Posted on 06/21/2005 9:19:50 PM PDT by Fido969
By Curt Woodward ASSOCIATED PRESS
8:22 p.m. June 21, 2005
SEATTLE – A man killed by police after he brandished a grenade in the federal courthouse here had grown increasingly upset and unstable recently as years of frustration with the child custody system mounted, friends said Tuesday. Perry L. Manley, 52, was shot to death by police Monday in the courthouse's public lobby. Authorities said Manley had tried to bypass courthouse security while clutching a hand grenade, later found to be inactive.
Police and federal agents evacuated the downtown building and cordoned off the surrounding streets during the standoff with Manley, which lasted for about a half-hour.
He was shot after making a "furtive move" with the grenade, U.S. Marshal Eric Robertson said. Authorities said Manley was dressed in camouflage, and carried court papers and a living will.
Manley was a critic of the child support system and the courts' handling of parental custody issues, and had filed several lawsuits disputing his support obligations. Court documents said Manley was the divorced father of three children, ages 26, 23 and 22.
He was well-known around the courthouse and led a small protest outside the building last month, when he attempted to burn an American flag. But there were no indications his frustrations would become violent, Robertson said.
Manley was ordered in July 2002 to appear in King County Superior Court for failing to pay more than $8,200 in child support. It was unclear from the court filings if Manley paid that bill.
Kevin Turner of Bellevue met Manley a few years ago through a child support reform group and said Manley had become increasingly withdrawn in recent months.
"It got to the point where I didn't know how to talk to him," Turner said. "A year ago, you could talk to him. But the last few months, he wasn't really as 'together' as you would hope."
Manley had been homeless for a time, but had begun to turn his life around in the past few years, getting a job at a restaurant, Turner said. But even those improvements did not cure his ill feelings toward the custody and child support systems.
After repeated failed attempts to bring a federal lawsuit claiming former employers did not have a right to garnish his wages, Manley filed a rambling document in late May that quoted from the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence.
Susan Calhoun, Manley's former wife, told KING-TV he became embittered and quit a high-paying job after their divorce in 1990 when a judge ordered him to make support payments for their three children. She did not return a call for comment Tuesday.
Joe McGill of Battle Ground, who knew Manley through a child custody group called The Other Parent, agreed that Manley's statements had become "pretty bizarre." But McGill said he didn't think Manley intended to be killed by police Monday.
"I think it might have been his last step to be heard," McGill said.
He didn't bring a hand grenade to the courthouse.
Okay, Mr. Arthur Fonzarelli. My bad.
I'm a karate man, see! And a karate man bruises on the inside! They don't show their weakness. But you don't know that because you're a big Barry White looking (expletive deleted)! (gratuitous movie quote)
The previous quote was meant as humor and does not reflect the thoughts of the poster but was a good natured jab at a fellow FReeper
This is child support in a testicleshell:
The women who need it most don't get enough.
Those who don't need it get too much.
Child support is defacto alimony at some point.
He was homeless and broke.
I'd guess even when he could get a job, they probably garnished at least half of his take home pay. Lessee, $8 an hour, times 40 is $320. Net about $275 or so, they take half, he gets about $140 a week to live on.
A studio apartment in Seattle is about $500 a month, so that leaves about 422 a week for food, clothes and transportation. (Amazing that smug folks posting here could say there's nothing wrong with that.)
I can see why he would want to kill himself. And bravo for not doing it alone somewhere - like most of the 10,000 men a year do that kill themselves.
At least bleed all over the bastards that screwed you. Or at least ruin their lunch.
what a stupid post!!! apparently this man was married at one point..although i agree his actions were stupid...your saying he shouldnt have had sex with his wife huh???
Garcetti it was! Yes, he truly is a creep. I think his son is in some sort of County position now, but haven't heard about ol' Gil in a while. I saw him bragging on the news conference that day, and I wanted to punch his lights out (if I could have).
Oh, yes, he was claiming victimhood status, and wanted a big legal settlement.
Oh, wait, that's not right - he's DEAD.
I think you are mistaking pointing out unfairness and victim status as interchangable parts.
Not to me.
Victims are folks who have been harmed ....usually physically and did not have it coming.
I think child support is unfair to men who do pay their share but they are not victims.
It's sure not unfair to men who don't.
Additionally, the bigger problem than child support is illegitimacy in my view. One is bad...compund the other into the mix and you've ruined generations of minority kids primarily young lads.
Bullshit!
This man's personal story is, of course, sad. It sounds as if he had begun to slide into mental illness some time ago. It's too bad he didn't get help before committing suicide by cop.
Okay, here I go again: the ONLY solution for this is that the children get split between parents. No child support, period. Because it is not only the money that is problematic, it is the fact that one parent - probably 99.9% the father - ends up with no day-to-day family at all if they have none of the children. And emotionally that parent will feel one thing: screwed. So divide the kids between the parents and call it good. Yes, the siblings are split up, but the family is divided anyway. The kids will survive, even though they will miss their siblings.
The article reported that he, "quit a high-paying job after their divorce."
I have a friend who struggled with a similar situation. He and his wife divorce a number of yrs. ago. They shared custody of the children, and he payed child support. He got himself into some trouble with drugs, but after being in and out of jail, he has moved to another state, is working a great paying job, and continues to pay his child support.
My point is that their are individuals out there who deal with lifes problems every day. They do it impecfectly, but they do it. My friend helped to bring his children into the world, and regardless where he was living he had to provide for those children.
Mr. Manley has left his children with a tragic legacy. What a way to remembered by your kids.
I think it's mental disease borne of being raped by the system for decades.
In Maine they got upset because with joint parenting because now the the 'cross-credit" was sharply reducing the child support amounts.
So, rather than base child support on the cost of raising children, times the % of time you have the children, they threw out any adjustment for joint parent unless both parents were with the kid "substantially equal" amounts of time.
So, a parent who has the kids 40% of the time is required to pay the exact same child support as a parent who is with the kids none of the time. So much for "child support is for children".
Then, even for parents who share the kids about equally they came up with an "enhanced child support obl;igation" which is designed to try to equalize the household;d income in both homes. Wait a minute - I thought that was the purpose of alimony? Nope - that is now the purpose of child support. It's breaking many guys - there are a lot more "dead-broke" guys than dead-beat guys.
So, no bullshit at all. And it's why guys are blowing their brains out in courthouses nowadays.
Or maybe you thought it was just a new social trend - like getting a tattoo or body piercing.
Yes, tragic.
I would have preferred an attempt however feeble at refutation rather than a spontaneous description of your limited ability to grasp logic and rationale.
Darling.
Let's see them tax child support payments like any other form of income and then see who says "bullshit".....
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