Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. Even though there are many more which I can’t include. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as “unceasing,” “grudging,” and “vengeful destruction.”
Well, I thought I had my lead on Tuesday, when I read about a cop in Georgia who ran over a black man he thought was a suspect (he wasn’t), and then arrested him. But Wednesday, that story got beat. Point by point:
1. Cop thought black man was a suspect. Okie Jeremy Thacker knew his victims (plural) were homeless; that’s why he ran over them.
2. Victims plural. Three from the runover, plus another hit in the head with a pipe outside a coonvenience store.
3. One victimm died (the cop’s victim was alive enough to arrest.) The other three were injured.
Do I even need to say this – deplorable – is a Trump supporter? I would say a Trump voter – but, you know, to be a voter you have to actually vote, and I don’t see any evidence that he is smart enough for that.
But it doesn’t take much in the way of brains to kill. It dies, however, take a special kind of malice to target people who are at the lowest points in their lives to kill.
You don’t suppose his lawyer will try to pass this off as a “mercy killing”?
Tisiphone, go. Go get him. I can’t discuss him any more. Thanks.
Everyone probably saw the story about a police detective in Utah who assaulted a nurse – for obeying the law instead of his illegal order.
To recap, Detective Jeff Payne violently and illegally arrested [Alex] Wubbels after she refused his demands to draw blood from a patient. With her supervisor on speakerphone backing her up, Wubbels read the hospital policy aloud and correctly did her job. An increasingly angry Payne snapped and dragged her outside, aggressively handcuffing her, all with the alleged blessing of his own supervisor.
But wait, there’s more.
The officer is now under prosecutorial investigation. Or, I guess technically, it’s still an internal investigation, but it was at the behest of screaming prosecutors.
The University of Utah hospital where this happened has tightened up their policies. No more officers entering through the emergency room.
“Law enforcement who come to the hospital for any reason involving patients will be required to check in to the front desk of the hospital,” said chief nursing officer Margaret Pearce of the University of Utah Hospital. “There, a hospital house supervisor will meet the officers to work through each request.”
The detective in question also ha a part time job as a paramedic. He has been fired from that.
Now, let’s take a moment to examine why there might be more to this story. The reason nurse Alex Wubbels was refusing to allow Detective Payne to draw blood from a patient is because the patient was a victim in a fatal accident. The patient was not accused of any crimes, had not been arrested, was not conscious to give consent—but he was a victim of a deadly accident resulting from a high speed police chase.
Trying to cover the Department’s ass? Hoping to find some reason to blame the victim? Of course they had no way of knowing – then – that this victim was himself a police officer (off duty) from Rigby, ID. The Rigby Police Department thanked Nurse Wubbels for protecting the rights of their officer. “Protecting the rights of others is truly a heroic act,” the letter said.
Alecto, I hope you can get to the bottom of this, and I hope it is widely made public when determined. There is definitely deliberate concealment involved.
[UPDATE on above story]
Child Welfare arms of government take a lot of flak, and, unfortunately, much of it is deserved. This situation is just such a perfect storm, it is worth noting.
Carl Brewer (D) is running in Kansas to replace Governor Sam Brownback, who has been offered a post in the Trump administration (but would be term-limited in 2018 in any case.) Brewer, a former mayor of Wichita, is one of four Democrats eyeing the Governorship.
Brewer’s son Carlo is – was – the father of Evan Brewer, who had been allowed by the Kansas Department of Children and Family Service (DCF) to live with his mother and her “boy friend,” despite four complaints. Carlo Brewer recently contacted state officials and local police about the welfare of his son.
While the DNA evidence is still out, officials are pretty sure the body found encased in concrete in the home they were renting is that of Evan.
If you click through – if you can stand it – the diarist gives two other stories of the deaths of children who should not have had to die.
Now, even before 1980, and even in more enlightened states, it has always been difficult for child protective services to get the funding they needed to do their job. Prennially understaffed, perennially undertrained, perennially having their hands tied, it has never been easy to work for the protection of children. But how much more difficult would it be in Kansas, where for over six years no taxes have been collected, where the government has resorted to selling confiscated sex toys on the internet to pay the bills, and where, under Republican governance, children don’t count anyway? I think, until I find out different, I’ll reserve my anger for the mother of this poor baby, and for her boy friend.
And my deepest grief for Carl Brewer, and for Carlo Brewer.
Megaera, I have confidence that you can be a Fury to the murderers while putting on your Eumenides hat for the bereaved.
The Furies and I will be back.
Cross posted to Care2 here.
2. Fox News eggs on white vigilantes threatening to ‘shoot looters’ in Houston.
