Posted on 05/29/2010 10:19:58 AM PDT by Drew68
OLYMPIA — Sarah Harris goes through the motions of her day trying hard not to think about what life was like a year ago — or what it would be like now if not for "the incident."
She feels guilty leaving the house, even if only for a couple of hours to visit her mom or sister, to run errands, or go grocery shopping. She still cries every night.
Her husband, the first boy she kissed and the only man she's ever loved, suffered a catastrophic brain injury when his head slammed into a concrete wall after a brief footchase with two King County sheriff's deputies on Mother's Day 2009. He's now confined to bed, unable to talk, walk or do anything for himself.
Christopher Sean Harris spent six weeks at Harborview Medical Center, where his family was encouraged to remove him from life support because doctors didn't think he'd ever come out of a coma. But he did, and was transferred to an Edmonds nursing home in June.
Sarah Harris, who worked as a manager for Nordstrom and dreamed of becoming a buyer for the department store, gave up her job to care for her husband.
"I loved my job, and I miss it all the time," she said. "But I knew there was no way I could go back to work and leave him alone in a nursing home all day. There was no decision to even make."
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
A young man wrongly identified by a witness as a participant in a bar brawl flees from fatigue-clad cops who were persuing him and who may or may not have identified themselves as police officers. In a disturbing video available at the link, this young man is shoved against a wall where he suffers an injury that leaves him severely brain damaged.
The article is a couple weeks old but I didn't see it posted here when I ran across it while looking for something.
Just a sad story all the way around.
Wow, looked like excessive force to me. The guy didn’t look like a threat, but the deputy launched into him like a linebacker.
The victim here is backing away, and raising his hands in a woefully inadequate defensive gesture.
He clearly was no threat.
This is police brutality.
This is a felony battery.
Verbal ID is not much good in my mind. They should have had on something on to loudly ID them as POLICE.
That said, the actions of the cop in this case were not too outrageous. It is just unfortunate they led to great injury. I do think the actions were those of a control freak upset someone did not stop the second they control freak demanded, but that is what you are bound to get in policing.
I agree with your observation.
The same control freak would not have done that to someone at his own weight and bulk and level of preparation.
I hope he serves felony time in the general population.
There was a time when cops wore the clearly obvious uniform of a POLICE OFFICER. Now they're running around dressed like soldiers, ninjas, bikers, thugs, --if they're wearing a uniform at all. It's no wonder people who haven't done anything wrong flee.
Not surprisingly, the cop has been cleared of criminal wrongdoing. It appears the family is pursuing civil litigation at this point.
Typical boot-licker mentality. You probably wonder why people hate the police. Here is a perfect reason. That cop was overly aggressive towards a kid that was half his size and weight. He saw a chance to exert his authority over someone that was helpless to defend himself and hit him as hard as he could. From the cops actions, the kid have every reason to run.
We are only discussing it because it was caught on camera. If not, there would be no outrage whatsoever. The report would have falsified and the cop and his buddies would laugh about it hours later after a beer or two.
Justice demands that this cop spend a significant amount of time behind bars. He is a danger to the community. But, he will not. Being a cop means never having to say you're sorry.
As well the family should. It is not surprising, given precedents like Waco at the federal level, and the sweeping authority of district attorneys.
This is what happens when Barney Fife gets steroids.
Another fine cop bashing post here on FR. I see the FR Police Tactics experts have chimed in and offered sound arguments on how a man running from the Police (yes, it is obvious they are cops and did ID themselves as witnesses say)who had his hands in his pocket and removed them a SPLIT SECOND before he was tackled is somehow a victim of Police Brutality. That term gets thrown around so much that I doubt most Cop bashers don’t even know what it is.
Hey Cop Bashers, how about giving Cops the benefit of the doubt for a change instead of pre judging them? I know I’m wasting my time. Just wanted to have my say.
Unfortunate?
Perhaps it is time to demand that all citizens wear protective headgear in metro areas.
It is clear these cops have not even had a basic first aid course, or if they have, had too low of an IQ for it to stick.
The cops are on the mental level of a career fry cook. Burger flippers with badges.
He body slammed a kid half his size. Big tough guy.
The young man was not running away. He was looking back a moving away from the police. The police in this case were at fault and I usually side with the police.
Just another day in the life of a thug...
Kick’n ass & ruining lives.
I miss Peace Officers.
This happened in a city run by liberals? My oh my, I’m shocked!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.