Arkansas AG demands answers, bodycams from ATF over fatal SWAT raid
Arkansas AG demands answers, bodycams from ATF over fatal SWAT raid
This is not the first time state officials have decried ATF's raid tactics.
by Lee Williams
Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin has serious questions for ATF officials about their botched March 19 SWAT team raid, which killed Little Rock Airport executive director, Bryan Malinowski, in his home. And if ATF has bodycam footage of the fatal raid, Griffin wants to see that, too.
“As someone who couldn’t be a bigger law enforcement supporter, when our government acts in a particular way that raises questions, we have an obligation to say something. My understanding, having looked at the ATF rules is that they generally require a bodycam when there’s a preplanned raid, right? Why? Well, because information from a camera helps fill the vacuum of conspiracy and all this other stuff. So, record it with a bodycam that’s required and then there’s policy that it shall be released as soon as possible,” Griffin said during an interview with local media Sunday.
The Attorney General acknowledged that journalists, attorneys and citizens have raised significant questions about the raid and ATF’s choice of tactics — questions the ATF has yet to answer.
“Look, this is bizarre that there’s just been silence. I understand there’s a state investigation going on with it, but there’s nothing about this footage that should stop it from being released,” he said.
ATF has yet to comment officially on the March 19 killing, other than to claim Malinowski fired first. But Malinowski’s family recently said in a statement that the 53-year-old airport executive likely did not know he was trading gunfire with federal agents. It is far more likely he believed he was defending himself and his wife from armed home invaders.
A yet-unidentified ATF agent shot Malinowski in the head with a carbine at least once. Malinowski lingered for two days before dying of his wounds.
A story published last week chronicled a host of less-lethal tactics ATF could have used during the raid — any one of which would have spared Malinowski’s life.
The Arkansas State Police Criminal Investigation Division is investigating Malinowski’s killing. Once their investigation is complete, state prosecutors, not federal, will determine whether any ATF agent should face criminal charges.
This is not the first time ATF’s use of excessive force has drawn the ire of state law enforcement officials. Last year, after an ATF SWAT team raided one of his constituents, Oklahoma State Representative Justin “JJ” Humphrey demanded a grand jury and presented a probable cause affidavit to the Oklahoma Attorney General, which outlined the crimes and civil rights violations Humphrey believed ATF agents committed when they sent a 12-man SWAT team to the Tuskahoma, Oklahoma home of Russell Fincher, a federal firearm licensee who also teaches high school and serves as a Baptist pastor.
Pro-gun AG
Griffin was sworn in as Arkansas Attorney General on January 10, 2023, after serving as lieutenant governor and in Congress. He is a colonel in the Army Reserve, where he serves in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps.
While in Congress, Griffin sponsored pro-gun legislation and was endorsed by pro-gun groups. During Sunday’s interview with local media, he announced he has joined a lawsuit led by other Republican attorneys general who are suing the Biden-Harris administration over their new rule to expand background check requirements for private gun sales.
“I think it’s a bad idea in this particular case, the way they’re doing it,” Griffin said. “This is not within the Biden Administration’s unilateral power to act. We’ve seen it with student loans, we’ve seen it with the gun laws. We’ve seen it with all these different environmental wrecks when they don’t get what they want through Congress, which I understand it’s not a friendly Congress to a lot of their views.”
Neither Griffin nor Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders responded to calls or emails seeking their comments for this story.
The Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project wouldn’t be possible without you. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to support pro-gun stories like this.
The Biden 'admin' is treating citizens as criminals. From their application of this 'search' warrant, that's left without question. For far too long the people have been putting up with this and our state and local governments have been pretty much inactive. It's good that some are finally starting to respond. I hope the response is successful.
When people who aren't criminals are treated as criminals, they take longer to respond than actual criminals. There are many reasons for that delay, mostly related to the people trying to believe the governments they have been supporting aren't actually treating the people like criminals. That veil is being lifted rapidly, and fully.
The governments the people have supported are failing us. They're failing dramatically and beyond the need to look for proof any longer. When they treat the people as criminals some of the people will begin to act like criminals. With one major difference. People who choose to be criminals usually do so out of ignorance and just being a dimwit. People who are coerced into acting like criminals against their will are usually among the best and brightest.
Federal law enforcement agencies have a great deal of difficulty enforcing the laws and apprehending the criminals that are mainly dimwits. They've been proving that for years. Just imagine the difficulty when they make the other people believe they need to act in ways that are not unlike criminals. Basically, if you're treated like a criminal - might as well act like one.
Those other people though, some of whom have high 3 digit IQs, some of the best training available in the world and the need to protect their families - won't present the same difficulty as the others.
Obviously, there is a need to put a muzzle or choke chain with a short lease on these
GESTAPO-RIIZED gung-ho cowboys at every level. To begin with, they should have to
explain why a swat team is required to serve a warrant. And if the raid is to be done
late at night or in the wee hours of the morning, they should have to justify it with a
detailed comprehensive explanation in the warrant as to why the alternatives pointed
out in your earlier article are not suitable.
Lee, have a good day!!!!!!!!!!