A 47-year-old Chicago mother of two admits to having drunk a little too much one night. That’s why she decided to stop driving and pull over to the side to sleep it off. But all a Skokie (a Chicago suburb) cop saw was bait. An arrest. Maybe he was working on surpassing his quota.
So, Officer Michael Hart decided to arrest Cassandra Feuerstein for DUI even though she wasn’t even driving. She was doing the responsible thing by not driving. Nevertheless, Feuerstein was compliant.
At the police station, things got rough when she apparently wasn’t looking at the camera the “right way” for her mug shot…or something. Hart grabbed the 110-lb woman and threw her into a holding cell where her head hit a concrete bench. It literally broke her skull, leaving a big gash in her face. She even had to have reconstructive surgery to replace parts of her bone with a titanium plate. The cop left her in a pool of her own blood so that he could quickly file a complaint against her to cover up his deed.
What did he try to charge her with? “Resisting a peace officer.”
Hart tried to press the resisting charge against her, but when the prosecutor saw the video evidence, they decided to drop those charges against her.
This one was on the LRC blog:
Dear Ed,
I left a comment there:
Bevin Chu 31 seconds ago
Notice how the “mere civilians” exercised greater restraint and showed better judgment than “law enforcement officers?”
If America had only private citizens and no government officials, including fascist cops, it would be safer and more peaceful than it is under our current nascent police state.
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I will repeat myself. If the police departments continue with the “no comment”, suspension only and no prosecutions, then the push-back will be severe.
well…a few bits.
i know a psychologist that, for a time, worked for a pd. that tested psych profiles were often indistinguishable from those of criminals is no surprise, by now, to anyone here. wives & kids of this bunch are often messed up, too, no shortage of emotional/psych problems, psychosomatic illnesses. and the beat(ing) goes on.*
growing up, in the 60’s, i saw domestic abuse. severe stuff. and and i saw marked differences in how cops interacted with male perpetrators vs female victims. but, back then, cops were more bounded, in terms of meting out abuse to females, themselves, than they are now. i think i see a continuum.
cop violence toward males has always been normal. esp towards “marginals”. & doubly especially toward anyone who provocatively disrespected them. think andy sipowicz (nypd blues), w/o the high ideals, but with the ptsd & alcoholism, “tuning guys up”.
females are pole stars in most males lives, whether that’s realized/admitted, or not. just basic biology. an awful lot of what the typical guy does is with an eye toward women.
and one of the shortcuts to women is authority, of which there’s all kinds.
not all women, but a significant fraction, “like” (initially, anyway) blunt force alpha-ness, as telegraphed, peacock-style, by men in uniforms. talking costumes take take quite a bit of conversational load off the “alpha”. that’s a motive.
a lot of this sort was locker room braggart, & demeaner, in high school; a lot of the rest wanted to be that, in high school. guys like that already have a misshapen love-hate dynamic going on, while they’re still boys. as men, its not uncommon for the hate side to have gotten stronger.
*this, btw – what goes on in families, not just cop families – is the diamond-hard nucleus of “authority” that all “the myth of authority” de-subscriber subscribers overlook, somehow. it ain’t gonna’ happen, any more than “the new soviet man” did. family diamonds will keep being handed down, & projected outward & upward, into the constructing of institutional plato-mids.
From what I learned in a few sociology courses and just from watching people, that profile is the norm rather than the exception.
you can learn it all, about people, just by close observation. the rest is just fluffy (academic) corroboration.
woman or man, it’s sick and the individual who does it doesn’t deserve pity in getting a come-uppance although few people like this learn anything except to avoid those they perceive as being their physical superiors. This is as good an example of the benefits of retaliatory killing as I can think of. Some people simply deserve it. I don’t even see it as misogyny, merely cowardice.
cowardice, yeah. under that is self-loathing. and desire to be seen as they see themselves. they want what they deserve. it’s validation.
fear, shame & loathing – in vegas, & everywhere else, too. the world’s a mirror, just as the buddhists say.
Fear and Loathing. In the Kingdom of Fear.
“Weird behavior is natural in smart children, like curiosity is to a kitten.”
“It was one of those fine little love stories that can make you smile in your sleep at night.”
“Some people will tell you that slow is good – but I’m here to tell you that fast is better. I’ve always believed this, in spite of the trouble it’s caused me. Being shot out of a cannon will always be better than being squeezed out of a tube. That is why God made fast motorcycles.”
“On my tombstone they will carve, “IT NEVER GOT FAST ENOUGH FOR ME.”
“I understand that fear is my friend, but not always. Never turn your back on Fear. It should always be in front of you, like a thing that might have to be killed. My father taught me that, along with a few other things that have kept my life interesting.”
“Never turn your back on fear. It should always be in front of you, like a thing that might have to be killed.”
“Fear is a healthy instinct, not a sign of weakness. It is a natural self-defense mechanism that is common to felines, wolves, hyenas, and most humans. Even fruit bats know fear, and I salute them for it. If you think the world is weird now, imagine how weird it would be if wild beasts had no fear.”
“Morality is temporary, wisdom is permanent.”
“This is the fast lane, folks…and some of us like it here.”
“Sane is rich and powerful. Insane is wrong and poor and weak. The rich are free, the poor are put in cages. Res Ipsa Loquitur, amen. Mahalo.”
“I knew a Buddhist once, and I’ve hated myself ever since.”
“You can’t hoard fun. It has no shelf life.”
“There is a huge body of evidence to support the notion that me and the police were put on this earth to do extremely different things and never to mingle professionally with each other, except at official functions, when we all wear ties and drink heavily and whoop it up like the natural, good-humored wild boys that we know in our hearts that we are..These occasions are rare, but they happen — despite the forked tongue of fate that has put us forever on different paths…”
“There are always risks in challenging excessive police power, but the risks of not challenging it are more dangerous, even fatal.”
“Politics is the Art of Controlling Your Enviroment.”
“My life has been the polar opposite of safe, but I am proud of it and so is my son, and that is good enough for me. I would do it all over again without changing the beat, although I have never recommended it to others. That would be cruel and irresponsible and wrong, I think, and I am none of those things.”
“I don’t mean to say that I’m about to state my credo here on this page, but merely to affirm, sincerely for the first time in my life, my belief in man as an individual and independent entity. Certainly not independence in the everyday sense of the word, but pertaining to a freedom and mobility of thought that few people are able – or even have the courage – to achieve.”
“The brutal reality of politics would be probably intolerable without drugs.”
“Coming of age in a fascist police state will not be a barrel of fun for anybody, much less for people like me, who are not inclined to suffer Nazis gladly and feel only contempt for the cowardly flag-suckers who would gladly give up their outdated freedom to live for the mess of pottage they have been conned into believing will be freedom from fear.”
“The real power in America is held by a fast-emerging new Oligarchy of pimps and preachers who see no need for Democracy or fairness or even trees, except maybe the ones in their own yards, and they don’t mind admitting it.”
“Autumn is always a time of Fear and Greed and Hoarding for the winter coming on. Debt collectors are active on old people and fleece the weak and helpless. They want to lay in enough cash to weather the known horrors of January and February. There is always a rash of kidnapping and abductions of schoolchildren in the football months. Preteens of both sexes are traditionally seized and grabbed off the streets by gangs of organized perverts who traditionally give them as Christmas gifts to each other to be personal sex slaves and playthings.
Most of these things are obviously Wrong and Evil and Ugly — but at least they are Traditional. They will happen. Your driveway will ice over, your furnace will blow up, and you will be rammed in traffic by an uninsured driver in a stolen car.
But what the hell? That’s why we have Insurance, eh? And the Inevitability of these nightmares is what makes them so reassuring. Life will go on, for good or ill. But some things are forever, right? The structure may be a little Crooked, but the foundations are still strong and unshakable.”
“Things are no longer what they seem to be. My telephones are haunted, and animals whisper at me from unseen places.”
“It was wonderful, a stunning happy ending to what began as another tragic rock & roll story, as if Bob Dylan had been arrested in Miami for jacking off in a seedy little XXX theater while stroking the spine of a fat young boy.”
― Hunter S. Thompson, Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the Final Days of the American Century
I always had an affinity for Hunter. His words always rang true. When I was about 20 a friends mother characterized me as being Over-enthusiastic. Thanks, I’ll take that as a compliment….so did her daughter who told me.
liked him, too. but he’s also a cautionary tale. that’s understatement. yellow, red, & black flags all over the place.
“speed”, irrespective of context… how close an observation does it take to figure that one out?
yes, protect me from me. I guess I was sorta lucky I had too much naturally to need anything to pick me up.
Not just a sick individual, but a typical member of a sick group in a sick society.
An entire system in need of come-uppance. A whole society which I am helping unmask, exposing its maggoty verminity to the world, and making endure it’s well-deserved and long-overdue retaliation. It’s my pleasure to do so really.
Know Your Inner Saboteurs – Shirzad Chamine
PQ Positve Quotient – Happy Brains Perform Better
I’m coming out of my cage. And I’ve been doing just fine. Gotta be down. Because I want it all. It started out with a kiss. How did it end up like this? It was only a kiss. Now I’m falling asleep. And she’s calling a cab. While he’s having a smoke. And she’s taking a drag.
Jealousy, turning saints into the sea. Swimming through sick lullabies. Choking on your alibis. But it’s just the price I pay. Destiny is calling me. Open up my eager eyes. Cause I’m Mister Brightside.
Mister Brightside – The Killers
http://vimeo.com/22780182
I was just reading an article about Pussy Riot. I won’t get into the specifics of it. I was wondering though if it’s illegal in the US to cover your face in public as it’s become in so many countries(and that’s all you need to know about a political climate).
Norther hit here about 1/2 hr ago, temp’s fallen 20° Not supposed to freeze but it will if it clears and it will probably clear
mighta’ passed thru here last night on its tumble on down your way. snow here this morning. flats east of here, up & down, not for me! seems like it might be something like that lake effect stuff they have in chicago. no baffles…”flat effect”.
flat noodles & hard noodles
ozy, it came from the NW at about 30mph, flat cooking. Since I posted it’s already passed over more than two counties, probably 70 miles or more. You in the Rockies?
rockies, yes. & never even heard of “noodling” until long after i’d left the south….
I seem to recall reading somewhere that it’s illegal to cover your face while protesting in public.
I could be wrong about that though.
Outside of that, ski masks, scarves and snow shoveling Winter gear must be ok?
I see more and more unusual face masks on motorcycle riders these days.
A couple of times i saw some guys wearing white dust masks while out walking.
Halloween would have to be banned. …In many ways, it already has been.
…I wonder if teenagers who throw eggs or T-P houses and trees are treated like terrists?
along with an overarching criminal mentality/psychology amongst cops, these stories, one after the other, evince unbounded misogyny (a specific kind of projectile dehumanization). under the kevlar, wife-beater t’s….
I agree, Ozzy.
It takes a truly screwed-up man to do something like that to a woman. Even if she’d attempted to strike him, men don’t slam women half their size/strength into concrete. Totally uncalled for, totally inexcusable.
Disagree. Don’t white knight for little miss. She wanted equality, give it to her.
She strikes you, strike back. Anything less is foolish – YOU can go to prison when SHE hits YOU – so make it worthwhile.
At the same time, don’t strike first.
Decent compromise, but they don’t deserve chivalry anymore; they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.
Man, Jean. You come across there as having a seriously crossed wire.
Also, you use this word, “they’ a lot. As if ‘they’ aren’t individuals, but a group. I think that’s an error.
I see no point in striking a woman, back.
Self-defense? Phalease.
Anyway, are you defending the actions of the cop? Really?
Hi Jean,
Some women insist on a deranged (and false, of course) notion of “equality” (of outcomes, capabilities; “parity” in all things, etc.). But not all women – and perhaps not even most. I won’t treat any given woman – or any other individual – as an interchangeable representation/archetype of some collective. Because then, of course, I am guilty of that which I revile.
Would I defend myself physically with all my strength and capability against a woman who was a trained mixed martial arts fighter? Of course. Would I body slam (or punch with a closed fist) a standard-sized woman flailing at me in the stereotypical slap/scream way that most women fight? Hell no. For the same reason I would not punch a 12-year-old boy or a cripple. It’s not about being fair. It’s that it isn’t necessary – hence, it isn’t justified.
eric wrote, “For the same reason I would not punch a 12-year-old boy or a cripple. ”
Yup. That’s it exactly.
Jean, define “standard size”. You’ll forget size when that crazy woman has a 6″ blade Buck fixed blade knife and is attempting to kill you. I showed up for a knife fight unarmed, spent a few minutes being pursued all the while trying to locate a big mesquite branch. Finally had to go fist to knife so to speak. She responded quite well, sorta like hitting Mike Tyson, hurt my hand, didn’t seem to faze her. Don’t ever do that, take a gun to that knife fight. I wish I’d had my shotgun so I could have removed a foot or whatever it finally took. When it was all over she seemed okay except for a busted lip but I spent the rest of the day calling the boys. Hey, it’s all over, come on out now………
Dear Jean,
As you know, I’ve backed you 100% on many issues. But speaking only for myself, I cannot go along with this.
Gender equality does not excuse abuse of authority. To me that’s the real issue.
The cop had no right to do that to anyone, man or woman.