The Case of Jane Doe Ponytail

An amazing story, so rare to see the effort put into finding the human behind what would otherwise be a nameless tragedy. There's a good interview with the Dan Barry, the lead reporter, about why he was interested in investigating this story:

https://www.poynter.org/news/interview-dan-barry-writer-nyts...

> I had finished a long-form piece last November called “The Lost Children of Tuam,” and was looking for the next thing to do. A few days after Thanksgiving, I was reading the New York Daily News, and came across a very short story with the headline: “Prostie Death Jump As She Flees Police.” [0]

> I don’t know how else to put this except to say: This really pissed me off.

> I didn’t like — or even know — the term “prostie,” and I really didn’t like how a woman’s life and death was summarized so crassly. At that point I felt almost obliged to tell the story of this woman, who wasn’t identified in the Daily News piece. I wanted to explain who she was, where she came from, what her massage-parlor world was like, and how, if possible she came to this tragic end.

[0] https://www.pressreader.com/usa/new-york-daily-news/20171127...

My gynecologist is on this street. Flushing is a dark place.

I grew up here. Some dark things that go on here on a regular basis:

Exploitation of immigrants. Don't pay them at all and threaten to call ICE. A famous Korean restaurant Kum Gang San was forced to pay millions in a lawsuit for exploiting their foreign staff. They made their employees pick cabbage at a local farm on the weekend to make kimchi... https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/24/nyregion/judge-tells-kore...

Abuse from landlords. I have friends who grew up in small apartments with multiple families. One family to a room.

Corruption in the police. I don't think her brother is crazy. It's a real thing. My favorite restaurant also served as one of those Hollywood trope Chinese gambling dens. My dad got beaten by a pipe by some drunk whackos in a parking lot trying to break up a fight and ended up in the ER. When we went to the police station, the restaurant had deliberately erased the video footage. The officers couldn't help us, it ended there.

The dark prep school industry that preys on poor families kids whose only chance at escaping poverty (or making their parents suffering worth it) is standardized testing. Multimillion dollar industry.

Accountants who do shady tax things and should be arrested and jailed. Thanks for ruining my parents retirements and those of all the other immigrants who don't know better but trusted you.

This illegal birthing place where a woman tried to murder new parents and their newborns not too long ago. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/21/nyregion/queens-stabbing-...

Not to mention all the foreign investment in Flushing right now...

Rampant exploitation but that's why Flushing has some of the best and cheapest Asian food in New York City. :(

If you saw Abacus, the documentary about the Asian Bank and felt sympathy for them, I heard they built their wealth as slum lords.

Indeed, it is very important to remember that there is always a human cost of making things illegal, and that the harm of the enforcement needs to be weighed against the harm of the problem you are trying to solve.

You gotta do that if you want cheap noodles.

The phrase "to kill herself" often implies suicide, but the story says it's unclear what happened -- she may have slipped on the balcony trying to escape. Whatever her mindset at the time, it doesn't absolve the police of their role in the circumstances leading to her death.