Decius wrote:
The police raid in Philly caused commentators at BoingBoing to reference this incident, which I hadn't heard about before:

The police tried to remove two wood-and-steel tactical bunkers constructed by MOVE on the roof by dropping a bomb made of C-4 and Tovex. The resulting explosion caused the house to catch fire, igniting a massive blaze which eventually consumed almost an entire city block. Eleven people, including John Africa, six other adults and four children, died in the resulting fire. Mayor Wilson Goode soon appointed an investigative commission, the PSIC or MOVE commission, which issued its report on March 6, 1986. The report denounced the actions of the city government, stating that "Dropping a bomb on an occupied row house was unconscionable."

And people talk about Waco... Does bombing Philly count as the most overzealous police action in U.S. history or are there others I'm not aware?

Selma 1965 and Chicago 1968 come to mind. Kent State is another. Ruby Ridge was a botch. These sorts of things happen all too often, and most of the time people are outraged. This time around, no one even notices.

RE: MOVE - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia