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How I Ended Up In Solitary After Calling 911 For Help

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Re: How I Ended Up In Solitary After Calling 911 For Help

#671
post #309

This is a perfect example of the disconnect between "hackers" and the real world. I consider myself part of the HN community because I hope for a society shaped by its ideals, but the real world is so far removed that time spent here becomes more of a therapeutic escape than anything else. I strongly recommend people study history, and understand human nature at both scientific and societal levels. There is too much…

There is another disconnect. Calling the US a "totalitarian police state" without so much as a hedge is incredibly ignorant. While the US has the potential to become a totalitarian police state, it is far from one. You can go ahead and list all the violations of civil rights you want - the fact that you can do that, and that victims in those circumstances have a high chance of prevailing with the right representation…

What happened here is called "arbitrary detention and release". And is one of the characteristics of dictatorships or of a police state.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbitrary_arrest_and_detention

Re: How I Ended Up In Solitary After Calling 911 For Help

#672
I recently heard the suggestion that police should carry an equivalent of doctors' malpractice insurance; so the same taxpayers that they abuse aren't the ones who ultimately pay to compensate for their abuses. Sounded like a good idea, especially if insurance companies can identify the officers most at risk of doing legally actionable things while on duty.

Re: How I Ended Up In Solitary After Calling 911 For Help

#673

> Don’t call 911. Obviously, there are exceptions, but the sad lesson is, there are fewer than you’d think. Are you fucking kidding me? Do NOT listen to this advice. If you see someone injured, CALL 911! Do NOT move the person if there is suspicion of spinal or head injury. Wait for the HIGHLY TRAINED emergency response team to show up. > Call Lyft to take you to the hospital. (Worked well when I broke my elbow.) Are…

...call 911 and be assaulted and thrown in solitary for... well, some doubtlessly minor reason, if any at all? No thanks. If someone's having a serious stroke and immobile, yes, of course call an ambulance. A broken arm or leg? A Lyft is probably your best bet. I'd draw the line at something like "minor heart attack."

Wow. In my country (Uruguay), you can and should call an ambulance for broken bones :(

And ambulance service costs U$ 50/month and is included with 90% of the populations' health services.

Re: How I Ended Up In Solitary After Calling 911 For Help

#674

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm terribly sorry this happened to you. For what it's worth you can sue, and you can get money for your trouble and maybe even cause the police department to change it's policies. I did it back in 2000 with the MPD, it took almost 8 years in the courts but eventually I got justice. If you roll over, the bad cops will just keep doing what they do. You'd be surprised at all the law firms that will take your case for f…

In my experience there aren't many cases against government entities that attorneys will take on contingency. A friend of mine was held for nearly 2 years without bail because he was deemed a flight risk (the white collar charges he faced were eventually dropped). He spent most of that time experiencing violent and painful vomiting attacks. He was told he had an ulcer and was given ulcer medication that had no effect…

That's awful and shameful that no firm would take the case. I was helped by a reporter friend that published my narrative of what happened to me, which got the word out to a lot more firms. Eventually I was contacted by several, and eventually settled on one that was focused on pursuing cases similar to mine.

I guess my two cents would be to not get down and assume no one will help. I was furious about my experience, it really shocked me on a fundamental "I don't trust the system anymore" level. I was pretty close to just becoming more cynical and just deducing to hate all cops forever. I even had some friends say "well you must have done something" to deserves it. It was a terrible blow to hear that.

But I fortunately was so upset I didn't want to just get angrier, I wanted justice. I wrote my experience down while it was still raw, and shared it with some friends, one of whom was a reporter. I really did this initially for validation, I wanted someone to know what happened to me, to agree with me that what happened to me was an injustice: because up to that point I felt like no one cared. And I wanted to do something. I had to do something. I wasn't going to just accept what had happened to me as inevitable and just part of the system. It was wrong, horribly wrong.

My reporter friend asked if he could publish it, I was frankly surprised he wanted to publish it verbatim but I guess a raw emotional narrative makes better copy than and interview. And from that I started getting emails from law firms.

I know how awful it can be to unjustly treated by the police, how helpless you are, how dehumanized you can be, how violated the experience can be when you did nothing wrong. Don't give in. Youre not alone. You're a survivor. Yes, It can be hard to fight back, but it's worth it. It's a positive experience for me now, because you realize you can help prevent this from happening to someone else. That you can get justice. That you're not crazy, that what happened to you was wrong.

Just know the process is long, and there will be set backs. The system is overloaded with cases, don't expect anyone to hand victory to you quickly or easily. The cops will close ranks, and lie for each other. The courts will let them, just keep at it. Eventually they'll either settle to make you go away to spare them the continuing costs, or you'll get your day in court.

Re: How I Ended Up In Solitary After Calling 911 For Help

#675
post #661
post #521

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't recommend enough watching this video. The law professor explains why you should never speak to the police. It's 46 minutes long, but every minute is pure gold. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-7o9xYp7eE

I find it ironic that when the cop starts talking he mentions that in the US people should be thankful because they are given a Miranda warning, because, according to him, in other parts of the world like in "Spain and Italy" cops beat up citizens. Last time I check such abuse can't be seen anywhere in Europe. More cop BS.

Oh, it happens. In Germany as well: http://www.dw.de/preventing-police-brutality-in-germany/a-16...

But my impression is that it's rather less common than in the USA and the courts, prosecution and conservative public don't side with the police as much.

Re: How I Ended Up In Solitary After Calling 911 For Help

#676

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a perfect example of the disconnect between "hackers" and the real world. I consider myself part of the HN community because I hope for a society shaped by its ideals, but the real world is so far removed that time spent here becomes more of a therapeutic escape than anything else. You say that, but this ideal world is the world I live in, and have lived in all my life. You should consider moving to Europe (U…

Western Europe has its own problems. The U.K. has "superinjunctions" and aggressively punitive libel laws and press restrictions. In some places in Switzerland, relationships with non-Swiss residents are so strained that local authorities have sometimes sought to ban "asylum-seekers" from public places because they are seen as dangerous criminals ( http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/26/swiss-segregati... ). In…

The big difference is that the cases you mentioned are exceptional and typically make the news.

From the looks of this thread, the situation with the Police in the US is an everyday, normal, expected thing... That's very bad.

Abuses will always occur. It's when they start to be normal that you should worry.

Re: How I Ended Up In Solitary After Calling 911 For Help

#677
post #156

I feel very sorry for the OP. Unfortunately, this is what happens when you're not a customer of the organization that protects you. Police officers will not be paid less if they mistreat the people they're supposed to protect. To get them to justice, as was mentioned in another comment, would cost tons of money and time and there's no guarantee of any kind of result. They know it. The only places where police is actu…

> only places where police is actually humane and does mostly good are Scandinavian countries

Research does not seem to bear this out. See eg this Gallup study:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/102346/many-world-citizens-trust-...

Of the top 10 "public trusts the police", only 1 or 2 are Scandinavian countries (definitions vary whether Finland is part of Scandinavia).

Re: How I Ended Up In Solitary After Calling 911 For Help

#679

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a perfect example of the disconnect between "hackers" and the real world. I consider myself part of the HN community because I hope for a society shaped by its ideals, but the real world is so far removed that time spent here becomes more of a therapeutic escape than anything else. You say that, but this ideal world is the world I live in, and have lived in all my life. You should consider moving to Europe (U…

Europe is declining even faster than the USA. The worst part is that Europe is emulating the USA. Although I did find the recent Swiss immigration decision to be interesting.

That recent immigration vote has been a major point of discussion with every Swiss person I've spoken to since the weekend. It's not business as usual, it's very concerning, and people in the more populated parts of Switzerland are very much opposed to it.

I strongly suspect that something will happen in the three years that it will take to implement this nonsense that will invalidate it.

Re: How I Ended Up In Solitary After Calling 911 For Help

#680
post #672

I recently heard the suggestion that police should carry an equivalent of doctors' malpractice insurance; so the same taxpayers that they abuse aren't the ones who ultimately pay to compensate for their abuses. Sounded like a good idea, especially if insurance companies can identify the officers most at risk of doing legally actionable things while on duty.

When insurance is priced correctly, the premiums will roughly match the payouts. The taxpayers will still be paying the premiums.

It would introduce some sort of independent oversight, but it seems like a roundabout way of doing it.

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