Deputy Shaquille O'Neal Part of Botched Police Raid?

Back in May, Geoff blogged about Miami Heat star Shaquille O'Neal "assisting" Florida law enforcement in busting those who sell or possess child pornography. At the time, O'Neal said that he only arrived at the defendant's house after the arrest, so it wasn't entirely clearly what services he provided, other than, I suppose, the novelty of having a 7'1, 220+ pound future hall of famer suddenly appearing in a police uniform at the bad guy's house. I imagine that might disorient the defendant and maybe make him more likely to talk to Shaq than other uniformed officers--I'm not sure. Regardless, O'Neal said that his reasons for tagging along were not entirely voyeuristic, as he plans to pursue a career in law enforcement after his NBA career ends.

But Shaq's post NBA law enforcement career might be in jeopardy before it starts. Last month, while working in Bedford County, Virginia as a uniformed reserve sheriff's deputy, O'Neal allegedly took part in a botched child porno raid at the Gretna, Virginia home of A.J. Nuckols, a married man with kids. The police raided Nuckols' home, believing that they had the correct IP address for someone selling child porn, but unfortunately for both the police and Mr. Nuckols, they had the wrong IP address--and thus the wrong home and the wrong guy.

Although O'Neal denies that he was at Nuckols' home, the Bedford County Sheriff's Office confirms that he was there. And what happened at Mr. Nuckols' house wasn't too pretty:

Nuckols described being "held at gunpoint, taunted and led into the house," and said the home was ransacked by a "paramilitary search-and-seizure team" that took computers, cameras, DVDs and VHS tapes.

"Men ran at me, dropped into shooting position, double-handed semiautomatic pistols pointed at me, and made me put my hands against my truck."

The raid at Nuckols' Gretna, Va., home "scared beyond description" him and his family.

When asked why they brought Shaq onto its staff, the Bedford Sheriff's Office said that they enlisted him "to be the spokesman and public face of its anti-child pornography and child predator campaign" and because of that, they deputized him last year. So Shaq apparently does offer something to the Sherff's Office, at least in terms of public relations. And, in his defense, it doesn't appear that he was in any way at fault for what happened to Mr. Nuckols and his family (and his home). But should Shaq even be on these missions? Setting aside the potential of him getting hurt, what about him hurting other police officers or innocent victims? Really, what is he doing? Can anyone with a lot of money and fame go on active police duty and raid people's homes?

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