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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: Moonman62
"To the police officer, he was a fleeing felon, and not only is he allowed by law to use force to subdue him, but he is expected to do so."

We empower our police with deadly force, true. But as a consequence of that empowerment, we expect greater discretion, judgment and self restraint from them. When that equation doesn't balance, there is a problem.

61 posted on 05/29/2010 12:13:58 PM PDT by Joe 6-pack (Que me amat, amet et canem meum)
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To: Joe 6-pack
That's funny...none of the MPs I got rid of ever mounted one. You'd think the thought would have occurred to them with all that free time on their hands at Leavenworth.

Which is irrelevant. Do you have anything to say about this case and the question I asked you?

62 posted on 05/29/2010 12:14:55 PM 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

This was the end of a 2 1/2 block chase. The kid slowed down and the cop kept coming.

Not bearing on the case but:

What is a kid who works at Arnies doing spending hundreds of dollars on a night out after work and what was so important that he had to pay a guy $60 to drive him to an alley in Seattle in the middle of the night?


63 posted on 05/29/2010 12:16:21 PM PDT by GreenStreak
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To: Moonman62
To the police officer, he was a fleeing felon, and not only is he allowed by law to use force to subdue him, but he is expected to do so.

He was a suspect (totally innocent in retrospect), not a felon. Maybe the cop should have showed a little more restraint if he categorizes everyone a felon.

64 posted on 05/29/2010 12:19:15 PM PDT by grand wazoo
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To: Moonman62
"Which is irrelevant."

It's perfectly relevant. I never terminated a person without good cause.

" Do you have anything to say about this case and the question I asked you?"

The question you asked was, "How would you defend yourself in the wrongful termination lawsuit?"

Again, my "irrelevant" point was, I never terminated a person without good cause...in a civilian police department, even if I couldn't "terminate" this officer, he'd be riding a desk for as long as I had any influence over the matter.

65 posted on 05/29/2010 12:20:24 PM PDT by Joe 6-pack (Que me amat, amet et canem meum)
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To: Joe 6-pack
".Military Police ........civilian counterparts."

Apples and bowling balls. The general atmosphere on base is infinitely more civil. Officers don't have to deal with anything near the climate they do in an insane asylum like Seattle, I live here, I know.

66 posted on 05/29/2010 12:22:24 PM PDT by moehoward
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To: Moonman62
Ummmm...a felon........which means he was convicted.......do you have the docket number for us to review?
67 posted on 05/29/2010 12:23:10 PM PDT by starlifter (Sapor Amo Pullus)
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To: Joe 6-pack
We empower our police with deadly force, true.

I didn't say deadly force. Knocking someone down with your shoulder isn't deadly force. If the officer had used his gun, I would agree with you.

To the police officer, the fleeing suspect was a felon involved in a violent crime. He had no reason to believe otherwise. The suspect shouldn't have chosen to run.

68 posted on 05/29/2010 12:23:48 PM 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: starlifter
Ummmm...a felon........which means he was convicted.......do you have the docket number for us to review?

Stop being ridiculous. The suspect was identified by a witness as a felon involved in a violent crime. That's all the law requires.

69 posted on 05/29/2010 12:26:04 PM 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: Steamburg
What citizen duty?

I avoid contact with LE whenever possible, as I avoid contact with Jehovah's Witnesses, my ex-wife, the IRS and TSA. I have no duty to stand there and be annoyed or harassed.

/johnny

70 posted on 05/29/2010 12:26:04 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: Moonman62
The suspect was identified by a witness as a felon involved in a violent crime.

I'm sure that's what the police report said.

The truth is probably very different.

71 posted on 05/29/2010 12:28:35 PM PDT by grand wazoo
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To: Moonman62
Knocking someone down with your shoulder isn't deadly force

Obviously it is, if someone almost died over it.

/johnny

72 posted on 05/29/2010 12:28:37 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: grand wazoo
He was a suspect (totally innocent in retrospect), not a felon. Maybe the cop should have showed a little more restraint if he categorizes everyone a felon.

The suspect was identified as such by a witness, and the suspect was fleeing. The officer's actions are justified.

73 posted on 05/29/2010 12:28:48 PM 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: Joe 6-pack
Again, my "irrelevant" point was, I never terminated a person without good cause...in a civilian police department, even if I couldn't "terminate" this officer, he'd be riding a desk for as long as I had any influence over the matter.

So now you've gone from termination to riding a desk. The fact is neither you or anyone else could justify termination in this particular case.

74 posted on 05/29/2010 12:30:43 PM 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: Moonman62
The suspect was identified as such by a witness, and the suspect was fleeing.

I'm sure that's what the police report states.

75 posted on 05/29/2010 12:30:50 PM PDT by grand wazoo
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To: JRandomFreeper
Obviously it is, if someone almost died over it.

The injury was so severe because of the relative position of the wall, which is tragic. Once again knocking down a fleeing suspect with a shoulder isn't deadly force.

76 posted on 05/29/2010 12:33:25 PM 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: Moonman62
"I didn't say deadly force."

I know...I did. We empower police with the ability and authority to take people's lives. We empower them with the application of managed violence when appropriate, and we expect them to exercise discretion, judgment and self restraint in that application. If you disagree with that, we needn't discuss this any further. If you agree, then read on...

"Knocking someone down with your shoulder isn't deadly force."

People have been killed with far less force. It was potentially deadly force, especially given the proximity of the wall. This officer's failure to recognize that is tantamount to him firing his sidearm without looking to see if there was a crowd of people standing behind the subject...I know these are split second judgment calls we expect...demand of our officers, but if we didn't think them capable of making those judgments we'd never authorize and empower them with deadly force in the first place.

"If the officer had used his gun, I would agree with you."

Well I'm glad we agree that firearms do constitute "deadly force."

"To the police officer, the fleeing suspect was a felon involved in a violent crime."

Well, if the officer had been trained properly, the fleeing suspect should have been considered a fleeing suspect.

"The suspect shouldn't have chosen to run."

It wasn't a wise decision, but hardly one I think he deserves to pay for by being turned into a vegetable. I'm not a big fan of tasers, but this is one situation where it's use may have been the right choice, and had that been the case, you would have probably seen me on this thread defending this officer as vigorously as anybody.

77 posted on 05/29/2010 12:36:31 PM PDT by Joe 6-pack (Que me amat, amet et canem meum)
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To: Moonman62
"So now you've gone from termination to riding a desk. The fact is neither you or anyone else could justify termination in this particular case."

Not knowing the department's specific policies I can't say whether or not that could be justified...and I didn't automatically go to desk riding. I put the qualifier, "even if" in there.

78 posted on 05/29/2010 12:39:06 PM PDT by Joe 6-pack (Que me amat, amet et canem meum)
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To: Moonman62
It was a testosterone take down that was nearly deadly. Make excuses all you like. I watched the video all the way to the end.

Or do they not teach LE to evaluate the backstop when using potentially deadly force?

/johnny

79 posted on 05/29/2010 12:39:50 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: Moonman62
The injury was so severe because of the relative position of the wall, which is tragic. Once again knocking down a fleeing suspect with a shoulder isn't deadly force.

It absolutely is if you are knocking them into an immovable object.

The lengths that some will go to in order to defend the indefensible is shameful.

When conservative politicians get caught violating ethics rules or breaking the law, they generally resign with the agreement of most conservatives. If the cops get caught violating laws the cop queers come out in full force to defend the police. These guys should be tossed out the police force and many of them should spend years behind bars.

80 posted on 05/29/2010 12:42:09 PM PDT by grand wazoo
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