Death By Hero . . . Over Traffic Infraction

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An inmate’s death from an untreated stroke has prompted a $1 million settlement and a government investigation.

The Tampa Bay Times reports on the circumstances surrounding Allen Daniel Hicks’ last days:

Hicks, 51, was arrested in May 2012 after veering off Interstate 275 in Tampa. He was booked into jail without a medical screening, rambling incoherently and dragging his left leg.
More than a full day passed — during much of which Hicks lay on the floor of his cell or tried to crawl using only his right limbs — before he was taken to Tampa General Hospital and immediately diagnosed with a severe ischemic stroke. He slipped into a coma and died months later.

Police said they arrested Hicks because he failed to follow commands to get out of his vehicle.

Now the state’s health department is launching an investigation into Hicks’ death which, the Times reports, will largely focus on the actions of Armor Correctional Health Services Inc., a private company that has been contracted to take care of Hillsborough prisoners.

The announcement of the investigation comes the same month that Hicks’ family agreed to a $1 million settlement with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office and Armor, according to WFLA.

“You should be able to get help from medical personnel and police officers and not be taken to jail, and we feel the highway patrol and EMT should have much better training on recognizing stroke victims,” attorney Paul Rebein, who represented Hicks’ family, said.

In previous comments to The Huffington Post, David Fathi, the director of the American Civil Liberties Union National Prison Project, said the government is constitutionally required to protect prisoners’ health. “Prison officials have a duty under the Constitution to provide prisoners with adequate medical care,” Fathi said in an email. “When they violate that duty, the results can be tragic.”

Companies looking out for their bottom lines have no business providing services to prisoners, according to Fathi.

“We believe that incarceration is a uniquely governmental function that should never be contracted out to private, for-profit corporations,” Fathi said. “When you combine the profit motive with limited oversight and an unpopular, politically powerless group like prisoners, it’s a recipe for bad outcomes.”

15 COMMENTS

  1. Santa Fe, NM heroes keep 67 year old woman in diabetic shock safe by breaking her car window, ripping her out of her car, and throwing her to the ground into the pile of shattered glass.

    For reasons of officer safety, the police cuffed her and then walked away leaving her face down on the 160 degree pavement to await the paramedic’s arrival. Luckily, no heroes sustained injuries.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uw9pgkJoJrY

    Check out the hero’s comments on the incident here:
    http://www.policeone.com/officer-misconduct-internal-affairs/articles/6337677-NM-police-under-fire-after-woman-arrested-during-diabetic-attack/

    Not today pigs, not today!
    http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1a6_1375693352

  2. A few years ago, a couple of policemen in Glasgow got into trouble for locking up a man who was rambling on a bus because they had jumped to the conclusion that he was drunk, when he was actually having a medical emergency – which his being left in a cell prevented from being attended to.

  3. Quote:
    “We believe that incarceration is a uniquely governmental function that should never be contracted out to private, for-profit corporations,” Fathi said.

    But why should it operate any differently from any OTHER part of government?

    “When you combine the profit motive with limited oversight and an unpopular, politically powerless group like prisoners, it’s a recipe for bad outcomes.”

    Unpopular, Politically powerless people… Like Plebes, slaves, and voters?

    Needs to change. Only method left is …

      • I’m getting very ill….
        Very angry.

        They won’t like me when I get… Angry…

        😉

        (So it’s a Hulk reference, sue me – How many people can say they punched out a steel fire door – and won? 😀 Might be a bastard, but there’s something to back it up.)

        • Jean,

          The irony _ not lost on you, I’m certain – is that live (and let live) Libertarians are smeared for being “selfish” and “mean-spirited” by these bastards who have no humanity whatsoever. By these sons-of-bitches who want to “help”… with other people’s resources, taken at gunpoint. Who moo about “safety” – while building a police state (the place in which a person is least safe of all) all around us.

          May they burn slowly in Hell.

          • Had similar issues with my parents, friends, employers, et al.

            Same bullshit: You’re helpful, reliable, dependable, solid, rock-steady, absorb all sorts of crap people throw at you…

            So you spend life alone (girls aren’t interested, you’re “boring”); you get passed over for promotion (not passionate enough, or not hungry enough, or not doing the next-level-up job, etc.); family leans on you for support all the time, and you’re always there – but when you need some support, you’re alone again.
            Because you won’t just keep being shit on, you’re now selfish. You’re mean-spirited when you expect OTHERS to treat you as you treat them: Honest dealings, straight talk, reciprocity of emotion.

            Monsters are born very infrequently; most are, in fact, CREATED. Someone a long time back now, 10 years or so, posted “Birth of a Misogynist” online. Similar form: Treated women as special creatures for ages, finally had his eyes opened after one too many kicks in the balls. Realized women weren’t worthy of the respect he was showing them, so now they can open their own doors, fix their own cars, pay their own way, and if one comes looking for his help – he’s not there. And it’s visible to him that ALL women ARE. They’re ALL “that type of girl.” Aunts, cousins, friends, sisters, Mother.

            All Clovers.

            Same with this shit: Over-enforcement of statutes, AND AT THE SAME TIME – IGNORING natural law. That’s one of those threads from “Punisher: Born”; reflected explicitly in the recent film with Thomas Jane – excerpted for easy reference.

            “I leave this as a declaration of intent so no one will be confused. Number one: Sic vis pacem, para bellum. Latin. The boot-camp sergeant made us recite it like a prayer. Sic vis pacem, para bellum. If you want peace, prepare for war. Number two: Frank Castle is dead. He died with his family. Number three: In certain extreme situations, the law is inadequate. In order to shame its inadequacy it is necessary to act outside the law – to pursue…natural justice. This is not vengeance. Revenge is not a valid motive, it’s an emotional response. No, not vengeance. Punishment.”

            Strikes a chord with me.
            You learn to lie to your family, say- the ones you SHOULD be able to trust – because while they expect absolute honesty from you (like the police), but feel free to lie to you endlessly (and see no moral issue there; see no dissociation there between action and reaction; punish you for pointing out the discrepancy, with examples). No honesty, no trust is possible. You are honest in your dealings, but learn the hard way you cannot expect any honesty in dealings with … Anyone.

            So it is with Clover: Passive-Aggressive dissociation of violence results in an ACTIVE man’s dissociation in turn – from that society. Clover becomes the “other” (frequently referenced in works on war, whether historical or philosophical). Clover, who has demonized “those scofflaws” or “Teenagers (ain’t got no respect)” – makes it so EASY to hate him (her).
            Then is upset when “we” (demonized group) are upset over ridiculous crap: kids hanging out at the mall, for example – who are obviously evil because they’re kids, at the mall, without adequate supervision. They’re boisterous, noisy, maybe even disruptive – and these days, they can be arrested. (Worse than when I was in that age demographic, and they’d simply be hassled out of the mall / shopping center / whatever.)
            But they’ve done nothing WRONG.
            And they’d be hassled in the parks, on school grounds, in the parking lot, etc, etc, etc. ANYWHERE but home.

            No wonder we had people like Klebold et al. Joe Stack. Countless others. And it’s a one-way state-worshipping street: More children died at Waco TX than in Newtown, Connecticut. Where’s the outrage? It’s been basically proven that the fire was a result of actions by BATFE & FBI – but that was state-sanctioned murder, so THAT was OK.

            GOD, I want to clean up the shallow end of the gene pool.
            I’m not sure whether Idiocracy was satire, or prophecy. Must be satire, since it’s so broadly played; last Continuum (SyFy in US) had some GREAT examples of how it might resolve…. People chipped and turned into organic robots as sentece for “public debt default” (Which isn’t explained too clearly – but struck me as “National Defiicit repayment – failure to pay your “fair share” “, and a “public debt” being assigned to all people born – similar to the shell game of SSN & fiat currency & credit market games of today, given an explicit stylistic call-out in fiction. After all, punishing a person for a private debt would be an illegal debtor’s prison, though it may not STAY illegal, and arguably is already in place, a la child support default yields revocation of professional licenses – making it then impossible to repay anything REGARDLESS)

            I ramble, sorry.
            BTW, I think you’ve assigned them to the wrong levels of Hell: I think they’re in the COLD realms.

  4. Santa Ana CA hero executes homeless man for calling her a bitch.
    http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=4c8_1375482821

    Cellphone video recorded by an eyewitness captured a police officer in Santa Ana, Calif., fatally shooting a 22-year-old homeless man at a shopping center earlier this week.

    The unidentified witness reportedly saw a confrontation unfold between a police officer and victim Hans Kevin Arellano. The incident occurred in the parking lot of the Harbor Place Shopping Center at about 3 p.m. on Tuesday.

    Here’s how the eyewitness described the events to CBS Los Angeles:

    “She exited her patrol car, gun drawn, and asked the gentlemen to get on the ground. The gentlemen didn’t get on the ground, he was still inside the restaurant. She asked again. The man then exited the restaurant, and as he was exiting the restaurant, he said, ‘What are you gonna do, bitch?’ About a second later, she shot him in the chest.”

    http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2013/08/01/eyewitness-records-santa-ana-officer-shoot-kill-unarmed-homeless-man/

    http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2013/08/hans_kevin_arellano_churches_c.php

    • All of this without telling him he’s under arrest first. WOW! I wouldn’t care who it is, if someone points a gun at me and tells me to bark like a dog, I’ll just walk away. It could be a fake cop, who knows?

    • Female pigs are often the worst.

      They’re angry bitch-types, with something to prove. Often, they hate men.

      And: regardless, they’re women. Which means, they are usually physically inferior to the average man – and almost always inferior to the above-average man. Which means, they almost have to resort to Tazers – and guns – to handle a male (and even female) suspect. They will escalate sooner – and with greater lethality.

      • Makes the whole “chivalry” question go out the window.

        Funnny, too – woman is the more lethal of the species. Equally responsible for domestiv violence, but usually attacking from ambush (surprise) and using weapons instead of hands.

        Hello, Miss Piggy. Here’s a knife for you, it fits right between C1 and C2…. (Axis and Atlas in the neck).
        Enjoy your coma and death.

  5. “Police said they arrested Hicks because he failed to follow commands to get out of his vehicle.”

    No, they arrested him because they though the was a Helot.

    That’s why they ignored him
    And that’s why the prison-industrial-complex processed him.
    Like he was a hunk of meat.

  6. They didn’t shoot him on the spot or give him electrolysis treatment? Instead I’m the one who’s shocked, SHOCKED I tell you.

    Those idiots deserve all they get, providing it’s either jail time or the sack and a running out of town with pitchforks held high. Alas, I think they’ll be well enough protected.

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