Police 'Showdown' Averted ['Team of State Agents Were En Route to Seize Terri']

Miami Herald ^ | Sat, Mar. 26, 2005 | CAROL MARBIN MILLER

[West Coast Conservative]

Hours after a judge ordered that Terri Schiavo was not to be removed from her hospice, a team of state agents were en route to seize her and have her feeding tube reinserted -- but they stopped short when local police told them they would enforce the judge's order, The Herald has learned.

Agents of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement told police in Pinellas Park, the small town where Schiavo lies at Hospice Woodside, on Thursday that they were on the way to take her to a hospital to resume her feeding.

For a brief period, local police, who have officers at the hospice to keep protesters out, prepared for what sources called ``a showdown.''

In the end, the squad from the FDLE and the Department of Children & Families backed down, apparently concerned about confronting local police outside the hospice.

''We told them that unless they had the judge with them when they came, they were not going to get in,'' said a source with the local police.

''The FDLE called to say they were en route to the scene,'' said an official with the city police who requested anonymity. ``When the sheriff's department and our department told them they could not enforce their order, they backed off.''

The incident,known only to a few and related to The Herald by three different sources involved in Thursday's events, underscores the intense emotion and murky legal terrain that the Schiavo case has created. It also shows that agencies answering directly to Gov. Jeb Bush had planned to use a wrinkle in Florida law that would have allowed them to legally get around the judge's order. The exception in the law allows public agencies to freeze a judge's order whenever an agency appeals it.

[DoughtyOne]

Ever so sorry chief. I thought you knew this was an open forum where others can express their opinions. I think you're off base and I said so. Sorry to hurt your feelings so.

[LisaMalia]

It's no use reasoning with DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet, Antoninus. She's proved to be one of those Jeb can and has done NO wrong crowd.

How DARE you. Do you have a father who served in WWII? Your disrespect, and total lack of intelligence and information is astounding. Get informed, and say a prayer for Terri, and try to get over your Bush-bashing agenda.

[kralcmot]

ten million glasses of water outside that nursing home tomorrow and every day until Terry passes.



i totally agree. everyone that is anywhere close should go there and dump a bucket of water as close as they are allowed to get to that death trap.

[sweetliberty]

Welcome to the Brave New Millenium. < /sarcasm >

[MTOrlando]

It's no use, Lisa. People need a scapegoat, and Jeb Bush has been chosen. He has been one of Terry Schiavo's strongest advocates for years...but nobody cares.

You are treating this issue like tax cuts, or social security, or drilling in ANWR - as if putting in a good effort and getting some kind of compromise is good enough.

It is not! There are only two possible outcomes - Terri lives, which will require direct intervention by the governor at this point, or she dies at the will of the judiciary. If she does not live, then everything the executive and legislature did over the last few years were for nothing.

There is no middle ground - no acceptable outcome where we can say, "well, we didn't get everything we wanted, but we got part of it". Either the judiciary has power to execute innocent people at will, or the governor has the power to prevent it. Period. All of the legislation, legal arguments, subpoenas, and posturing do not mean anything if she is allowed to die by inaction on the part of those who have the power to intervene.

[ModernDayCato]

No, actually I was referring to both the Florida and US Constitutions, which both confer both the power and obligation on George W and Jeb Bush to protect the life of Terri Schiavo.

Sorry...it's that simple.

[NorCalRepub]

well now I'm not bright.......well you must be an omnipotent seer to be all knowing.....since again you don't know me except for a post or two, I think you should withold judgement.....and it only matters that God knows that I am........thank you

[JoJo Gunn]

I suppose it might not have been clear, but I'm not attacking Jeb Bush, or the Republicans, or the DeathCultists. That'll all be pondered come time at the ballot box.

Right now I just wish her to go Home.

[DoughtyOne]

That is a consideration for sure.

Did you know that DCF can take children and never tell their parents where they are? Who would have thunk it.

When it's not children, and parents aren't the one's getting the royal reem job, they actually seem rather timid.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

I know I checked the sign-up date.

[hocndoc]

How many gun shots and gun shot wounds would it have taken for you to be satisfied?

The basic trouble with all government is that all laws are enforced with guns - literal or figurative.

The Governor sent in agents who met local police. The only recourse was to shoot or back down.

I don't disagree with the backing down. Anyone who does should be storming the doors of that hospice.

[Fitzcarraldo]

Please knock it off with the spamming. Thanks.

Sorry.

[jpsb]

"And it's because of people like you that politicians don't stick their necks out."

How many people would be at that hospits tomorrow if Jeb asked for a show of support? Antoninus (i'll bet) leading the way.

LEADERS HAVE TO LEAD.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Jeb has seen the polls - 70+% believe the government has no roll in this. He's backing down to save his own political butt. Pretty sad.

Yeah, that must be it, eh newbie?

[KillBill]

It's no use reasoning with DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet, Antoninus. She's proved to be one of those Jeb can and has done NO wrong crowd.

How DARE you. Do you have a father who served in WWII? Your disrespect, and total lack of intelligence and information is astounding. Get informed, and say a prayer for Terri, and try to get over your Bush-bashing agenda. I don't see how that's relevant here. So because her username says her father served in WWII, she can say no wrong? I'm sure that a bunch of trolls would love to have that be policy here.

[oldbrowser]

In the end, the squad from the FDLE and the Department of Children & Families backed down, apparently concerned about confronting local police outside the hospice. ''We told them that unless they had the judge with them when they came, they were not going to get in,'' said a source with the local police. ''The FDLE called to say they were en route to the scene,'' said an official with the city police who requested anonymity. ``When the sheriff's department and our department told them they could not enforce their order, they backed off.''

That was the time to send in the National Guard units.

[wku man]

"...consequences of BIBLICAL proportion."

You're right there, bro. We're being tested, and we're failing. I can't help but see the irony in this story unfolding during this Holy weekend.

Lord, please forgive our nation, and we who have failed You so miserably.

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

[JonDavid]

Good point.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Best post on the thread. Thank you.