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1 year after officer tackled him, man is bedridden, wife is caretaker
Seattle Times ^ | 16 May 10 | Sara Jean Green

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 ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Washington
KEYWORDS: braininjury; donutwatch; governmentunion; leo; seiu; union; unions
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To: grand wazoo
But any suspect is afforded the presumption of innocence and force should only be applied as necessary.

Really? Please cite a statute or a police training manual where a suspect that flees and has been identified by a witness as being involved in a violent crime is presumed innocent.

341 posted on 05/31/2010 11:15:16 AM PDT by Moonman62 (The issue of whether cheap labor makes America great should have been settled by the Civil War.)
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To: EAGLE7
and you would be one of those numbnuts who, if the cops had gone into columbine and shot those ass wipes and also accidentally killed a student, would have called for their heads. A cops job is to protect himself, his partner, and others. Just like a Marines job is to protect himself, his fellow Marines, and also the innocent civilians they patrol amongst.

You obviously would not make a good wart on a cops nut sack. Now, go pop your ass pimple, learn about police work then come back and play...

That asinine comment of yours distills what I find objectionable about police mentality.

I can't support this, as a citizen. King County Sheriffs Dept and Seattle Police are out of control. They've stacked the appeals boards and written contracts such that it's impossible to be fired for wrongdoing.

There are plenty of examples. Kris Kime, a local boy who was beaten to death in Pioneer Square, and the cops watched. Malika Calhoun, a local girl who was thrown around a jail cell by a KC deputy. Just in the last two weeks, another story about police brutality. It never seems to be an issue, unless there's video.

My local police are contracted through KC Sheriffs Dept.

Another story from a few years back...local gal didn't come home from work one night. Her husband called the police, who first wouldn't even take a report. Some time later, they decided to take a report, but wouldn't investigate...unless the guy took a lie detector test first.

He didn't. A few days later, he asked the police to search for her cell phone signal. They didn't think it was appropriate, didn't ask a court for permission.

She was found, six, seven days later, just up the road from me, upside down in her crashed vehicle in bushes less than 30 yards from the highway.

No thanks to the "police."

I'm a law abiding citizen who's decided the cure is worse than the disease. I'm not alone.

My working philosophy now? Whatever you do, DON'T CALL THE POLICE!!!

342 posted on 05/31/2010 11:24:15 AM PDT by gogeo ("Every one has a right to be an idiot. He abuses the privilege!" Groucho Marx)
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To: Psalm 144
Certainly. On a similar token, the elite levels of law enforcement such as the FBI and Secret Service are going to have higher standards and levels of training than the Podunk Town Police Department.

It's also true though that the average citizen will interact much more frequently over his/her lifetime with a typical GED/Community College educated cop on street patrol (read: burger flipper with a badge) than they will with an FBI agent, or even a higher ranking detective at a big city department. Hence the problem.

343 posted on 05/31/2010 11:27:46 AM PDT by conimbricenses
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To: conimbricenses

Agreed.


344 posted on 05/31/2010 11:30:52 AM PDT by Psalm 144 (Let me be clear. The voluntary pancipation of Cinco de Quatro is mandated in all 57 states.)
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To: GreenStreak
Are you advising Blacks to always run from White policemen?

No, and if you had bothered to read/were capable of reading the link, you would know that two of the three victims who Officer Cecil Price pulled over twice on trumped up "speeding" charges to hand over to the Klan to be murdered were white.

And I am definitely saying that those three victims would have been COMPLETELY justified to flee Officer Price in a mad dash for the next county over the second his lights came on, given what he did to them the first time he stopped them. They would have also been completely justified in putting a bullet in his head in self defense, had they been armed, given what he was intending to do to them.

Ku Klux Kops are a stain upon our nation's history, and there were many of them in existence in towns all over the country up until only a few decades ago. Today their descendants have migrated over into another branch of organized crime, the Labor Union.

345 posted on 05/31/2010 11:34:20 AM PDT by conimbricenses
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To: Moonman62
Absolutely. But the suspect in this case wasn't innocent. He disobeyed a lawful order to stop, ran, and probably disobeyed other orders we couldn't hear in the video. He also had something in his pocket that was another crime in all likelihood. All things you don't want to discuss for an obvious reason...

I know! I know!!! Because it's pure speculation on your part???

You cop groupies accuse us of being kneejerk, but you're trashing a guy and a situation you obviously know nothing about, pulling stuff out of your...un, ear.

You really are not helping the credibility of yourself or of cops, you know.

346 posted on 05/31/2010 11:34:52 AM PDT by gogeo ("Every one has a right to be an idiot. He abuses the privilege!" Groucho Marx)
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To: EAGLE7
Again gogeo, you must be an expert since you say it that must settle it...

That's your position, not mine.

347 posted on 05/31/2010 11:43:57 AM PDT by gogeo ("Every one has a right to be an idiot. He abuses the privilege!" Groucho Marx)
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To: EAGLE7; gogeo
Again gogeo, you must be an expert since you say it that must settle it.

Seeing as the typical prerequisite for being a cop in the United States is nothing more than a GED, and seeing as even the bigger, "more professional" departments require no more than a couple hours of credit towards an unfinished Associate's Degree at a community college or ITT Tech, I tend not to put much faith in the self-asserted "expertise" that is claimed by the law enforcement community.

Saying that only cops are qualified to criticize other cops is the intellectual equivalent of saying that only blacks are qualified to criticize President Obama.

348 posted on 05/31/2010 11:54:38 AM PDT by conimbricenses
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To: Natural Law
The remedy is that individual policemen be held criminally and civilly accountable for operating outside the law. Their immediate superiors need to be likewise held accountable for negligent supervision. In those instances when the individual policemen are operating within their training guidelines those responsible for developing, legally vetting, and performing the training need to be held accountable...

Exactly...except in this case, their hands are tied.

I'm referring, now, to the King County Sheriff's Dept.

I know the person who was Sheriff before Sue Rahr...that is my current Congresscritter, Dave Reichert. Sad to say, he was a much better Sheriff than Congresscritter.

He made a presentation at my local Rotary. To give a little more history, his position used to be appointed. We(citizens) forced a charter change to make the position elected; he was the first.

I asked him if he saw a difference in before and after...you wouldn't believe the smile that came across his face.

The contracts are still negotiated by the County Executive, who is the political/union hack you'd expect. The personnel boards are staffed by union types. Deputies are routinely reinstated after outrageous actions.

This is just the latest.

That's why I have so little patience with the usual apologists...and why I reject the usual "stand back, we're experts" nonsense.

349 posted on 05/31/2010 11:56:29 AM PDT by gogeo ("Every one has a right to be an idiot. He abuses the privilege!" Groucho Marx)
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To: GreenStreak
Dude paid $60 to have his buddy drive him from Olympia to Seattle (reason unknown to me)

Could it be he wanted to spend a night in town hitting the bars? Could it be that it's none of your, or the cop's, business?

Dropping $60 on a cab trip into town for a night of hitting the downtown bars with buddies wasn't all that uncommon of a thing back in college. And none of us were "wealthy" then by any means. That didn't automatically make us "drug dealers" or whatever else it is you are libelously attempting to claim about this kid.

350 posted on 05/31/2010 12:00:10 PM PDT by conimbricenses
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To: conimbricenses
Dude paid $60 to have his buddy drive him from Olympia to Seattle (reason unknown to me)

Could it be he wanted to spend a night in town hitting the bars? Could it be that it's none of your, or the cop's, business?

Dropping $60 on a cab trip into town for a night of hitting the downtown bars with buddies wasn't all that uncommon of a thing back in college. And none of us were "wealthy" then by any means. That didn't automatically make us "drug dealers" or whatever else it is you are libelously attempting to claim about this kid.

See red above.

351 posted on 05/31/2010 12:05:53 PM PDT by GreenStreak
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To: GreenStreak

If the reason is unknown to you, then why do you keep bringing it up with the not so subtle and completely libelous implication that he was in Seattle for a drug deal?


352 posted on 05/31/2010 12:08:41 PM PDT by conimbricenses
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To: Moonman62; GreenStreak
Since your cases against this kid are based entirely upon unfounded (and potentially libelous) speculation that he was doing something criminal, couldn't it be equally possible that another speculated scenario is true? For example:

How do we know that Harris wasn't fleeing because the cop, Deputy Matthew Paul, was trying to rape him in that dark alley?

It's just as plausible as anything you've speculated about Harris. And we do know for a fact that cops like to rape and molest things.

http://www.truecrimereport.com/2009/09/nj_cop_robert_melia_taped_havi.php

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/05/27/1202516/officer-allegedly-molested-relative.html

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2009/jan/22/fort-pierce-police-officer-found-guilty-molesting-/

http://www.lvrj.com/news/former-police-officer-pleads-guilty-in-molestation-case-91547889.html

353 posted on 05/31/2010 12:20:15 PM PDT by conimbricenses
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To: conimbricenses
If the reason is unknown to you, then why do you keep bringing it up with the not so subtle and completely libelous implication that he was in Seattle for a drug deal?

It doesn't matter. I mean, literally, it doesn't matter.

If the groupie knew anything about Seattle/King County, he would know that drug enforcement has been de-emphasized. It's not a police priority anymore, the local prosecutors don't prosecute it. It was a decision well publicized, made at the top.

They didn't care if he had drugs or not...and wouldn't have bothered to pick any up, even if they'd seen them.

If he knew anything...

354 posted on 05/31/2010 12:48:39 PM PDT by gogeo ("Every one has a right to be an idiot. He abuses the privilege!" Groucho Marx)
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To: gogeo
Let me phrase that a little bit differently

Yea, that's better.

355 posted on 05/31/2010 12:54:28 PM PDT by Hot Tabasco (Peanut butter was just peanut butter until I found Free Republic.........)
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To: gogeo

Well, seeing as none of the badgelickers here have disproven the speculation that the kid was fleeing from the cop because the cop was trying to rape him in a dark alley, I think I’ll stick with that interpretation of events for the moment =)


356 posted on 05/31/2010 1:01:18 PM PDT by conimbricenses
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To: Moonman62; Joe 6-pack
What would have happened if the suspect stopped three steps sooner, put his hands over his head and left the evidence in his pocket?

Evidence of what? I thought the cops were chasing him because someone MISTAKENLY thought he was in a bar fight? Did I missing something in the story? I did read it twice and observed the video several times..........

Court cases aren't argued on the basis of "What If's"........

What would have happened if the cops had remained with the bar witnesses longer and obtained a more detailed information on the suspects involved in the bar fight?

357 posted on 05/31/2010 1:14:48 PM PDT by Hot Tabasco (Peanut butter was just peanut butter until I found Free Republic.........)
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To: starlifter; GreenStreak
Ahhhh......so they found drugs on the felon??

Myself, because I'm prone to a runny nose all year long, I'm always carrying a wad of kleenex in my pocket.......a wad that would resemble all the other discarded white objects on the ground at the scene of the attack on that kid.......

If you're in some way going off on a tangent and trying to imply that the kid had drugs, then why didn't either of the chasing officers pick up the "pack of drugs" which they clearly saw him throwing away?

Don't waste your time in arguing that useless point because now you're dealing with a hypothetical issue that obviously didn't have any relevance to the case..........

A biased internal investigation into the actions of those two cops won't mean a darn thing once this gets into a civil court. My guess is that the city will settle out of court in order to prevent it from going to Jury trial.................

358 posted on 05/31/2010 1:38:14 PM PDT by Hot Tabasco (Peanut butter was just peanut butter until I found Free Republic.........)
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To: gogeo

Of course not.


359 posted on 05/31/2010 1:40:05 PM PDT by JLS (Democrats: People who won't even let you enjoy an unseasonably warm winter day.)
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To: Moonman62
He disobeyed a lawful order to stop

Uh, that hasn't been proven moonman. According to the report, some witnesses claimed they heard the cops identify themselves as cops, conflicting witnesses claimed they never heard any such thing......

The jury trial will air all this out.......

360 posted on 05/31/2010 1:44:19 PM PDT by Hot Tabasco (Peanut butter was just peanut butter until I found Free Republic.........)
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