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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.<BR><BR>> Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2007 13:03:05 +0300<BR>> From: Volodya@WhenGendarmeSleeps.org<BR>> To: Anarchy-List@lists.anarchylist.org; abc-friends@lists.mutualaid.org; laf@lists.aktivix.org<BR>> Subject: [LAF] Chicago Police officer Tasered an 82-year-old grandmother during a "wellness" check<BR>> <BR>> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----<BR>> Hash: SHA1<BR>> <BR>> Ok, i want somebody (after this) to tell me that police and the criminal system as the whole is there to<BR>> "protect" somebody.<BR>> <BR>> ==============================================================================================<BR>> <BR>> http://mparent7777-2.blogspot.com/2007/11/cops-burst-into-82-year-old-womans-home.html<BR>> <BR>> November 7, 2007<BR>> <BR>> As shocking as it is that a Chicago Police officer Tasered an 82-year-old grandmother during a "wellness"<BR>> check, it's even more disheartening that so many of our readers believe the police action was appropriate.<BR>> <BR>> By late Tuesday, 7,967 people had responded to the Chicago Sun-Times Web site poll question:<BR>> <BR>> Police allegedly tasered 82-year-old Lillian Fletcher when performing a well-being check at her home.<BR>> (Tom Cruze/Sun-Times)<BR>> <BR>> Should cops have Tasered an 82-year-old?<BR>> <BR>> Sixty-three percent responded no.<BR>> <BR>> But 37 percent, or 2,940 people voted yes -- Lillian Fletcher, the elderly and mentally-ill grandmother who was<BR>> Tasered by police who burst into her home, should have been Tasered because she was wielding a hammer.<BR>> <BR>> That's scary.<BR>> <BR>> Mind you, Fletcher had not broken any laws, police were not executing a search warrant, and the elderly woman<BR>> had not been threatening neighbors with the hammer. In fact, she didn't grab the hammer until officers forced<BR>> their way into her garden apartment.<BR>> <BR>> After the Tasering, Fletcher, who suffers from dementia and schizophrenia, was hospitalized for five days and<BR>> may have to undergo surgery for fluid on the brain.<BR>> <BR>> Instead of condemning the police action, many of the people who shot me an e-mail blamed the elderly woman's<BR>> family for the fiasco.<BR>> <BR>> "What about the family that left their mother home alone knowing she had all these issues," said Dave M. "Put<BR>> the blame where it really belongs: on the family. Why don't you stop by and visit good old granny and when she<BR>> starts swinging a hammer at you just take your beating and give her a hug."<BR>> <BR>> Well, Dave M., I did visit Fletcher at her home on Monday night, and she didn't pull out a hammer. You know<BR>> why? I didn't push my way into her home. I rang the doorbell. When she ushered me into her kitchen and invited<BR>> 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<BR>> door behind me.<BR>> <BR>> In other words, I respected her space -- something police didn't do.<BR>> <BR>> As for her family, they aren't the triflin' people some of you are depicting. In fact, if anyone is to blame<BR>> for what's happened, it would be the city's Department of Aging.<BR>> <BR>> Fletcher, who can be belligerent, told a caseworker to go away. But instead of leaving, the worker called the<BR>> police, and officers treated Fletcher like she was a criminal.<BR>> <BR>> Joyce Gallagher, the city's commissioner for the Department of Aging, declined to discuss Fletcher's case<BR>> because it is under investigation. She did say that last year, her department answered 591 calls without incident.<BR>> <BR>> Still, Fletcher was within her rights to deny city employees access to her home. Although she has mental<BR>> problems, she wasn't threatening anyone, nor was she living in squalor.<BR>> <BR>> And despite what the cold-hearted among us have said, police officers showed poor judgment in their handling of<BR>> this woman.<BR>> <BR>> It shouldn't take a front-page story or a lawsuit to make the city acknowledge that much.<BR>> <BR>> MARY MITCHELL Sun-Times columnist<BR>> <BR>> - --<BR>> http://freedom.libsyn.com/ Voice of Freedom, Radical Podcast<BR>> http://eng.anarchopedia.org/ Anarchopedia, A Free Knowledge Portal<BR>> <BR>> "None of us are free until all of us are free." ~ Mihail Bakunin<BR>> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----<BR>> Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux)<BR>> <BR>> iD8DBQFHOsfZuWy2EFICg+0RAt00AKCjLWO93Yt4NEw6qc2bRXsNB7GkSACcCgeJ<BR>> 5obezHFZ44o5EJp9LgqNR0Y=<BR>> =+lrm<BR>> -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----<BR>> <BR>> _______________________________________________<BR>> LAF mailing list<BR>> LAF@lists.aktivix.org<BR>> https://lists.aktivix.org/mailman/listinfo/laf<BR><br /><hr />Are you the Quizmaster? <a href='http://specials.uk.msn.com/brainbattle' target='_new'>Play BrainBattle with a friend now! </a></body>
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