SWAT Raids: No One Is Safe

May was a bad month for SWAT. In Columbia, Missouri, a video of the SWAT team killing a dog in the presence of the Whitworth family's seven-year old provoked sustained local outrage and went viral on YouTube. In Polk County, Georgia, a County/DEA team after two years surveillance hit the wrong address, causing 76-year old Helen Pruett to havea heart attack. In Detroit, a SWAT team accompanied by a reality TV show crew, killed seven-year old Aiyana Jones as she slept on a couch. If police accounts are accurate, an officer and Aiyana's grandmother came into contact in the confusion of the raid and flashbang grenade detonations, and the officer's gun accidentally discharged. Police were after a murder suspect (he wasn't there) but had passed up the opportunity to arrest him earlier outside.