[LAF] Chicago Police officer Tasered an 82-year-old grandmother during a "wellness" check

[Barry ODea]

I think the criminal justice system is there essentially to protect the agents of capital and the state.  82 year-old grandmothers and other vulnerable people are just non-profit making obstacles, left to the mercy the police and military.

Volodya <Volodya at WhenGendarmeSleeps.org> wrote:  -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Ok, i want somebody (after this) to tell me that police and the criminal system as the whole is there to
"protect" somebody.

==============================================================================================

http://mparent7777-2.blogspot.com/2007/11/cops-burst-into-82-year-old-womans-home.html

November 7, 2007

As shocking as it is that a Chicago Police officer Tasered an 82-year-old grandmother during a "wellness"
check, it's even more disheartening that so many of our readers believe the police action was appropriate.

By late Tuesday, 7,967 people had responded to the Chicago Sun-Times Web site poll question:

Police allegedly tasered 82-year-old Lillian Fletcher when performing a well-being check at her home.
(Tom Cruze/Sun-Times)

Should cops have Tasered an 82-year-old?

Sixty-three percent responded no.

But 37 percent, or 2,940 people voted yes -- Lillian Fletcher, the elderly and mentally-ill grandmother who was
Tasered by police who burst into her home, should have been Tasered because she was wielding a hammer.

That's scary.

Mind you, Fletcher had not broken any laws, police were not executing a search warrant, and the elderly woman
had not been threatening neighbors with the hammer. In fact, she didn't grab the hammer until officers forced
their way into her garden apartment.

After the Tasering, Fletcher, who suffers from dementia and schizophrenia, was hospitalized for five days and
may have to undergo surgery for fluid on the brain.

Instead of condemning the police action, many of the people who shot me an e-mail blamed the elderly woman's
family for the fiasco.

"What about the family that left their mother home alone knowing she had all these issues," said Dave M. "Put
the blame where it really belongs: on the family. Why don't you stop by and visit good old granny and when she
starts swinging a hammer at you just take your beating and give her a hug."

Well, Dave M., I did visit Fletcher at her home on Monday night, and she didn't pull out a hammer. You know
why? I didn't push my way into her home. I rang the doorbell. When she ushered me into her kitchen and invited
me to sit, I sat. And when our chat was over, I put on my coat, said "Good night" and made sure she locked her
door behind me.

In other words, I respected her space -- something police didn't do.

As for her family, they aren't the triflin' people some of you are depicting. In fact, if anyone is to blame
for what's happened, it would be the city's Department of Aging.

Fletcher, who can be belligerent, told a caseworker to go away. But instead of leaving, the worker called the
police, and officers treated Fletcher like she was a criminal.

Joyce Gallagher, the city's commissioner for the Department of Aging, declined to discuss Fletcher's case
because it is under investigation. She did say that last year, her department answered 591 calls without incident.

Still, Fletcher was within her rights to deny city employees access to her home. Although she has mental
problems, she wasn't threatening anyone, nor was she living in squalor.

And despite what the cold-hearted among us have said, police officers showed poor judgment in their handling of
this woman.

It shouldn't take a front-page story or a lawsuit to make the city acknowledge that much.

MARY MITCHELL Sun-Times columnist

- --
http://freedom.libsyn.com/ Voice of Freedom, Radical Podcast
http://eng.anarchopedia.org/ Anarchopedia, A Free Knowledge Portal

"None of us are free until all of us are free." ~ Mihail Bakunin
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux)

iD8DBQFHOsfZuWy2EFICg+0RAt00AKCjLWO93Yt4NEw6qc2bRXsNB7GkSACcCgeJ
5obezHFZ44o5EJp9LgqNR0Y=
=+lrm
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

_______________________________________________
LAF mailing list
LAF at lists.aktivix.org
https://lists.aktivix.org/mailman/listinfo/laf


       
---------------------------------
 Yahoo! Answers - Get better answers from someone who knows. Tryit now.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.aktivix.org/pipermail/laf/attachments/20071114/351f22ad/attachment.htm>