I'm not one to cry "sue 'em" when things go wrong. I'm not. I think there's no question we live in a litigious society. There's no question that there are WAY too many attorneys floating around. I read once that half the world's population of lawyers reside right here in the good 'ole USA. Doesn't surprise me if it's true but frankly, I have no intention of looking for that particular number because I've got one better:
147,096.
Random?
Nope.
That's the number of attorneys living in the state of New York in 2007.
This would be roughly equal to the population of say--Pembroke Pines, Florida. This would be more than the total estimated number of people living in the US Virgin Islands last year....
Yes. YES. I admit, I was hoping to go there and make some Alaska crack right about here, but there are actually more people living there than I thought: 670,053 in 2006. Oh, I guess I could say that the number of attorneys in New York is equivalent to 21.5% of Alaska's population. But that just doesn't have the same ring to it, does it? Besides, after this showing, the point is moose.
Say you: "Point" would be the operative word, here....
Say me: It's circuitous, to be sure.
So I met this gentleman last night who was anxious and hadn't slept in basically four days. He has a bit of a drug problem: meth, pot, alcohol. But he's actually a nice guy, almost childlike in his demeanor and honesty.
Come to find out he has a metal plate in his head. He mentioned law enforcement beat him up a decade ago. He was drunk at the time and got sent to the county pokey. Police handcuffed him and apparently just kept on whaling. According to my guy, at one point he was thrown into a cement wall after the cops cuffed him. He eventually had to have a blood clot drained as a result of their treatment. He sued.
Being the diligent (read: nosy) social worker that I am, I looked it up. Court cases are public record and we have a website here that allows one to verify such claims fairly easily.
There it was in black and white. Several representatives of The Law from his county were named in a civil lawsuit a year after he said he got hurt. And to what end? Four-and-a-half years later, the court dismissed the suit. There were no criminal charges brought against these guys that I could find.
My guy received a closed brain injury as the result of police brutality. He was permanently disabled and got what for his troubles? Social Security Disability and little hope of ever conquering his drug and alcohol problem. The cognitive functioning just isn't there any longer. Look, my guy was hardly a pillar in the community before the incident, but he wasn't a hardened criminal either. He had a few alcohol charges prior, but nothing that half the frat boys in any given college town don't face every day.
I've no doubt he put up a fight when he was in jail that fateful night. He was probably combative and cursing up a storm. Maybe he took a swing at one of them. But it seems to me once a guy is cuffed, the police have the upper hand. And does what he did that night (whatever it was) warrant permanent disability? I think it's safe to say someone (probably more than one) on the "right side of the law" crossed a line that night. Maybe people got fired. I could find no newspaper articles about it so it's all conjecture on my part.
Police brutality happens. My guy's a minority. He comes from a poor town with a reputation for a high percentage of drug and alcohol abusers. He likely had all that prejudice stacked against him when the cops picked him up. Later, when it mattered, he had no money to hire a team of lawyers--bulldogs who could have fought on his behalf. Advocates (or, you know, mercenaries) who could have insisted for some justice to that kind of uncalled for treatment.
In this kind of situation, I'm all for them.
Maybe I'll go to law school.
Not really. I thought about it. Once. For about 36 hours. Then I read this and her argument against the proposition was so poignant I took her advice. I've now emailed that link to my brother and a friend with hopes it will save them from themselves. ->
Read the complete post at http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/tXCM/~3/414691521/cop-out.html
Posted
8 Oct 2008 11:00 AM
by
Trench Warfare
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