LETHEM, RUPUNUNI, GUYANA
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
PAPA
My father (Papa) was stationed at Lethem Police Station in the Rupununi from 1964 until 1968. My family lived in Lethem and we attended school in St. Ignatius which was quite a distance away from Lethem.
Some of my father’s colleagues (fellow police officers) were Burt Fraser, Reginald Jonas, Ayube Khan and of course their fearless leader Inspector Whittington Braithwaite. Lethem was like a small frontier town with people crossing to and from Brazil seemingly without needing passports and other travel documents. It did seem like a close knit community until January 2, 1969 when the police station was attacked.
We were living in Georgetown at that time and were horrified to read that Inspector Braithwaite and other police officers had been murdered by terrorists and the police station had been destroyed. We were thankful that Papa was not one of the unfortunate police officers who were stationed at Lethem on January 2, 1969. We grieved with Mrs Ilene Braithwaite and her children and the widows and children of the slain police officers.
It is unfortunate that other Guyanese supported by foreign nationals felt that they should resort to terrorism and murder in an effort to seize part of the country. Those terrorists are still at large and have never been held accountable. Some of the members of the Hart and Melville clan with Valerie Hart as the ringleader are responsible for the atrocities committed on that day. I am thankful that my Papa was not there and is still with us because our mother transitioned in June of 1975 and we would have been orphans then. Father’s Day is fast approaching and we will celebrate that day thankfully with our Papa.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
POLICE BRUTALITY IN TORONTO
POLICE BRUTALITY IN TORONTO AND THE DIFFERENTIAL TREATMENT BASED ON RACE
These are three stories that were reported in one of Toronto’s white daily newspapers. Note the different outcomes for the police officers depending on their race and the race of their victims.
A judge has found a police officer not guilty of breaking a drug-dealing reggae musician’s jaw with his knee during an on-street detention.
Ontario provincial court Justice Ann Nelson acquitted Const. Jason Goss, 36, of one count of assault causing bodily harm on Marvin Anthony Small, 31.
Small testified at the trial in July that a police officer kneed him “full force” in the jaw and broke it while he lay handcuffed on a west Toronto sidewalk on suspicion of carrying drugs at around 3 a.m. on April 23, 2008.
“I am satisfied that there was an opportunity, albeit a very limited opportunity, for someone other than officer Goss to have assaulted Mr. Small,” the judge said in her 67-page ruling, which she read out in an Old City Hall courthouse Tuesday.
Goss testified that neither he nor any of his fellow officers broke Small’s jaw in what he described as an uneventful arrest.
“Overall, Officer Goss was a strong witness,” the judge said
She found Small’s testimony problematic, although there was powerful corroborating evidence for some of his story.
Small told different versions of how his jaw was broken on the morning it happened, Nelson said, noting “It’s almost as if Mr. Small's story is being formulated as it is being told and retold.”
Small was in the courthouse, but left before the judge finished reading her decision.
“There is no justice,” he said. “It’s like the system is against me and the system is going to stand up for police.”
On the day of his arrest, Small said he was at St. Clarens Ave. and Bloor St. W. — an area in which he dealt drugs – when he saw two police officers driving by in an unmarked car.
He said he walked south on St. Clarens to avoid the hassle of dealing with the officers, even though he was carrying no drugs, but they pulled up.
Small said he was tightly handcuffed and forced to lie with his face on the pavement as the officers demanded to know where his drugs were.
The driver “came down with full force” on his jaw, he said.
When other officers arrived, the group pulled down his pants and searched him and he was kicked in the ribs and stomach, he testified.
Eventually the officers took off the cuffs and told him to “get out of here and go home,” Small testified, adding that he was spitting blood.
He said he made his way, in pain, to a hospital and was treated.
Medical evidence presented in court showed his jaw was broken.
But Small failed to identify the officer in court, instead pointing to another police officer, in civilian dress, sitting among spectators.
Defence lawyer Peter Brauti told the judge that this was “a significant hurdle” for the Crown to overcome.
In cross-examination, Small denied telling his girlfriend that he wasn’t sure who the people who beat him up were.
Small also denied telling his uncle, as Brauti suggested he had, that the police put him in one of their cars and drove him somewhere. “I didn’t say that,” replied Small.
Small also denied Brauti’s suggestion that he told a security guard at the hospital where he sought treatment that he was thrown into one of the police cars and beaten.
Small also denied telling a dentist who examined him at Mount Sinai Hospital that five police officers kicked him for 15 minutes, one of them in the jaw, as the dentist testified. “I told her one of the officers kneed me in the jaw,” Small insisted.
Brauti pointed out that Small has given three different versions of whether the officer who broke his jaw was the same one who handcuffed him.
Brauti suggested that Small, who is alleging racial profiling and is suing the police for $25,000, is motivated by money.
Small replied that no one can repay the damage to his jaw and that he still feels pain.
In this case the police officer is white and the man who claims his jaw was broken is African Canadian. Take note that the judge, Justice Ann Nelson acquitted the white police Constable Jason Goss, 36, of one count of assault causing bodily harm on African Canadian Marvin Anthony Small, 31 even though she recognised in her 67-page ruling, which she read out in an Old City Hall courthouse that: “I am satisfied that there was an opportunity, albeit a very limited opportunity, for someone other than officer Goss to have assaulted Mr. Small.” There was a limited opportunity of about three minutes that someone other than the police officer could have broken this African Canadian man’s jaw between the time he left the police station and hailed a taxi to get to the hospital. So Madame Judge acquitted the white police officer.
***************************************************
Next is the case of two racialized police officers accused of brutalizing a white man who the judge recognized that at the time of his arrest was: “making venomous remarks” to the two officers. However the words of this white man was taken in preference of the testimony of the two racialized officers. The officers were “found guilty of assault causing bodily harm” which legal observers say is extremely unusual. One lawyer who has been practicing since 1963 is quoted as saying: “It’s very, very rare.” An investigation in the fall of 2010 found that it is very rare for charges to be laid against police officers at all, and even rarer for them to be convicted. The investigation also found that “when the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has laid charges one of every four officers sees the charges dropped before trial, many others are acquitted, or, as has happened at least 10 times, an officer is found guilty before a judge who spares him jail time. Some guilty police officers walk out of court with their record wiped clean.” Even when African Canadians and other racialized people are killed by police, there are no consequences for the police.
Two Toronto police constables have been found guilty of assault causing bodily harm during the arrest of a disabled, verbally abusive man in Cabbagetown.
Edward Ing and John Cruz were stone-faced and had no comment on after Justice Elliott Allen gave his verdict in Brampton court Tuesday morning.
Richard Moore suffered fractured ribs and a cut to his scalp that required stitches when he was arrested on the steps of his Gerrard St. E. rooming house on the night of April 24, 2009.
“His injuries are consistent with being struck constantly,” the judge said, adding that he accepted the officers’ testimony that Moore was verbally abusive towards them.
“The preponderance of evidence suggests he was making venomous remarks upon his arrest,” the judge said.
The officers had testified that they were attempting to take Moore into custody on a charge of being drunk in public for his own safety, fearing that he might wander into traffic.
The judge said the officers did not have grounds for an arrest.
He noted that Moore had no trace of alcohol in his system when he was taken to hospital and that the charge of being drunk in a public place was later thrown out of court.
Moore, who was 59 at the time of the incident, was not present in court for the verdict.
No date has been set for sentencing.
Two Toronto Police constables have been found guilty of assault causing bodily harm, which legal observers say is extremely unusual.
“It’s very, very rare,” said Barry Swadron of Toronto, who has been a lawyer since 1963.
Swadron is the lawyer for Richard Moore, 60, who suffered fractured ribs and a gash to his scalp that required stitches back in 2009, after he was arrested for allegedly being drunk in public by Const. Edward Ing and Const. John Cruz in Cabbagetown.
Ing and Cruz were each found guilty on Tuesday of assault causing bodily harm by Justice Elliott Allen in a provincial courtroom in Brampton.
The outcome is notable because such accusations rarely hold up in court, said Paul Bailey, former president of the York Regional Police Association.
He estimated that 95 per cent of accusations of assault against on-duty police officers do not end in guilty verdicts.
“The vast majority of officers are either found not guilty or the charges are stayed or withdrawn,” said Bailey, a past administrator with the Police Association of Ontario.
The charges against the officers were laid by the Special Investigations Unit, a civilian police watchdog that investigates allegations of excessive use of force by police.
A Star investigation in the fall of 2010 found that it is very rare for charges to be laid against police officers at all, and even rarer for them to be convicted.
When the SIU has laid charges, the investigation found, one of every four officers sees the charges dropped before trial, many others are acquitted, or, as has happened at least 10 times, an officer is found guilty before a judge who spares him jail time. Some guilty police officers walk out of court with their record wiped clean.
Ing and Cruz were transferred Tuesday to administrative duties pending their court case. They will remain on administrative duty until they are sentenced; no date has been set.
They will not face the possibility of Police Act charges — which carry the threat of being kicked off the force — until all of their legal appeals are exhausted, said Toronto Police spokesperson Tony Vella.
Both officers declined to comment after hearing the verdict. Their lawyer, David Butt, said it’s far too early to talk about possible appeals, since the case is still before the courts for sentencing.
“It’s far too early to think of those issues,” Butt said.
The trouble started back on April 24, 2009, when the Ing and Cruz were questioning a drunken man on George St., near Gerrard E. and Jarvis Sts.
Cruz told court that Moore walked by and said: “You’re the rich man’s army. Why don’t you take on some real gangsters.”
Seconds later, Moore was running to the doorway of his nearby rooming house with the officers in pursuit.
While delivering his verdict, Justice Allen acknowledged that Moore was verbally abusive to the officers that night, but said that they didn’t have probable grounds to arrest him for being drunk in public.
Tests in hospital later revealed that Moore had no alcohol in his system. The charges of being drunk in public that he faced were later thrown out in court.
The judge also rejected the officers’ testimony that they were trying to protect Moore from wandering out into traffic on Gerrard St. E.
“His (Moore’s) injuries are consistent with being struck constantly,” Judge Allen said.
“The preponderance of evidence suggests he was making venomous remarks upon his arrest.”
Moore was not present in court for the verdict. Reached by telephone, he said he was surprised and gratified by the verdict but is still afraid to leave his home.
“I’m still scared of them (police),” Moore said. “I don’t go out at night. . . I don’t want to get caught out there.”
Moore that he has suffered persistent headaches since the beating. He suffered from migraines, hepatitis C, and a chronically bad back before the incident.
“I’m generally not in good health,” said Moore, a 5-foot-8, 160-lb former printer and ironworker. He said he hasn’t touched alcohol in a decade.
Calls to the SIU weren’t returned Tuesday.
Swadron said he doubts the charges would have been laid if he hadn’t written directly to Ian Scott, the SIU’s director.
Swadron, who is also pursuing a civil action against the officers and the force on Moore’s behalf, said he still hasn’t seen any use of force reports filled out by the officers regarding the beating.
He fears other assaults by police that go undetected because officers don’t fill out use of force reports and victims don’t complain to the SIU.
“It’s a definite gap in the system,” Swadron said. “There has to be some monitoring of persons who are injured. . . There should be someone from the SIU who monitors these things.”
Vella said no statistics immediately available on the number of Toronto Police officers facing assault charges were immediately available.
A Toronto police officer now faces a second assault charge in connection with last summer’s G20 protests.
In December, the Star published a photo of an officer wielding a baton at a Torontoist blogger Wyndham Bettencourt-McCarthy.
Bettencourt-McCarthy, 23, is out of the country and could not be reached for comment, but in December she told the Star she had been struck twice during the protest at Queen’s Park and left with a welt on her right hip.
“I got hit from behind by an officer,” she said. “He struck me twice. Then he turned, and I ran.”
Const. Babak Andalib-Goortani, who has three years service, was arrested Tuesday and charged with assault with a weapon.
The Toronto Police Service said Wednesday that the latest charge followed a complaint received by the office of the Independent Police Review Director.
He is scheduled to appear in court at College Park on March 7.
In December, Andalib-Goortani was charged with assault by the province’s Special Investigations Unit after another officer identified him as the badgeless officer seen in a video apparently wielding a baton during the Queen’s Park takedown of protester Adam Nobody.
*******************************************
Third case is that of the police officer who was charged in the brutalizing of two white G8-G20 protestors. There were hundreds of mostly white police officers brutalizing protesters and even passers-by who were not protesting at last summer's G8-G20 summit. There were several photographs of police engaged in these brutal attacks. Not surprisingly the officer who has been charged, even if he considers himself white does not carry a recognizable European name. Of the hundreds of misbehaving police officers caught on tape brutalizing civilians in Toronto during the summer the one charged is Constable Babak Andalib-Goortani. Andalib-Goortani has been charged with assault with a weapon after he was identified by at least one other police officer from the phographs that appeared in the media.
Six months after the G20 Summit, an officer has been charged with assaulting a protester at Queen’s Park.
Working with evidence supplied in part by the Toronto Star, Special Investigations Unit director Ian Scott said in a news release Tuesday: “There are reasonable grounds to believe that an officer... committed a criminal offence in connection with the arrest of Adam Nobody on June 26.”
Constable Babak Andalib-Goortani has been charged with assault with a weapon.
Andalib-Goortani is the previously unidentified officer whose image ran on the Star’s front page just two weeks ago.
On Dec. 7, the newspaper ran a story about newly obtained video footage showing the officer’s face peering through a raised visor after he appeared to wield his baton during the takedown of Nobody.
On Dec. 8, a picture was published of the same officer participating in the takedown of National Post photographer Colin O’Connor. Two officers in the immediate vicinity — J. McIntyre and S. Ma — were identified through pictures with their name tags on.
The arrest comes less than a month after the SIU concluded its investigation into Nobody’s injuries, as well as five other cases. While the police watchdog said excessive force was probably used in Nobody’s case, it was impossible to identify the officer. Scott pointed to a YouTube video titled “Toronto G20, Peaceful Protestor Tackled and Roughed Up.”
Police Chief Bill Blair lashed out in a radio interview, saying the video of the 27-year-old stage builder was “significantly tampered with and fabricated.” He suggested police were in the middle of arresting a violent armed offender.
John Bridge, who shot the video, signed an affidavit saying there was a four-second gap in the video because he briefly switched off his camera when he saw police rushing toward him.
Blair later apologized to Nobody.
The chief’s claim unleashed a flood of citizens’ evidence of the volatile demonstrations during the summit of world leaders that turned downtown Toronto into an armed camp.
On Nov. 30, the SIU reopened Nobody’s case, and then released photographs of two bystanders recording his arrest and asked for their help. At least one came forward.
The Star later provided a second video.
Toronto police gave the SIU the names of 15 officers who may have been in the area or had something to do with Nobody’s injuries.
“Through an analysis of the video imagery and additional information gathered during the reopened investigation, SIU investigators determined that three of the named 15 officers may have caused injuries to Mr. Nobody related to his first allegation of assault,” Scott said.
“Twelve officers were designated as witness officers and interviewed,” but none could identify themselves or any other officers in the videos, Scott said.
The three subject officers declined to provide a statement “as is their right,” he said.
Police then gave the SIU the name of a 16th officer who identified one of the subject officers as Andalib-Goortani, said Scott.
When asked whether Nobody’s case is closed, SIU spokesman Frank Phillips said: “At this point, yes. But this time is the same as the last time. If we get new material evidence... then the investigation could be reopened.”
Lawyer Sunil Mathai, who’s representing Nobody, said he was encouraged that at least one officer was being held accountable, but added: “It is regrettable that 12 witness officers were unable to identify themselves or others in the video... This makes a mockery of the duty to cooperate.”
Toronto police had little to say after the SIU statement.
“It’s an ongoing SIU investigation,” said Constable Tony Vella. “We cannot make any comments on ongoing SIU investigations.”
Police union president Mike McCormack kept his comments brief, “unlike Mr. Scott’s fulsome and lengthy media release.”
“The proper forum for this matter is in the courts and not in the media,” he said.
“Our members should be judged on the facts, not just a one-sided story.”
McCormack added the union fully supports Andalib-Goortani.
“I’m grateful that they finally have someone who’s going to stand before a court,” Nobody said Tuesday night. “It’s not something (that can be swept) under the rug.”
Nobody claims that after he was roughed up at Queen’s Park, he was handcuffed, taken behind a police van and kicked repeatedly in the head by two plainclothes officers. He said he was disappointed there are still no answers in his second allegation.
“I would definitely like to see those two brought to justice,” he said.
“A lot of things happened that day and one happened to be on video and that’s why they’re still talking about it.”
Andalib-Goortani is scheduled to appear in court Jan. 24.
According to officers at 31 Division, a Babak Goortani — who one officer referred to as “Bob” — works with the traffic division and was on the 7 a.m. shift Tuesday.
There was no answer at a Richmond Hill condominium under his name.
“The SIU would like to thank videographer John Bridge for coming forward and sharing both the manner in which he shot his video, permitting himself to be identified and providing the unit with his original video footage of the incident,” Scott said.
“The media and other members of the public also played a pivotal role in assisting the investigation.”
The SIU investigates incidents involving police that result in death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault.
These are three stories that were reported in one of Toronto’s white daily newspapers. Note the different outcomes for the police officers depending on their race and the race of their victims.
A judge has found a police officer not guilty of breaking a drug-dealing reggae musician’s jaw with his knee during an on-street detention.
Ontario provincial court Justice Ann Nelson acquitted Const. Jason Goss, 36, of one count of assault causing bodily harm on Marvin Anthony Small, 31.
Small testified at the trial in July that a police officer kneed him “full force” in the jaw and broke it while he lay handcuffed on a west Toronto sidewalk on suspicion of carrying drugs at around 3 a.m. on April 23, 2008.
“I am satisfied that there was an opportunity, albeit a very limited opportunity, for someone other than officer Goss to have assaulted Mr. Small,” the judge said in her 67-page ruling, which she read out in an Old City Hall courthouse Tuesday.
Goss testified that neither he nor any of his fellow officers broke Small’s jaw in what he described as an uneventful arrest.
“Overall, Officer Goss was a strong witness,” the judge said
She found Small’s testimony problematic, although there was powerful corroborating evidence for some of his story.
Small told different versions of how his jaw was broken on the morning it happened, Nelson said, noting “It’s almost as if Mr. Small's story is being formulated as it is being told and retold.”
Small was in the courthouse, but left before the judge finished reading her decision.
“There is no justice,” he said. “It’s like the system is against me and the system is going to stand up for police.”
On the day of his arrest, Small said he was at St. Clarens Ave. and Bloor St. W. — an area in which he dealt drugs – when he saw two police officers driving by in an unmarked car.
He said he walked south on St. Clarens to avoid the hassle of dealing with the officers, even though he was carrying no drugs, but they pulled up.
Small said he was tightly handcuffed and forced to lie with his face on the pavement as the officers demanded to know where his drugs were.
The driver “came down with full force” on his jaw, he said.
When other officers arrived, the group pulled down his pants and searched him and he was kicked in the ribs and stomach, he testified.
Eventually the officers took off the cuffs and told him to “get out of here and go home,” Small testified, adding that he was spitting blood.
He said he made his way, in pain, to a hospital and was treated.
Medical evidence presented in court showed his jaw was broken.
But Small failed to identify the officer in court, instead pointing to another police officer, in civilian dress, sitting among spectators.
Defence lawyer Peter Brauti told the judge that this was “a significant hurdle” for the Crown to overcome.
In cross-examination, Small denied telling his girlfriend that he wasn’t sure who the people who beat him up were.
Small also denied telling his uncle, as Brauti suggested he had, that the police put him in one of their cars and drove him somewhere. “I didn’t say that,” replied Small.
Small also denied Brauti’s suggestion that he told a security guard at the hospital where he sought treatment that he was thrown into one of the police cars and beaten.
Small also denied telling a dentist who examined him at Mount Sinai Hospital that five police officers kicked him for 15 minutes, one of them in the jaw, as the dentist testified. “I told her one of the officers kneed me in the jaw,” Small insisted.
Brauti pointed out that Small has given three different versions of whether the officer who broke his jaw was the same one who handcuffed him.
Brauti suggested that Small, who is alleging racial profiling and is suing the police for $25,000, is motivated by money.
Small replied that no one can repay the damage to his jaw and that he still feels pain.
In this case the police officer is white and the man who claims his jaw was broken is African Canadian. Take note that the judge, Justice Ann Nelson acquitted the white police Constable Jason Goss, 36, of one count of assault causing bodily harm on African Canadian Marvin Anthony Small, 31 even though she recognised in her 67-page ruling, which she read out in an Old City Hall courthouse that: “I am satisfied that there was an opportunity, albeit a very limited opportunity, for someone other than officer Goss to have assaulted Mr. Small.” There was a limited opportunity of about three minutes that someone other than the police officer could have broken this African Canadian man’s jaw between the time he left the police station and hailed a taxi to get to the hospital. So Madame Judge acquitted the white police officer.
***************************************************
Next is the case of two racialized police officers accused of brutalizing a white man who the judge recognized that at the time of his arrest was: “making venomous remarks” to the two officers. However the words of this white man was taken in preference of the testimony of the two racialized officers. The officers were “found guilty of assault causing bodily harm” which legal observers say is extremely unusual. One lawyer who has been practicing since 1963 is quoted as saying: “It’s very, very rare.” An investigation in the fall of 2010 found that it is very rare for charges to be laid against police officers at all, and even rarer for them to be convicted. The investigation also found that “when the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has laid charges one of every four officers sees the charges dropped before trial, many others are acquitted, or, as has happened at least 10 times, an officer is found guilty before a judge who spares him jail time. Some guilty police officers walk out of court with their record wiped clean.” Even when African Canadians and other racialized people are killed by police, there are no consequences for the police.
Two Toronto police constables have been found guilty of assault causing bodily harm during the arrest of a disabled, verbally abusive man in Cabbagetown.
Edward Ing and John Cruz were stone-faced and had no comment on after Justice Elliott Allen gave his verdict in Brampton court Tuesday morning.
Richard Moore suffered fractured ribs and a cut to his scalp that required stitches when he was arrested on the steps of his Gerrard St. E. rooming house on the night of April 24, 2009.
“His injuries are consistent with being struck constantly,” the judge said, adding that he accepted the officers’ testimony that Moore was verbally abusive towards them.
“The preponderance of evidence suggests he was making venomous remarks upon his arrest,” the judge said.
The officers had testified that they were attempting to take Moore into custody on a charge of being drunk in public for his own safety, fearing that he might wander into traffic.
The judge said the officers did not have grounds for an arrest.
He noted that Moore had no trace of alcohol in his system when he was taken to hospital and that the charge of being drunk in a public place was later thrown out of court.
Moore, who was 59 at the time of the incident, was not present in court for the verdict.
No date has been set for sentencing.
Two Toronto Police constables have been found guilty of assault causing bodily harm, which legal observers say is extremely unusual.
“It’s very, very rare,” said Barry Swadron of Toronto, who has been a lawyer since 1963.
Swadron is the lawyer for Richard Moore, 60, who suffered fractured ribs and a gash to his scalp that required stitches back in 2009, after he was arrested for allegedly being drunk in public by Const. Edward Ing and Const. John Cruz in Cabbagetown.
Ing and Cruz were each found guilty on Tuesday of assault causing bodily harm by Justice Elliott Allen in a provincial courtroom in Brampton.
The outcome is notable because such accusations rarely hold up in court, said Paul Bailey, former president of the York Regional Police Association.
He estimated that 95 per cent of accusations of assault against on-duty police officers do not end in guilty verdicts.
“The vast majority of officers are either found not guilty or the charges are stayed or withdrawn,” said Bailey, a past administrator with the Police Association of Ontario.
The charges against the officers were laid by the Special Investigations Unit, a civilian police watchdog that investigates allegations of excessive use of force by police.
A Star investigation in the fall of 2010 found that it is very rare for charges to be laid against police officers at all, and even rarer for them to be convicted.
When the SIU has laid charges, the investigation found, one of every four officers sees the charges dropped before trial, many others are acquitted, or, as has happened at least 10 times, an officer is found guilty before a judge who spares him jail time. Some guilty police officers walk out of court with their record wiped clean.
Ing and Cruz were transferred Tuesday to administrative duties pending their court case. They will remain on administrative duty until they are sentenced; no date has been set.
They will not face the possibility of Police Act charges — which carry the threat of being kicked off the force — until all of their legal appeals are exhausted, said Toronto Police spokesperson Tony Vella.
Both officers declined to comment after hearing the verdict. Their lawyer, David Butt, said it’s far too early to talk about possible appeals, since the case is still before the courts for sentencing.
“It’s far too early to think of those issues,” Butt said.
The trouble started back on April 24, 2009, when the Ing and Cruz were questioning a drunken man on George St., near Gerrard E. and Jarvis Sts.
Cruz told court that Moore walked by and said: “You’re the rich man’s army. Why don’t you take on some real gangsters.”
Seconds later, Moore was running to the doorway of his nearby rooming house with the officers in pursuit.
While delivering his verdict, Justice Allen acknowledged that Moore was verbally abusive to the officers that night, but said that they didn’t have probable grounds to arrest him for being drunk in public.
Tests in hospital later revealed that Moore had no alcohol in his system. The charges of being drunk in public that he faced were later thrown out in court.
The judge also rejected the officers’ testimony that they were trying to protect Moore from wandering out into traffic on Gerrard St. E.
“His (Moore’s) injuries are consistent with being struck constantly,” Judge Allen said.
“The preponderance of evidence suggests he was making venomous remarks upon his arrest.”
Moore was not present in court for the verdict. Reached by telephone, he said he was surprised and gratified by the verdict but is still afraid to leave his home.
“I’m still scared of them (police),” Moore said. “I don’t go out at night. . . I don’t want to get caught out there.”
Moore that he has suffered persistent headaches since the beating. He suffered from migraines, hepatitis C, and a chronically bad back before the incident.
“I’m generally not in good health,” said Moore, a 5-foot-8, 160-lb former printer and ironworker. He said he hasn’t touched alcohol in a decade.
Calls to the SIU weren’t returned Tuesday.
Swadron said he doubts the charges would have been laid if he hadn’t written directly to Ian Scott, the SIU’s director.
Swadron, who is also pursuing a civil action against the officers and the force on Moore’s behalf, said he still hasn’t seen any use of force reports filled out by the officers regarding the beating.
He fears other assaults by police that go undetected because officers don’t fill out use of force reports and victims don’t complain to the SIU.
“It’s a definite gap in the system,” Swadron said. “There has to be some monitoring of persons who are injured. . . There should be someone from the SIU who monitors these things.”
Vella said no statistics immediately available on the number of Toronto Police officers facing assault charges were immediately available.
A Toronto police officer now faces a second assault charge in connection with last summer’s G20 protests.
In December, the Star published a photo of an officer wielding a baton at a Torontoist blogger Wyndham Bettencourt-McCarthy.
Bettencourt-McCarthy, 23, is out of the country and could not be reached for comment, but in December she told the Star she had been struck twice during the protest at Queen’s Park and left with a welt on her right hip.
“I got hit from behind by an officer,” she said. “He struck me twice. Then he turned, and I ran.”
Const. Babak Andalib-Goortani, who has three years service, was arrested Tuesday and charged with assault with a weapon.
The Toronto Police Service said Wednesday that the latest charge followed a complaint received by the office of the Independent Police Review Director.
He is scheduled to appear in court at College Park on March 7.
In December, Andalib-Goortani was charged with assault by the province’s Special Investigations Unit after another officer identified him as the badgeless officer seen in a video apparently wielding a baton during the Queen’s Park takedown of protester Adam Nobody.
*******************************************
Third case is that of the police officer who was charged in the brutalizing of two white G8-G20 protestors. There were hundreds of mostly white police officers brutalizing protesters and even passers-by who were not protesting at last summer's G8-G20 summit. There were several photographs of police engaged in these brutal attacks. Not surprisingly the officer who has been charged, even if he considers himself white does not carry a recognizable European name. Of the hundreds of misbehaving police officers caught on tape brutalizing civilians in Toronto during the summer the one charged is Constable Babak Andalib-Goortani. Andalib-Goortani has been charged with assault with a weapon after he was identified by at least one other police officer from the phographs that appeared in the media.
Six months after the G20 Summit, an officer has been charged with assaulting a protester at Queen’s Park.
Working with evidence supplied in part by the Toronto Star, Special Investigations Unit director Ian Scott said in a news release Tuesday: “There are reasonable grounds to believe that an officer... committed a criminal offence in connection with the arrest of Adam Nobody on June 26.”
Constable Babak Andalib-Goortani has been charged with assault with a weapon.
Andalib-Goortani is the previously unidentified officer whose image ran on the Star’s front page just two weeks ago.
On Dec. 7, the newspaper ran a story about newly obtained video footage showing the officer’s face peering through a raised visor after he appeared to wield his baton during the takedown of Nobody.
On Dec. 8, a picture was published of the same officer participating in the takedown of National Post photographer Colin O’Connor. Two officers in the immediate vicinity — J. McIntyre and S. Ma — were identified through pictures with their name tags on.
The arrest comes less than a month after the SIU concluded its investigation into Nobody’s injuries, as well as five other cases. While the police watchdog said excessive force was probably used in Nobody’s case, it was impossible to identify the officer. Scott pointed to a YouTube video titled “Toronto G20, Peaceful Protestor Tackled and Roughed Up.”
Police Chief Bill Blair lashed out in a radio interview, saying the video of the 27-year-old stage builder was “significantly tampered with and fabricated.” He suggested police were in the middle of arresting a violent armed offender.
John Bridge, who shot the video, signed an affidavit saying there was a four-second gap in the video because he briefly switched off his camera when he saw police rushing toward him.
Blair later apologized to Nobody.
The chief’s claim unleashed a flood of citizens’ evidence of the volatile demonstrations during the summit of world leaders that turned downtown Toronto into an armed camp.
On Nov. 30, the SIU reopened Nobody’s case, and then released photographs of two bystanders recording his arrest and asked for their help. At least one came forward.
The Star later provided a second video.
Toronto police gave the SIU the names of 15 officers who may have been in the area or had something to do with Nobody’s injuries.
“Through an analysis of the video imagery and additional information gathered during the reopened investigation, SIU investigators determined that three of the named 15 officers may have caused injuries to Mr. Nobody related to his first allegation of assault,” Scott said.
“Twelve officers were designated as witness officers and interviewed,” but none could identify themselves or any other officers in the videos, Scott said.
The three subject officers declined to provide a statement “as is their right,” he said.
Police then gave the SIU the name of a 16th officer who identified one of the subject officers as Andalib-Goortani, said Scott.
When asked whether Nobody’s case is closed, SIU spokesman Frank Phillips said: “At this point, yes. But this time is the same as the last time. If we get new material evidence... then the investigation could be reopened.”
Lawyer Sunil Mathai, who’s representing Nobody, said he was encouraged that at least one officer was being held accountable, but added: “It is regrettable that 12 witness officers were unable to identify themselves or others in the video... This makes a mockery of the duty to cooperate.”
Toronto police had little to say after the SIU statement.
“It’s an ongoing SIU investigation,” said Constable Tony Vella. “We cannot make any comments on ongoing SIU investigations.”
Police union president Mike McCormack kept his comments brief, “unlike Mr. Scott’s fulsome and lengthy media release.”
“The proper forum for this matter is in the courts and not in the media,” he said.
“Our members should be judged on the facts, not just a one-sided story.”
McCormack added the union fully supports Andalib-Goortani.
“I’m grateful that they finally have someone who’s going to stand before a court,” Nobody said Tuesday night. “It’s not something (that can be swept) under the rug.”
Nobody claims that after he was roughed up at Queen’s Park, he was handcuffed, taken behind a police van and kicked repeatedly in the head by two plainclothes officers. He said he was disappointed there are still no answers in his second allegation.
“I would definitely like to see those two brought to justice,” he said.
“A lot of things happened that day and one happened to be on video and that’s why they’re still talking about it.”
Andalib-Goortani is scheduled to appear in court Jan. 24.
According to officers at 31 Division, a Babak Goortani — who one officer referred to as “Bob” — works with the traffic division and was on the 7 a.m. shift Tuesday.
There was no answer at a Richmond Hill condominium under his name.
“The SIU would like to thank videographer John Bridge for coming forward and sharing both the manner in which he shot his video, permitting himself to be identified and providing the unit with his original video footage of the incident,” Scott said.
“The media and other members of the public also played a pivotal role in assisting the investigation.”
The SIU investigates incidents involving police that result in death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault.
Friday, November 12, 2010
TEA PARTY MOVEMENT COMMENT
In response to an article I wrote about two African American men who were speakers at the American Tea Party Movement convention on October 8 - 9, 2010, one of the men, Bishop E W Jackson commented:
The writer is ignorant of American and black history. Those Judeo-Christian values are precisely what made slavery controversial from the time slavery was imported to this continent. It was a source of serious contention precisely because it contradicted those Christian values which most early Americans held. Slavery was not invented by Americans. Muslims were enslaving Africans long before Europe began to colonize Africa. Slavery is a spiritual problem born of the sinfulness of the human heart. It is not a racial issue. Christianity - with its ethic of love, forgiveness, reconciliation and salvation - is precisely the answer, but our country is moving away from that ethic. (Beware of what you ask for.) That is why you had Europeans having European slaves and indentured servants. Wake up from your racial myopia!
Bishop E W Jackson Sr.
My comment to the comment made by Bishop E W Jackson Sr. is:
This writer is very aware of American and African American history and knows that those white Americans who professed Judeo-Christian values and attended church religiously had no qualms about enslaving and brutalising enslaved Africans in America. Even after slavery was abolished these proponents of Judeo-Christian values continued to brutalise African Americans. In 2005 this writer had an article published about the story of Lena Baker (June 8, 1901 – March 5, 1945,) an African American woman who was executed by the State of Georgia after she defended herself against a 67 year old Christian white man who had been physically and sexually abusing her for several years. On the day that this dreadful torment of Lena Baker came to a head, her abuser had locked her in a building on his property for several hours while he and his son went to a Christian worship service. When this Christian white man returned from the service he once again attempted to rape Lena Baker at gunpoint and in the ensuing struggle he was killed with his own gun. Lena Baker was executed by electrocution by the State of Georgia on March 5, 1945, but was granted a full and unconditional pardon by the State of Georgia in 2005, 60 years after her execution. There are many other horrific incidents of white Christian abuses of African Americans documented in books like Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America published in 2000 and at the website: http://withoutsanctuary.org/
This writer is also very aware of and has written articles about the history of Muslims enslaving Africans and transporting those enslaved Africans to the Middle East and Far East. This article to which the good Bishop is referring is not about Muslims who are right now in this 21st century, the target of rabid Islamophobia.
This article is about the Tea Party Movement in America which is overwhelmingly peopled by white Christian supremacists, extremists and foaming at the mouth rabid racists.
The enslavement of Africans in America became “a source of serious contention” not “because it contradicted those Christian values which most early Americans held.” It was the continued resistance of enslaved Africans to the state of slavery and the continual debasement of their humanity that put the fear of God into the Christian white men and women who held the Africans in slavery. Africans refused to be complacent in a state of slavery and attempts to dehumanise them by white Christians.
Africans were resisting from the moment they were captured and bound; they resisted in the coffles, they resisted on the slave ships, they resisted at every point and by any means necessary. They struggled mightily against great odds. The names of those freedom fighters in the USA are legendary: Nat Turner, Gabriel Prosser, Denmark Vesey, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman etc., The enslaved Africans in America also heard about the many enslaved Africans who fought for their freedom in the Caribbean and throughout the Americas because enslaved Africans were sold across the continents and the word spread. The crowning point was the revolution in Haiti. That revolution really drove the point home and very shortly after that victory in 1804, the British abolished their slave trade in 1807 then slavery 1834 -1838. The Americans abolished their slave trade in 1808 but it took a further 57 years (until 1865) of struggle to end chattel slavery in America.
Finally, to the good Bishop’s statement: “That is why you had Europeans having European slaves and indentured servants.” You are wrong my brotha! This writer is saying that Europeans in America did not enslave other Europeans. Europeans in America were indentured for a few years and then were free to live like any other white person in America. They were not stripped of their belief systems, language and names. They and their children were not ripped away from each other and sold to work their entire lives for no pay. It is utter nonsense to compare white indentured servants to enslaved Africans. It is very unfortunate that some of us are blinded by the illusion of inclusion. Watch out for that coiled, ready to strike snake that is the emblem of the Tea Party Movement, my African American Christian brotha!
The writer is ignorant of American and black history. Those Judeo-Christian values are precisely what made slavery controversial from the time slavery was imported to this continent. It was a source of serious contention precisely because it contradicted those Christian values which most early Americans held. Slavery was not invented by Americans. Muslims were enslaving Africans long before Europe began to colonize Africa. Slavery is a spiritual problem born of the sinfulness of the human heart. It is not a racial issue. Christianity - with its ethic of love, forgiveness, reconciliation and salvation - is precisely the answer, but our country is moving away from that ethic. (Beware of what you ask for.) That is why you had Europeans having European slaves and indentured servants. Wake up from your racial myopia!
Bishop E W Jackson Sr.
My comment to the comment made by Bishop E W Jackson Sr. is:
This writer is very aware of American and African American history and knows that those white Americans who professed Judeo-Christian values and attended church religiously had no qualms about enslaving and brutalising enslaved Africans in America. Even after slavery was abolished these proponents of Judeo-Christian values continued to brutalise African Americans. In 2005 this writer had an article published about the story of Lena Baker (June 8, 1901 – March 5, 1945,) an African American woman who was executed by the State of Georgia after she defended herself against a 67 year old Christian white man who had been physically and sexually abusing her for several years. On the day that this dreadful torment of Lena Baker came to a head, her abuser had locked her in a building on his property for several hours while he and his son went to a Christian worship service. When this Christian white man returned from the service he once again attempted to rape Lena Baker at gunpoint and in the ensuing struggle he was killed with his own gun. Lena Baker was executed by electrocution by the State of Georgia on March 5, 1945, but was granted a full and unconditional pardon by the State of Georgia in 2005, 60 years after her execution. There are many other horrific incidents of white Christian abuses of African Americans documented in books like Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America published in 2000 and at the website: http://withoutsanctuary.org/
This writer is also very aware of and has written articles about the history of Muslims enslaving Africans and transporting those enslaved Africans to the Middle East and Far East. This article to which the good Bishop is referring is not about Muslims who are right now in this 21st century, the target of rabid Islamophobia.
This article is about the Tea Party Movement in America which is overwhelmingly peopled by white Christian supremacists, extremists and foaming at the mouth rabid racists.
The enslavement of Africans in America became “a source of serious contention” not “because it contradicted those Christian values which most early Americans held.” It was the continued resistance of enslaved Africans to the state of slavery and the continual debasement of their humanity that put the fear of God into the Christian white men and women who held the Africans in slavery. Africans refused to be complacent in a state of slavery and attempts to dehumanise them by white Christians.
Africans were resisting from the moment they were captured and bound; they resisted in the coffles, they resisted on the slave ships, they resisted at every point and by any means necessary. They struggled mightily against great odds. The names of those freedom fighters in the USA are legendary: Nat Turner, Gabriel Prosser, Denmark Vesey, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman etc., The enslaved Africans in America also heard about the many enslaved Africans who fought for their freedom in the Caribbean and throughout the Americas because enslaved Africans were sold across the continents and the word spread. The crowning point was the revolution in Haiti. That revolution really drove the point home and very shortly after that victory in 1804, the British abolished their slave trade in 1807 then slavery 1834 -1838. The Americans abolished their slave trade in 1808 but it took a further 57 years (until 1865) of struggle to end chattel slavery in America.
Finally, to the good Bishop’s statement: “That is why you had Europeans having European slaves and indentured servants.” You are wrong my brotha! This writer is saying that Europeans in America did not enslave other Europeans. Europeans in America were indentured for a few years and then were free to live like any other white person in America. They were not stripped of their belief systems, language and names. They and their children were not ripped away from each other and sold to work their entire lives for no pay. It is utter nonsense to compare white indentured servants to enslaved Africans. It is very unfortunate that some of us are blinded by the illusion of inclusion. Watch out for that coiled, ready to strike snake that is the emblem of the Tea Party Movement, my African American Christian brotha!
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Monday, October 11, 2010
LETHEM POLICE STATION REBUILT
SHORT HISTORY RUPUNUNI UPRISING
On January 2, 1969, the police station at Lethem, the administrative
center of the Rupununi District, was attacked by ranchers, mainly from the
Hart, Junor and Melville families, who were armed with bazookas, pistols and automatic weapons.
The Lethem Police Station was completely destroyed by bazooka shells and
policemen were riddled by bullets as they ran out of the collapsing building. Five policemen and one civilian were killed, the government dispenser (pharmacist) at Lethem Hospital Mr. Batson was shot and wounded, and a number of people, including the assistant District Commissioner Steve Sagar, the District Commissioner Motilall Persaud and his wife, were herded into the abbattoir and held hostage. The five policemen killed during the attempted secession are: Inspector #4412 Whittington Braithwaite; Sergeant #4590 James Anderson; Constables #5611, James McKenzie; 5691 William Norton and # 7178 Michael Kendall.
The Annai and Good Hope stations were also seized and the personnel held captive along with Government officials and civilians in the abbattoir at Lethem.
News about the insurrection reached Georgetown by noon that day and
policemen and soldiers were flown in to Manari Ranch (owned by Maggie Orella and her son) by Guyana Airways. When the government forces moved on Lethem the rebels fled, eventually going across the border to Brazil and Venezuela. The mastermind of the attempted secession of the Rupununi, Valerie Hart, fled to Venezuela, was never brought to justice for the execution of the five police officers and reports are that she still lives in Venezuela. These people are terrorists because they executed government officials and declared that the Rupununi District had seceded from Guyana and that they would set up a Government of the "Republic of the Rupununi". They are being sheltered in several countries whose leaders condemn terrorism.
On January 2, 1969, the police station at Lethem, the administrative
center of the Rupununi District, was attacked by ranchers, mainly from the
Hart, Junor and Melville families, who were armed with bazookas, pistols and automatic weapons.
The Lethem Police Station was completely destroyed by bazooka shells and
policemen were riddled by bullets as they ran out of the collapsing building. Five policemen and one civilian were killed, the government dispenser (pharmacist) at Lethem Hospital Mr. Batson was shot and wounded, and a number of people, including the assistant District Commissioner Steve Sagar, the District Commissioner Motilall Persaud and his wife, were herded into the abbattoir and held hostage. The five policemen killed during the attempted secession are: Inspector #4412 Whittington Braithwaite; Sergeant #4590 James Anderson; Constables #5611, James McKenzie; 5691 William Norton and # 7178 Michael Kendall.
The Annai and Good Hope stations were also seized and the personnel held captive along with Government officials and civilians in the abbattoir at Lethem.
News about the insurrection reached Georgetown by noon that day and
policemen and soldiers were flown in to Manari Ranch (owned by Maggie Orella and her son) by Guyana Airways. When the government forces moved on Lethem the rebels fled, eventually going across the border to Brazil and Venezuela. The mastermind of the attempted secession of the Rupununi, Valerie Hart, fled to Venezuela, was never brought to justice for the execution of the five police officers and reports are that she still lives in Venezuela. These people are terrorists because they executed government officials and declared that the Rupununi District had seceded from Guyana and that they would set up a Government of the "Republic of the Rupununi". They are being sheltered in several countries whose leaders condemn terrorism.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
ACID ATTACK HOAX
A Vancouver, Wash., woman attacked with acid on her way to a Starbucks coffee shop says she could feel her face sizzling as her skin began to burn.
"It was the most painful thing," 28-year-old Bethany Storro told reporters. "My heart stopped. I almost passed out. Once it hit me, I could actually hear it bubbling and sizzling on my skin."
Storro was getting something out of her car outside a Starbucks on Aug. 30 when she saw a woman, around her own age, standing before her and heard the chilling words that would change her life: "Hey, pretty little girl, want to take a drink of this?"
Then, inexplicably, the woman threw a cup of acid-like liquid in Storro's face, sending her screaming out in pain in the middle of the busy street. Passers-by rushed to her aid and called 911.
Storro had just moved to Vancouver, just north of Portland, Ore., to be with her parents after living in Idaho. She said she had never seen her attacker before that day. Police say the bizarre and horrific acid assault -- far more common in other areas of the world -- appears to be random. There are so far no suspects, and the motive remains unclear.
The acid was so strong that parts of Storro's shirt simply disintegrated, The Oregonian reported. Doctors said Storro suffered second-degree burns all over her face -- except, fortunately, on her eyes, which were protected by a pair of sunglasses she bought less than an hour before the attack. Doctors said the glasses may have saved her eyesight.
"I had this feeling that I need to go buy sunglasses," she said, according to KPTV in Oregon. "It's hard finding sunglasses that are cute. I finally found a pair that I liked, so I went and bought them. That was 20 minutes before the acid was thrown in my face."
But the excruciating pain didn't stop Storro -- who is hard of hearing because of two bouts of spinal meningitis she suffered as a child -- from joking around Thursday night in front of family members and reporters.
"Oh, my gosh, to be hard of hearing and blind? That would drive them nuts," she said of her parents. "They have to be in the same room for me to hear them. I'm just so glad it's a miracle."
Her father, Joe Neuwelt, was less jovial. "You can imagine how I feel," he said. "This is my little girl." Her mother, Nancy Neuwelt, called the attack "an act of evil," according to The Associated Press.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://community.essence.com/forum/topics/woman-lied-and-claim-black
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
• A Washington state woman made up her claim of an attacker throwing acid, police say
• Bethany Storro, who was hospitalized, and now may face charges
• Police conducted search of her residence
Read more about this story at CNN affiliate KATU.
(CNN) -- A 28-year-old woman who said an unknown assailant threw a cup of caustic liquid in her face has admitted her injuries were self-inflicted, Vancouver, Washington, police said Thursday.
Bethany Storro was being interviewed by detectives, and whether she will be charged will be up to prosecutors, police said.
"She is extremely upset," said police Commander Marla Schuman. "She is very remorseful. In many ways it got bigger than she expected."
Police would not speculate on Storro's motives, only saying the August 30 incident did not occur as she described and that there were discrepancies in her account, including wearing sunglasses in the evening.
They also had questions about the liquid's splash patterns on Storro's face.
Officers acquired a search warrant and conducted a search Thursday morning. They removed several undisclosed items, but said they did not find a substance that might have caused her injuries.
Vancouver had searched for an assailant, described as an African-American woman with an athletic build and slicked-back hair pulled into a pony tail.
Storro was released from an Oregon hospital on September 5 after undergoing surgery for her injuries after the alleged attack.
Police spent hundreds of hours on the case and the community came together to offer donations for Storro's treatment.
"It has had an impact on our community," said Police Chief Clifford Cook. "It has brought negative attention on our community that is undeserved."
Storro's family was also being interviewed, police said. They described her as being in a fragile mental state.Storro credited a new pair of sunglasses -- which she said she bought just 20 minutes before the attack -- with saving her eyesight.
"God is watching over me," Storro, of Vancouver, told CNN affiliate KATU in Portland, Oregon, at the time. "I believe in him. That his hands are on me and I can't live the rest of my life like that -- in fear. I can't let what she did to me wreck my life."
Storro told KATU that she had stopped at a Vancouver Starbucks about 7:15 p.m., just after she had gone back to buy a pair of sunglasses that she had seen earlier. The woman walked up to her and said, "Hey pretty girl, do you want to drink this?"
When Storro declined, the woman threw the contents of the cup in her face and ran off, Storro claimed at the time.
"It was the most painful thing," 28-year-old Bethany Storro told reporters. "My heart stopped. I almost passed out. Once it hit me, I could actually hear it bubbling and sizzling on my skin."
Storro was getting something out of her car outside a Starbucks on Aug. 30 when she saw a woman, around her own age, standing before her and heard the chilling words that would change her life: "Hey, pretty little girl, want to take a drink of this?"
Then, inexplicably, the woman threw a cup of acid-like liquid in Storro's face, sending her screaming out in pain in the middle of the busy street. Passers-by rushed to her aid and called 911.
Storro had just moved to Vancouver, just north of Portland, Ore., to be with her parents after living in Idaho. She said she had never seen her attacker before that day. Police say the bizarre and horrific acid assault -- far more common in other areas of the world -- appears to be random. There are so far no suspects, and the motive remains unclear.
The acid was so strong that parts of Storro's shirt simply disintegrated, The Oregonian reported. Doctors said Storro suffered second-degree burns all over her face -- except, fortunately, on her eyes, which were protected by a pair of sunglasses she bought less than an hour before the attack. Doctors said the glasses may have saved her eyesight.
"I had this feeling that I need to go buy sunglasses," she said, according to KPTV in Oregon. "It's hard finding sunglasses that are cute. I finally found a pair that I liked, so I went and bought them. That was 20 minutes before the acid was thrown in my face."
But the excruciating pain didn't stop Storro -- who is hard of hearing because of two bouts of spinal meningitis she suffered as a child -- from joking around Thursday night in front of family members and reporters.
"Oh, my gosh, to be hard of hearing and blind? That would drive them nuts," she said of her parents. "They have to be in the same room for me to hear them. I'm just so glad it's a miracle."
Her father, Joe Neuwelt, was less jovial. "You can imagine how I feel," he said. "This is my little girl." Her mother, Nancy Neuwelt, called the attack "an act of evil," according to The Associated Press.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://community.essence.com/forum/topics/woman-lied-and-claim-black
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
• A Washington state woman made up her claim of an attacker throwing acid, police say
• Bethany Storro, who was hospitalized, and now may face charges
• Police conducted search of her residence
Read more about this story at CNN affiliate KATU.
(CNN) -- A 28-year-old woman who said an unknown assailant threw a cup of caustic liquid in her face has admitted her injuries were self-inflicted, Vancouver, Washington, police said Thursday.
Bethany Storro was being interviewed by detectives, and whether she will be charged will be up to prosecutors, police said.
"She is extremely upset," said police Commander Marla Schuman. "She is very remorseful. In many ways it got bigger than she expected."
Police would not speculate on Storro's motives, only saying the August 30 incident did not occur as she described and that there were discrepancies in her account, including wearing sunglasses in the evening.
They also had questions about the liquid's splash patterns on Storro's face.
Officers acquired a search warrant and conducted a search Thursday morning. They removed several undisclosed items, but said they did not find a substance that might have caused her injuries.
Vancouver had searched for an assailant, described as an African-American woman with an athletic build and slicked-back hair pulled into a pony tail.
Storro was released from an Oregon hospital on September 5 after undergoing surgery for her injuries after the alleged attack.
Police spent hundreds of hours on the case and the community came together to offer donations for Storro's treatment.
"It has had an impact on our community," said Police Chief Clifford Cook. "It has brought negative attention on our community that is undeserved."
Storro's family was also being interviewed, police said. They described her as being in a fragile mental state.Storro credited a new pair of sunglasses -- which she said she bought just 20 minutes before the attack -- with saving her eyesight.
"God is watching over me," Storro, of Vancouver, told CNN affiliate KATU in Portland, Oregon, at the time. "I believe in him. That his hands are on me and I can't live the rest of my life like that -- in fear. I can't let what she did to me wreck my life."
Storro told KATU that she had stopped at a Vancouver Starbucks about 7:15 p.m., just after she had gone back to buy a pair of sunglasses that she had seen earlier. The woman walked up to her and said, "Hey pretty girl, do you want to drink this?"
When Storro declined, the woman threw the contents of the cup in her face and ran off, Storro claimed at the time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)