Aunt Custer follow-up

My orginial post about this here.

Short recap: Narcotics officers in the Atlanta Police Dept. served a "no-knock" search warrant at a house on Neal St looking for a drug dealer by the name of Sam. Instead they found a 92 (or 88, depending on who is screaming the loudest) year old woman with a six-shooter and poor eyesight. She opens fire when they kick her door in; the police return fire. When the smoke clears, Kathryn Johnston is dead and three cops are wounded.

Now, it seems there is no Sam:

An Atlanta police narcotics officer has told federal investigators at least one member of his unit lied about making a drug buy at the home of an elderly woman killed in a subsequent raid, according to a person close to the investigation.

In an affidavit to get a search warrant at the home Nov. 21, narcotics officer Jason R. Smith told a magistrate he and Officer Arthur Tesler had a confidential informant buy $50 worth of crack at 933 Neal St. from a man named "Sam."

But narcotics officer Gregg Junnier, who was wounded in the shootout, has since told federal investigators that did not happen, according to the person close to the investigation. Police got a no-knock warrant after claiming that "Sam" had surveillance cameras outside the Neal Street residence and they needed the element of surprise to capture him and the drugs.

While I do lay the blame of Ms. Johnston's death on that particular team of cops, I think it goes farther than that. In other articles the officers have mentioned how they felt "pressed for time... to make a bust." In other words, their superiors - mostly politicians - wanted a bust to put in the headlines, something that would look good and allow them to get their picture - the politicians, not the cops - next to the big print of the drug bust.