let the guy collapse on the floor basically and they ended up taking crime scene photos right there because I mean they were already there in that case ended with a settlement that part of that settlement was that the West Virginia State Police agreed to retrain the entire agency every state trooper about the Constitutional requirement to knock an announce prior to busting in someone's house on a search warrant execution I thought we got this straightened out years ago in that case but here this seems awfully similar what's the point of having a SWAT team if you don't get to use it from time to time am I right in my prior case there were I believe 17 different SWAT guys at the scene I wonder how many they had here that were so afraid of an innocent guy with a hammer and even if he did have a hammer perhaps if he didn't bust into his house in the darkness and startle him out of a deep sleep that was well deserved after a long work night he wouldn't have grabbed a hammer if he did though I highly doubt he ever did the evidence at the scene points to the gunshots occurring while Darius was still in his bed what really happened could it have been an accident a mistake maybe they thought he was the uncle and nobody would care if they shot him given the allegations against him one thing's for sure had there been body cam we wouldn't have to speculate there's no doubt that the case law would justify the police shooting someone who was coming at them with a hammer there have been numerous similar cases with those facts the question is is did that even happen here because it doesn't make sense as discussed in some of the recent State Police Scandal videos one of the allegations against the top brass of the State Police is that they make the lower tier guys the lower tier state troopers wear and use body cams while the important higher up people don't have to all the street level state troopers now have to use body cams why would the state police's SWAT team their SRT not be given body cams that would make it really easy does the footage show a guy running at them with a hammer and refusing to drop it or does it not show that if the situation is so important and dangerous that they need to use the SWAT team why does it not justify the use of body cams I'll go ahead and speculate that they chose not to use them just in case they end up shooting somebody like this then they can just grab a nearby object and say that the guy was holding it and he refused to drop it the South Park he's coming right at us defense isn't it beautiful oh my God it's coming right for us then when it gets to court they walk in wearing their uniforms and their fancy hats and they hope that the jurors will take their word over the victim's word that sort of gray area credibility issue should be completely unnecessary this should have been caught on video maybe it was but the preliminary information I have suggests that there was no body cam footage this is yet just another example of a completely unnecessary shooting of an innocent this is yet another example of a completely unnecessary shooting of an innocent unarmed citizen by our government for those of you with The Thin Blue Line stickers and all the pro-constitution stickers at the same time this is your government this is who they will send to come to your house to confiscate your guns when the time comes this is how they'll treat you as well NRA sticker on your truck you better believe they'll show up at your house at 5 8 5 a.m also at a time where they think that you're asleep they'll be trigger happy too since they'll all have been briefed on what a gun nut that you are this is where we are in this country this is the road that we're headed down then after your government shoots you what do they do next well if you survive guess what they charge you with a crime to cover up their exposure to a civil lawsuit and that's exactly what they've done to Darius here they've charged him with a felony for allegedly attempting to harm this poor vulnerable SWAT team with a ball peen hammer and he was so successful at it that no officers were injured into the contrary the perpetrator was shot multiple times including two rounds to the chest why did they do this because any subsequent civil rights lawsuit is going to be bound by any factual findings contained in the underlying criminal case if they convict Darius of attempting to hit a police officer with a hammer in the state criminal case that fact will have to be taken as true by the federal court in a subsequent civil lawsuit so it would Tire hands yes that's right citizens of McDowell County West Virginia your local criminal justice system is running defense for the State Police so they don't lose a civil lawsuit and have to compensate a poor innocent person that they shot hopefully the elected prosecutor of that County does the right thing and drops the charges also don't worry the West Virginia State Police is investigating themselves and this is the same agency again that is currently all over the news for literally refusing to properly investigate themselves as of last night it was revealed that the governor has ordered the seizure of the cell phones and electronic data of almost all the top leadership at the State Police crazy crazy stuff again this is a poor area of West Virginia that has been for years neglected by politicians corruption has been rampant in this area since it was probably first named that's why it's important to bring attention to what's happening in the watch very carefully so if you're interested in watching as well and following along in this case and others please make sure that you subscribe let me know in the comments your reaction to what happened here you can learn more at the blog at thecivilrightslawyer.com post it in the link please make sure to also subscribe there and at my other social media sites remember freedom is scary deal with it I'll see you next time thank you