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

[Joy Wood]

Yes, but unfortunately Volodya, did you see just how many people said they thought the police had acted APPROPRIATELY!!!  Even with the evidence, people are in denial.> Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2007 13:03:05 +0300> From: Volodya at WhenGendarmeSleeps.org> To: Anarchy-List at lists.anarchylist.org; abc-friends at lists.mutualaid.org; laf at lists.aktivix.org> Subject: [LAF] Chicago Police officer Tasered an 82-year-old grandmother during a "wellness" check> > -----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
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