As Congress moves to debate Barney Frank's bill to legalize marijuana for medical purposes, a man in Little Rock, Arkansas is recovering from an incident in the ongoing War on Drugs that left him with five bullet wounds, charges for assault and dealing, barely able to walk, unable to work, and with a bad case of post-traumatic stress disorder. On top of that, all the facts in the case point to his complete innocence...
But that's just the half of it...
Tracy Ingle, 40, was sleeping in his Little Rock home when police with a no-knock warrant barreled through his front door. Instinctively, Ingle reached for his pistol and was promptly shot five times. In the ensuing debacle, police, who had suspected Ingle of running a drug operation out of his house, tore the place apart and found no drugs and no evidence of an illegal operation.
Best of all, Ingle's gun didn't even work-- it was "broken," according to a reporter, showing that he "had no intention of killing anyone." Here's a further list of tragedies that befell Ingle:
1) Ingle was taken from the hospital, where he was in intensive care, and taken to the local police station for four hours of questioning. Again, no drugs had been found in the raid and no drugs ever were found.
2) Ingle was in jail for four days. While in jail, he was supposed to
have someone change his wounds every couple of hours. Ingle told the Arkansas Times the wounds were changed twice in the entire time he was locked up, leaving him
infected all over.
3) The police claim, however, that a scale and several small bags found in Ingle's house were evidence enough of a nasty drug cartel, and the judge agreed, slapping Ingle with $250,000 for bail. Ingle's sister: Those things are for my jewelry-making business, you idiots.
4) In order to pay that outrageous bail, Ingle was forced to sell his car. He walked two miles on crutches to his most recent hearing.
5) One of the five bullets officers fired is stuck near Ingle's heart and will never be removed.
Currently, the case is at a standstill, with each side lacking the evidence to go after the other. Ingle's defense fell apart recently when his neighbor, who allegedly witnessed the entire incident, caved to police pressure after four hours of questioning and changed his story. Ingle, meanwhile, is attempting to raise money for his defense (and perhaps a possible million-dollar civil suit) by raising money via Paypal.
The War on Drugs rages on...
Read the full story in Reason Magazine.
