Video of Bronx Man's Suicide Appears on Shock Web Site

NY Times ^ | April 1, 2004 | SHAILA K. DEWAN

[Pharmboy]

Many issues raised here. Thought Freepers would be interested.

[Pharmboy]

Picture from the NY Post's coverage.

[atomicpossum]

Mr. Lane's foster mother, Martha Williams, 56, called the Web site racist.

No. The website is sick and depraved, but crying 'racism' is silly.

[The Duke]

Mr. Lane's foster mother, Martha Williams, 56, called the Web site racist.

I had no pre-conceived notions about the victims race before reading this sentence.

[Pharmboy]

She may have a point in that the website titled the video "The Self-Cleansing Housing Project." Close call, admittedly.

[mitch5501]

"Mr. Lane waits for the elevator door to close, stares at it for a second, then pulls out the gun, puts it in his mouth and fires once, falling to the ground."

We've somehow ended up with a society that,for all it's talk of spirituallity,is spiritually hollow to the point of life being not livable at the age of 22 because of a breakup of a relationship...talk about a massive need.

His folks must be going through hell.A sad case all round.

God bless

[Huck]

His folks? It's at least 50-50 he comes from a fatherless household.

[Huck]

What am I saying? He had no folks. Just a foster mom.

[isthisnickcool]

This guy killed a black guy. Isn't that a hate crime?

[Pharmboy]

Yes. Depression is a disease with a significant mortality rate.

[Ichneumon]

We've somehow ended up with a society that,for all it's talk of spirituallity,is spiritually hollow to the point of life being not livable at the age of 22 because of a breakup of a relationship...talk about a massive need.

Young people have been killing themselves over break-ups, depression, and so on for eons. It seems a stretch to take this one recent example as alleged evidence that "we've ended up with a society" that is "spiritually hollow".

[FITZ]

being not livable at the age of 22 because of a breakup of a relationship

Maybe not just that one relationship breaking up but also growing up with a druggie family, a father dying of AIDS and mother in prison, growing up in housing projects. Sounds like a pretty sad life to have had.

[Julliardsux]

c'mon - the headline was something about a "self-cleansing housing project"

You have to admit that is racist - seriously. Let's not be dense on this one.

[tdadams]

His folks? It's at least 50-50 he comes from a fatherless household.

Apparently you didn't read to the end of the article?

[tdadams]

Agreed. That's imparting too much significance in one suicide. Romeo and Juliet, although fiction, was a compelling story about this subject written long before "our society" became "spiritually hollow."

[ClintonBeGone]

Last night, the people responsible for acquiring the video contacted me, and they have agreed to make the story public. As some news outlets have suggested, the video did indeed originate with an officer of the NYPD. A New York transplant, Sgt. Richard Hertz from Holden, MO, admitted to copying the video and emailing it to a long-distance associate of his, Ray Pugh, in Butte, MT, for no other reason than that he thought his former college buddy would have a ghoulish interest in watching it.

http://consumptionjunction.com/home.asp

[Pharmboy]

Richard Hertz? Dick Hertz? Who's Dick Hertz?

That joke was old when I first heard it in high school.

Thanks for posting, but based on that name I would have to be skeptical about that guy's story.

[ClintonBeGone]

Ray Pugh, in Butte, MT,

LOL missed that. Rereading the comment, I think this one has to raise a few eyebrows also.

[jtminton]

"Hey man, nice shot"
Filter

[Pharmboy]

You must be a troll from DU trying to make FR look bad with remarks like that...but it won't work.