Mom: 'Hallelujah!'(dead kid,dumb cops,crazy male hater; this one has it all)

Richmond Times Dispatch ^ | 2-27-03 | Mom: 'Hallelujah!'

[putupon]

Roxanne S. Harrell pulled her 7-year-old daughter's body from her wrecked truck, lay down on the pavement, draped her daughter over herself and proclaimed, "Hallelujah."

Law-enforcement authorities yesterday described it as the final scene in Harrell's alleged crusade to save all women and children from "the domination of the male race."

[putupon]

Law-enforcement authorities yesterday described it as the final scene in Harrell's alleged crusade to save all women and children from "the domination of the male race."

For the (female) Children

The officer had seen a young girl seated in the truck, Maj. Andy Scruggs said. The officer radioed dispatch and began following with lights and siren on.

Great decision, high speed chase during rush hour w/ kid in perp's truck.

More than a dozen Virginia residents yesterday contacted The Times-Dispatch to applaud the officers' decision to chase Harrell, a decision one noted police-chase expert from New York had questioned in an article published yesterday.

Stupid sheeple

"Sounds to me that he made a wise decision," Donald Forrest, a police officer in eastern Virginia,

somebody pull this nazi's badge before he kills a kid too; the wacko woman's lawyer could use a statement like that to validate her (the woman's) paranoia of males.

[zygoat]

Unbelievable. I guess cops should just quit chasing perps. Give em' horsies or make em' walk the beat. Of course, if the child belonged to someone other than this deranged reject from planet N.O.W., some people would be calling for this cops head for NOT giving chase.

[livius]

That poor little girl. Children are totally at the mercy of mentally ill parents, and they usually get no help until it's too late. Prayers for her.

[Byron_the_Aussie]

...Burgess said, based on Harrell's criminal record, he could not release her on bond before consulting with her attorney...

What?

Why can't she attend her daughter's funeral, if necessary under police supervision?

[ShadowDancer]

I need more coffee. This article just confused the heck out of me.

[USMC_tangocharlie]

For all the officer knew, the child had been kidnapped. That would have been my conclusion if an adult suddenly ran away with a child. For the adult to put the child's life at risk, either the adult does not care about the child's safety, or is in some way temporarily impaired (drugs, mental instability, etc). Either way, the officer could not in good faith just let this adult speed away without giving chase.
It was a terrible outcome, no doubt; but I believe the officer did the right thing.

TC

[johnny7]

For all the officer knew, the child had been kidnapped.

So true. The mother belonged in a mental institution. It was probably just a matter of time before she killed the kid herself.

[Kip Lange]

Simply too disturbing for me to be able to digest at this hour. Bump for later.

[ClearCase_guy]

I'm reminded of Jeffrey Dahmer, who was found by the police out in the street, with a drugged-up, bleeding 14-yr old Cambodian boy. Dahmer explained that the boy was his "lover", they were having a spat, everything was OK, and can I please take him back to my apartment. The police said "Sure, no problem."

You really do want the police chasing and actually investigating cases where a perp is trying to take off with a child.

[Iwentsouth]

She already tried to escape twice from the hospital. why put officers in danger of this woman who killed her child?

[putupon]

For all the officer knew, the child had been kidnapped

What difference does that make? Chasing a deranged woman w/ a kid in the vehicle through rush hour traffic stands a greater chance of killing the kid regardless of where the kid was obtained from. Or the kid should be killed in case she was kidnapped? That's in the police manual? I must have missed that episode of Dragnet.

The cops have two-way radios in their cars. There is no shortage of police officers and state troopers in Chesterfield County and also a state police helicopter available, usually over at the state police headquarters, just a few miles away.

My suspicion is that the cop was just a "hot dog" unwilling to give up his opportunity to get his rocks off in a high speed chase.

[putupon]

Dahmer explained that the boy was his "lover"

Dahmer and his "lover" were walking down the sidewalk late at night and the cops thought the "lover" was of age. How does that relate to a woman in pickup truck in broad daylight in rush hour traffic with an obvious underaged pre-pubescent kid?

[ClearCase_guy]

What you say is simply untrue. The boy was naked, drugged and unable to speak, and bleeding from his anus.

Cops MIGHT want to investigate such an event. Politcal Correctness told them to walk away.

The current article is about a woman fleeing the cops with a underage child under her control.

Cops MIGHT want to investigate such an event. Some people on this list are saying a chase would be too dangerous and that the perp should be allowed to escape rather than endanger the young passenger.

My point is that the police are sometimes afraid to pursue their duty, either because they fear a harassment lawsuit from homosexuals, or because they don't want to cause a traffic accident. It is a shame that we have a society that the police are sometimes afraid to do their duty.

[putupon]

we have a society that the police are sometimes afraid to do their duty.

Trust me, you won't find that problem in Chesterfield Co., VA. The local press is already spinning for the cops and the sheeple are responding, as seen in the article.

[thegreatbeast]

These are not black and white situations. It wasn't the PO who escalated the situation to a level where it cost the little girl her life.
The little girl in the truck might very well have been a kidnap victim. It could have been your daughter. It could have been...
The officer was beginning an investigation, properly so.
Your prescience is stunning and awe-inspiring. This sheeple bows before your superior powers.

[Sloth]

The police didn't kill the kid, the mother did.

[putupon]

The police didn't kill the kid, the mother did.

murder by Mom, manslaughter by cops in my law book.

[dead]

I guess if some deranged, foaming-at-the-mouth, psycho drove off with your kid, you wouldn't want the police to pursue, lest their be an accident.

[putupon]

The little girl in the truck might very well have been a kidnap victim.

Again, as I said in a few replies back to the identical point:
"What difference does that make? Chasing a deranged woman w/ a kid in the vehicle through rush hour traffic stands a greater chance of killing the kid regardless of where the kid was obtained from. Or the kid should be killed in case she was kidnapped?"

It could have been your daughter.

And cops responding the same way would have more than likely resulted in the same way, a dead kid no matter who's kid she was. Even were that the proper response, there were no reports of a kidnapping so what are the odds that the case wasn't exactly as it appeared, a crazy woman w/ a kid in a pickup? And what are the odds that the cop situation isn't exactly as it appears, a hot dog cop who gets off on lights and sirens so much that he lets it overide his commonsense (generously assuming he has any to overide).

[A2J]

Why can't she attend her daughter's funeral, if necessary under police supervision?

Considering the fact that she basically killed her own child, she doesn't deserve to go to her daughter's funeral.

She should prepare for her own.