One Old Lady’s Moxie – And a Lesson for All of Usby
Eric Peters Recently
by Eric Peters: 'Your'
Car Won’t Be Beginning in 2015
When a belligerent Baltimore, MD cop forced his way into the home of 90-year-old Venus Green – sans search warrant, sans legitimate probable cause – and proceeded to ransack the old lady’s home, as well as the old lady herself, the old lady took action. As the thug scrum made its way into her basement, Green bolted the door – locking the thug in her basement, much to his porcine discontent. She later secured a $95,000 settlement from the city of Baltimore. (See here for news coverage of this story.) As they say Down Under, good on her! And lucky, too. In similar situations, the victim of the thug scrum is also often the victim of much worse than merely being shoved aside, pushed to the floor and handcuffed – as happened to Mrs. Green. Had she been able to physically defend herself, she very likely would have been Tazered – or shot dead – for “resisting.” Irrespective of the fundamental lawlessness of the thug scrum itself. The situation in this country has deteriorated to the point that anything other than becoming immediately supine and limp can be construed as “resisting” – with lethal consequences for the “resister.” Even when the “resistor” has committed no crime; even when the “resistor” is in his or her own home and thug scrum cops have forced their way in on no or extremely shabby pretext, as happened in the case of Mrs. Green. Her son Tallie had been shot – someplace else – but because he lived in Mrs. Green’s basement, the cops decided that gave them sufficient authoritay to break into her home, physically assault the 90-year-old woman and ransack her dwelling. ”I am a law-abiding citizen. I’ve never been arrested, I paid my taxes, owned my home, my husband died 34 years ago. I raised my son and I have been brutally abused. I feel like the police department needs to go back to school,” Mrs. Green told local TV affiliate WBAL. Actually, the police department needs more than remedial education – based on the $17 million in police brutality settlements it has been forced to pay out over just the past two years. WBAL-TV described two examples: One couple that claimed they were illegally searched and harassed by police looking for drugs has been approved for $155,000. A motorcyclist struck by a Baltimore cop is due another $115,000. Here’s a delightful video of a 300 pound Baltimore porker going steroidal over a scrawny 14-year-old kid on his skateboard: April 25, 2012 Eric Peters [send him mail] is an automotive columnist and author of Automotive Atrocities and Road Hogs (2011). Visit his website.Copyright © 2012 Eric Peters
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