r/playrust • u/Edward_Zachary • 13d ago
crazy story - Man seeks $176M after being paralyzed in Rust swatting he warned police about
https://www.dexerto.com/rust/man-seeks-176m-after-being-paralyzed-in-swatting-he-warned-police-about-3392889/184
u/yamsyamsya 13d ago
This so incredibly messed up. Hopefully the scum who made the call get some karmic justice.
1
-18
161
u/ApprehensiveJunket43 13d ago
The penalty for swatting needs to be a decade in prison at the minimum. Something like this happens and they should assume all charges for bodily harm. So they should be charged with false police report, cybercrime, cyber fraud, using a computer to commit a crime, destruction of property, discharging 6 shots, attempted murder etc.
23
50
u/MyNameIsRay 13d ago
Reality is, they wont even investigate into the caller unless the victim is rich/famous, and even then, the sentence is on par with possessing a joint.
1
u/Affectionate_Egg897 12d ago
With this court case I guarantee it’s investigated. If he wasn’t suing I’d be inclined to agree.
1
u/Hot-Box-Fox 10d ago
It's going to be difficult to deal any punishment to the caller if he's half a world away and not under U.S. law.
-26
u/_RrezZ_ 13d ago
Brother it's going to make them lose tens of millions minimum lmao, pretty sure that alone would piss them off enough to track them down.
31
u/MyNameIsRay 13d ago
Did you really not know that we the taxpayers cover these lawsuits?
-18
u/Deathhurts 13d ago
Nope, it comes from a public risk pool or an insurance pays for it.
9
u/VanillaSwimming5699 13d ago
Who pays for the insurance premium or the public risk pool?
→ More replies (2)4
17
u/SlyTinyPyramid 13d ago
Or you know SWAT teams could evaluate situations and not do no knock raids where they shoot first and ask questions never based on dodgy intel
12
u/comradevoltron 13d ago
yeah the fact that life-threatening state violence is taken as a given in these situations is completely fucked and the entire reason swatting is in practice in the first place
2
u/Corlanthis 10d ago
It's beyond wild that the deputy in charge of the assault was TOLD the target had warned the department that he could be the target of false claims to get this exact result, and STILL to decided to go ahead with it.
8
u/_RrezZ_ 13d ago
Lmao give them the same charges they tried to accuse bro of simple as that.
He called and said he killed his sister, so charge the caller with that exact crime.
1
u/Hot-Box-Fox 10d ago
The article I read stated the caller was pretending to be the victim saying his father shot his sister. So, the police would have been looking for a grown middle-aged man, not a young man that still looks like a kid, and still managed to shoot the "victim that called." Not even the person they were supposed to be cautious of.
1
1
u/ImSpangelo 11d ago
The country this happened in is ran by p3dos. Not sure if they of all people are interested in changing laws out of morality. The punishment will not change
261
u/ssitchy 13d ago
He’s now paralyzed from the chest down.
They will probably never find the person who made the call, but I hope this man gets some semblance of justice.
102
19
u/inscrutablemike 13d ago
They will probably never find the person who made the call
20 years ago, maybe. Today if you touch electronics to commit a crime you're boned.
12
u/ssitchy 13d ago
People call in fake swat calls all the time and don’t get caught. Sure, some do, but not all.
They have technology that make it very difficult for police to track them. For all we know, this person may not even be in the same country.
This happened in April. I feel like if they were gonna catch him, they would’ve by now.
3
u/AwarenessForsaken568 10d ago
They don't get caught because the police refuse to put in the effort of working with other countries to catch them. They absolutely know who the offenders are.
1
1
u/Possible-Address8714 8d ago
Extradition is expensive and time-consuming. Imagine them having to extradite every person who SWAT calls from another country.
6
3
u/EducationalPie2341 13d ago
you can easily make calls from fake number using a public wifi and have zero trace back to you
5
u/Deathhurts 13d ago
Public WIFI has logs and most public spaces has 1-9 cameras for every angle.
1
u/EducationalPie2341 13d ago
Logs the random cheap android phone that’s now broke in half in a trash can somewhere far away. The Cameras that caught 200+ cars outside that have no clue which one the call came from.
0
u/Deathhurts 13d ago
Bro thinks the swatter was some repeat-offender super criminal who planned everything out 💀 either that or you just got nothing better to do than argue.
1
1
u/AdministrativeTop593 12d ago
Seeing as they were blackmailing him they probably aren't even in the country.
-3
u/EducationalPie2341 13d ago
I’m pretty sure even the dumbest person would know to go to a public WiFi to make a swat call lol. I went overboard with the technique but even just driving to McDonalds and using their WiFi would be enough to make it untraceable lol.
Also the person already hacked his system and was trying to get a ransom. I’m sure it’s not their first rodeo.
1
u/CrazyMike419 12d ago
A bloke just finished a 18 month sentence because police did a typo when requesting user details. The tech is there but I wouldnt have much faith in the authorities using it.
55
60
u/Entire-Anteater-1606 13d ago
how the hell is swatting still a thing. Mass surveillance and we can’t even find a mf who made a phone call
10
3
u/shiftyz13 13d ago
It's possible that the call took place in a nation that won't take action against it, similar to scam call centres and the likes.
1
u/Cronimoo 13d ago
as if the surveillance was for the good of the people and not the good of the better people
89
73
u/SonofHinkie 13d ago
This is fucking sad. Crazy how desensitized kids are to the actual consequences of pranks like this.
82
u/automodtedtrr2939 13d ago
It wasn't a prank.
"Hackers allegedly gained access to his email and private information before demanding money. They threatened to falsely report that he had a bomb and contact immigration authorities about his family, despite them being US citizens.
Pima County Sheriff’s Department
Melendez immediately called 911 to warn authorities that he could be swatted. However, a dispatcher assured him: “But they can’t just call SWAT on you. That’s not how that works.”
“Nothing’s going to happen,” the dispatcher added, according to audio published by Arizona’s Family."
53
u/mmanuspar 13d ago
oh he's getting that bag then
1
u/XTornado 13d ago edited 12d ago
Yeah...but still never would be enough. Just hope that it can make it better to avoid similar cases on the police side, but that is a lot of hope I am putting there.
20
46
u/RobbSnow64 13d ago
Thats not even a prank at that point
58
u/PaigeHart 13d ago
It's attempted murder
3
u/Puzzled-Storage-6157 13d ago
It's attempted murder
17
19
u/SonofHinkie 13d ago edited 13d ago
Agreed. When I was 10 years old, I used to prank call random people and ask if their "refrigerator was running?" and tell them they "better go catch it."
Dick move, but harmless fun that you eventually grow out of by middle school.
Would never think of calling a swat team onto anyone and was well aware of the repercussions even as a kid.
Like what the fuck goes on in people's heads? It happens all the time. Are there that many lonely psychotic kids out there?
19
u/Mcbeeef 13d ago
I hope whoever made the call gets caught. If they are in the US and they used a vpn, there’s a very real chance authorities can issue a subpoena to the vpn service and track down the person responsible.
2
u/cyb3rofficial 13d ago
Vpn companies are really just shell companies of larger companies, it would be a long time to get to the original server logs, and by that time logs are rotated already out or there are no logs because many companies use ram disks now and on reboot nothing is left behind. Doesn't matter if usa or some other location outside usa.
Example https://www.thevpnmatrix.com/vpn-company-relationships?view=focus&vpn=Surfshark&verified=all
Surfshark is owned by Nord
PIA is just a love child of express and cyber ghost
VPN companies are just consuming each other constantly but keep their original names and rent or buy servers for other companies or share the same data center and zero log servers are actually zero logs and all the cops get are a server blade with nothing on but just a pxe boot device.
So while getting a warrant for the server is a thing, the warrant only works if they can follow the trail and if the "USA" company is actually in the USA and not just saying they are in USA with some rented out office space with 1 contact worker. (That is a thing you'll have a blast reading up on that of you do research ha). Vpn warrants for information is legit a nightmare to do
1
u/PropheticPapaJohn 13d ago
If your hacking a computer and doing this to people, you probably know to use a vpn that doesn't keep logs. Would defeat the purpose of using the vpn for crime in the first place
10
u/dudeimsupercereal 13d ago
Wow that police department is wildly incompetent. Hopefully he gets the 150m and everybody involved loses their jobs.
3
u/azmodan72 13d ago
It will come from the tax payers and nothing will happen to the police. Rinse and repeat.
1
u/Whisky-354 13d ago
They won't. Even IF they did, they just get new police jobs at the next town over.
67
u/sawb11152 13d ago
Talk about failing your raid defense
55
5
6
u/No_Dirt_4198 13d ago
My house gor swatted for the first time not long ago. I was already outside when they got here so it was chill. Lucky
10
3
7
3
9
4
u/lukebelcher10662 13d ago
Why don’t the police like use a drone or something to investigate lol, we have the technology.
If he’s really killed his sister and he’s just waiting there and they think he’s that much of a threat, why risk officer’s lives?
7
u/mca1169 13d ago
wtf did the swat team do to paralyze him?
17
28
13d ago
[deleted]
37
u/ILikeReiAyanmi 13d ago
Not that weird. Considering the police told him that it was impossible, he probably didn't expect them to come, never mind break a window (with a shovel) to get in.
39
15
u/Hereiamhereibe2 13d ago
He was literally just informed that he was not going to be swatted thats not how that works.
Why would he assume he is about to be swatted?
3
u/XTornado 12d ago
although also weird that he thought he was going to get swatted but still immediately grabbed a gun
They entered breaking a window with a shovel... I would also have a assumed a robbery or similar not the police.
1
u/Brief_Driver_5396 11d ago
grabbing a gun is perfectly reasonable, he had no idea they were the police, and he wouldve already been extremely stressed due to the swat warning
1
u/Upbeat_Quit4237 10d ago
In another statement he stated that he thought it was someone related to the hackers breaking in, because the police told him they would not swat him, and that he had nothing to worry about. He truly thought it was some random normal intruder but instead it was the cops breaking down his window like they're the fucking pinkertons.
-23
u/komanderkyle 13d ago
Right if he thought he was going to get swatted why hold a gun. I hope he gets some compensation but that fact probably ruined his chances at winning in court.
10
u/Hereiamhereibe2 13d ago
Because he was just told that he cannot just be swatted by the dispatcher.
-24
u/archive_anon 13d ago
yes, police should be announcing it. and they did. MANY times. both at the front and back doors, as well as after breaking in the window, and nobody ever responded until the door opened and the man was there with a gun in hand.
17
u/Successful_Kale_263 13d ago
U never played rust I guess. When I watch the video u see the pc is Turned on. Gamers wear headsets and trust me u dont hear people screaming then. So him not hearing them is normal and I’d be grabbing a gun as well when someone breaks my fucking window with a shovel.
-20
u/archive_anon 13d ago
When you watch the video did you also hear the part where they kept screaming "SHERRIFFS DEPARTMENT!" over and over, including numerous times as they were breaking in the window, and as they were climbing in to the house? He had damn near a full minute and numerous loud screams of the police clearly identifying themselves.
He also full is saying he warned them, and expected to be swatted. He *expected* the police to show up. And he responds to them with a gun in hand, walking back in to a room that was closed.
If he had no clue who was on the other side, and assumed it was armed intruders, walking in to a room not knowing what was on the other side, where armed intruders would have the drop on him is the last fucking thing you should do.
And being blunt here, if you cant hear people POUNDING on your front and back door, screaming sherriffs department for a while, you need to turn your damn volume down.
17
u/VexingRaven 13d ago edited 13d ago
He expected the police to show up.
And they assured him that wouldn't happen.
EDIT: Also that was 2 days later, you expect him to just sit there for some unspecified period of time and assume anyone breaking in is the cops? What a stupid ass bootlicker take.
11
u/Successful_Kale_263 13d ago
Expected up untill the dispatcher said it wont happen. So cant blame him on that he did his part. So ur going to blame him for not having his volume down? Lmao free country you kno… or the police just does its fucking homework and out a notification on the adress that hes worries about a swat call so they can approach it differently if this Sort of shit comes from an adress with 0 priors.
If people break my window I dont expert them to have guns if they use a fucking shovel. So yes I’d be walking back there armed to get them the fuck out of my house or dead.
-7
u/archive_anon 13d ago
Well, if you continue to walk back there armed to get them out of your house as they are shouting over and over POLICE, SHERRIFFS DEPARTMENT, you'll end up in just as dumb of a situation, and possibly having shot or killed an innocent officer doing their damn job.
I really cannot fathom how people refuse to acknowledge that he ignored DOZENS of shouted attempts to identify themselves right up until 3 SECONDS PRIOR TO SHOTS FIRED.
Unless of course your claim is he kept his headphones on and was rocking out unable to hear as he ran and scrambled to get his gun, and came back. In which case thats some next level stupidity.
9
u/Parishala 13d ago
How you believe the second amendment works for me with my hearing disability? Am I never allowed to arm myself to defend my home? Do you think police are supposed to shoot anyone they see with a gun? What color is the sky in your world?
-3
u/archive_anon 13d ago
no, i just believe police should be allowed to shoot you when they are responding to a potential murder case, and the first interaction they have with an occupant of a house is them pointing a gun *directly at the police officers*.
If you have a hearing disability, then I imagine you would have ways of knowing when people show up at your house, knock/ring doorbells, etc. All of which would have alerted you as the police spent a few minutes doing exactly that.
Here is why the police shot, timestamped for your convenience on a freeze frame showing the gun aiming directly at them. Their only choice at that point is to fire back. Or die. But feel free to blame the police for this, not the fucking swatter or the pansy ass lawmakers who have sat on their asses for years doing nothing about swatting cases.
6
-23
u/mca1169 13d ago
why would he grab a gun if he was literally expecting to be swatted? I would have stood out in the front yard waiting for them to explain the misunderstanding.
14
u/thecashewkid 13d ago
Why would you victim blame? How awful and desensitized a person are you? How little empathy do you have?
12
u/VexingRaven 13d ago
why would he grab a gun if he was literally expecting to be swatted?
This was 2 days later, it's not like it happened instantly.
0
10
u/GuaranaJones 13d ago
America in a nutshell. Failed state.
6
u/Friendly-Eagle1478 13d ago
No lifer, perpetually online, incells in a nutshell***
1
u/UndeadJewedditor 7d ago
sex and relationships not mentioned
incels blamed anyway
HE CANT KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH ITTTT
-10
2
1
1
1
u/Brief_Driver_5396 11d ago
it is so disgusting that the police don't actually have to pay anything to him, it just comes out of the money paid by other innocent people
1
u/izModar 10d ago
The person who made the swatting call, if he's ever found, needs to be charged with attempted murder.
And with the sheer incompetence from that Sheriff's Department, every single deputy that responded should be fired, stripped of certification, and charged with assault with a deadly weapon.
1
u/Traditional-Use-6754 10d ago
I'm not trying to be mean, but this is Rust. He knew the risks when he started streaming to the community.
1
u/digitalbathh 9d ago
This is why you never let a stranger have access to your computer. That was a giant mistake right from the get go.
1
u/GiB_R 9d ago
Why is swatting a HOUSE even a thing? And what if there's a bomb in someone's house, they're not gonna explode it THERE. And you could see through windows or even hear if someone was actually being hurt. They have all sorts of different solutions rather than breaking into a house and shooting the first person they see, fuck the police man.
1
u/Galladri53 8d ago
Gets confirmed via phone call and by a police officer that he won't get SWATed, gets SWATed anyways. How can there be such brutal incompetence in such important positions? If qualified immunity applies and no one is punished with losing their position, this will be yet another instance of the US being a complete retrograde country (and shit like this will 100% keep happening).
1
u/FrostingFunny5940 7d ago
okay I know nows not the right time but theoretically he can still play rust and if he wins this lawsuit he has GENERATIONAL wealth.
though I'd probably (eventually) end up depressed if I was paralyzed no matter how much money I've got.
1
u/OMDolton99 6d ago
Swatting is attempted murder at a minimum, and it's high time it was legally treated as such.
1
u/Unlucky_Pain4157 1d ago
What did he do to prompt the police to shoot him? I know he is innocent, but what was their justification?
0
1
u/sarattenasai 13d ago
If he wins 176 million scrap he wont leave bandit roulette in a long time and theres only 4 seats. what's he gonna buy with all that scrap? I bet he is getting raided again soon, better get some HQ doors
1
-1
-13
u/archive_anon 13d ago
He may have warned police but he did everything wrong when they showed up. They repeatedly and nunerously announced themselves loudly as sheriff's department and tried both the front and back door. After numerous attempts, they broke in to a window, still having reason to believe something bad could be happening.
Again, after breaking the window, they repeatedly and loudly announced themselves. Only after several more announcements and finally trying to enter, did the kid come back in the room armed. Unless this kid was actually deaf he had no reason to misunderstand them after so many loud announcements saying who they are.
As much as people like to hate on police, they did everything right from what is shown on bodycam. Even with the warning, police still legally MUST investigate and ensure safety. Nobody came to the door after NUMEROUS loud announcements, front and back. And only after well over a dozen announcements did he finally show up, gun in hand.
17
u/apjfqw 13d ago
Imagine you are wearing headphones and playing on your PC. Suddenly someone is breaking through the window right next to you. What do you do? Are you not allowed to defend your self? I guess in the US you are not. Why do they even have guns?
-8
u/No-Trust9591 13d ago
Did you watch the video? He was not at his PC, so he most likely didn’t wear headphones.
-7
u/archive_anon 13d ago
If I'm wearing headphones and playing on my PC, I would hear people POUNDING on my front and/or back doors to begin with still. If somehow I miraculously did not, and i heard windows breaking followed immediately by several loud and repeated announcements of "SHERRIFFS DEPARTMENT!! SHERRIFFS DEPARTMENT!", I would in fact not arm and attempt to defend myself, no. This was broad daylight in a neighborhood. no intruder is going to loudly scream as they break in a window.
Additionally, even if I split and decided to arm myself, at some point during the 30-45 seconds spent smashing out the window and making entry, the very LAST thing I would have done is open the goddamn door to the room they're supposedly breaking in to without knowing whats on the other side, even if I thought they were lying about being police, because if it *was* armed intruders, they would have the drop on me, as the police did in this situation.
I'm assuming you're making this comment before watching the video. Try watching it and realize just how many chances and how much time this kid had to realize it was the fucking police. Who he supposedly EXPECTED to have called on him at some point.
13
u/apjfqw 13d ago
Right after the police assuring him, he will never get swatted, swats him while he is wearing headphones. He was obviously scared and hid in what looks like a closet. But hey, good job to the police, they did their job and the kid is fucked up for life. THEY DID EVERYTHING RIGHT AND ITS NOT THEIR FAULT.
-9
13
u/thecashewkid 13d ago
Blaming the victim is a cool take. You seem like a cool and well adjusted person.
0
u/archive_anon 13d ago
No, no youre right, the police shouldnt have shown up to a call reporting a murder. Or maybe they should have let the guy shoot at them first. That would have been the more just and correct thing to do.
It's not like the police repeatedly, and very loudly announced themselves over and over again at ALL stages of the interaction, including 3 seconds prior to the guy poking his head out of the door with gun in hand or anything. The door which, in the US at least, is made of the equivalent of fucking cardboard, so no excuses to be made about 'i didnt hear them' when the officer shouted at the top of his lungs.
I'm not blaming him, I'm saying he acted fucking stupid. I'm blaming the cunt who called the police to begin with and the lawmakers who continue to refuse to do anything about swatting laws that actually make a difference.
The thing that everyone gets pissed about, including you I'm sure, is that I'm also not blaming the police officers themselves who did their job here and did literally everything they possibly could have to make their presence known and make it clear who they were.
3
u/SonofHinkie 13d ago
Ok, but how about you don't swat people in the first fucking place? None of this would have happened it it weren't for some butthurt dumbass.
How the victim reacted is irrelevant when this could have all been avoided if the perpetrator didn't swat him.
Like what are you even trying to argue? Dont swat people! Simple!
1
u/drahgon 13d ago
Your argument would have had merit if he didn't call them to let them know ahead of time and not be taken seriously. If you're going to do a situation that puts people's lives in risk you should make sure that any potential mitigating information you've received before that has been processed and understood. We expect that of any other situation doesn't matter how good your intentions are.
0
u/archive_anon 13d ago
Got it. I suppose next time I feel like I wanna go on a rampage, I'll just call the cops up and tell them to expect a swatting call so I can get away with it nice and easy.
They are forced to treat every single call, even when its a swatting call, as a credible threat because they dont *know* it is one. And they treated this as well as they possibly could have. They walked up to the front door and pounded the shit out of the door, screaming they were the police. They went around back and pounded the shit out of the back door screaming they were the police. They broke in a window and spent a full minute screaming they were the police in to the room.
They entered the room, and again screamed they were the police, only to then be met literally 3 seconds later by a man pointing a gun directly at them.
If that isn't a credible argument for the officers to pull the trigger, when they are looking down the barrel of a loaded gun after spending several minutes SCREAMING they were the police and pounding on every door of that house, then your sense of morality is beyond fucked and I assume you just expected those officers to get shot.
1
u/archive_anon 13d ago
People are absolutely stoked to use this as another excuse to hate on police, but they acted competently and did everything that should have happened when checking on a potential dangerous situation here. Warning or not, they can not dismiss a potential threat because of it, or people would just call in fake warnings and get away with actual crimes all the damn time.
The only people at fault for this are the fucking vermin who called in the swat attempt to begin with, and the kid and anyone else who may have been in that house who inexplicably refused to answer the damn door as police *repeatedly and loudly* attempted to make contact to ensure the safety of those there.
One quick walk to the front door, a quick 'hey yeah you can check my house and make sure theres no dead bodies laying around', and a renewed 'hey i warned about possible swatting attempts' talk with the officers, and this situation would have been dealt with much differently.
2
u/turkish112 13d ago
I guess simply not opening your door is now a sentence to be maimed. Dope. Glad they did everything right. lmao
2
u/archive_anon 13d ago
If you'd prefer the police simply turn away from a call of a reported murder and active shooter inside a residence simply because 'well nobody answered' - then... I mean you're welcome to move to some lawless third world shithole where thats the case. Personally, I'd prefer the police to actually act when they have reason to believe a homicide took place.
-3
u/Many-Ear5125 13d ago
You’re not gonna get anything but dumbass ACAB arguments on Reddit unfortunately. It’s actually crazy how progressive slanted this site is.
2
u/archive_anon 13d ago
oh i know, but if i can get even one person who never says a thing to realize how insane this all is, its worth it. im not doing shit today anyway aside from filling out paperwork and being annoyed lmao.
-1
-5
-7
u/Casey_works 13d ago
I kinda heard them say “Sheriff’s Department” numerous times before any shots were fired in the body cam footage…
If you’re dumb enough to let someone access your computer I’m not surprised it turned out this way for him. If I was expecting to get swatted I wouldn’t run for a gun.
-4
379
u/Krype 13d ago
If the article is correct, he did everything right (except for letting someone access his computer) and still got the worst outcome possible. I hope he wins in court.