 |
|
Pen Points
Letters to Gay Today |
|
Philadelphia's Torture-Happy Police
Thank you, thank you, thank you for being one of the few places to devote
space to these unconscionable arrests and treatments of presumedly innocent
people!!
I only wish, as I frequently do, that it were possible for me to select text from your site and send it to other people. This is one of the best articles on the subject i have read--too bad I can't forward it. But thank you for putting it out there! Tom Stinnett Police Brutality in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
The incident, which took place on August 5, 2000 at approx. 5:30 a.m., was partly broadcast live over the internet. Tony Mlnarik, the leading resident of the live voyuer cam site, the Gay Adult Entertainment Club (www.gayadult.com), after a night of drinking punched his fish tank and seriously cut his arm. After losing a significant amount of blood, he became despondent. Mlnarik didn't want to go to the hospital and expressed a desire to die. Police and an ambulance were called by his roommate. After nearly an hour wait, police arrived and entered the home, which is also the offices of GLINN Publishing Corp., the operator of gayadult.com and 15 other gay web sites. Mlnarik did not want to go to the hospital and struggled with the officers, although no punches were thrown, and the officers wrestled 5 ft. 7 in. 145 lb. Mlnarik to the floor. Mlnarik did not want to be treated and continued to struggle, making it difficult for the female ENT trying to treat the wound to his arm. The police officers called for a squad that had leg irons and a backup unit arrived. Several officers held Mlnarik down while he was treated and put into handcuffs and leg irons. He was never put under arrest. Mlnarik was then strapped into an ambulance gurney and removed from the house. The house contains 12 live web cams, including outside security cameras covering the front and rear of the house. Mlnarik was taken down the front steps and then was punched repeatedly in the face by a police officer. As he was punched, he screamed out for his boyfriend, Jack. He expressed a fear for his life and called for Jack to accompany him, but a police officer refused to let Jack out of the house until the ambulance had left. Police covered his mouth and took him into a private Bell ambulance. Present during the incident were Jack Rodriguez, Mlnarik's boyfriend, and this reporter, Dan Schramm, the CEO of GLINN Publishing Corp. Rodriquez witnessed a blond police officer striking Mlnarik, and Schramm who was further inside the house heard the blows and the screams of Mlnarik. Schramm heard at least one officer mutter homophobic slurs. Four police officers and two EMTs were on the scene. Watching the incident on live web cams were members of the web site, gayadult.com. The web cams stream live video at one frame per second over the internet via the Excite@Home cable network. The officer beating Mlnarik was visible on the front security camera. The cams stream live and are not recorded. Mlnarik was taken into the ambulance and again beaten in the eyes and face by a police officer using a metal flashlight. During that beating Mlnarik said he began "screaming at the top of my lungs, and nobody came to my aid," which he says he didn't understand with all the police around. Mlnarik states that after he was beaten and was crying out in pain, the male ambulance attendant strangled him until he lost conciousness. After spending time in the hospital, the county mental health complex and a detox center, Mlnarik was back at home on Wednesday, chatting live with visitors to the site, his injuries still very visible. Mlnarik was never arrested or charged with any offense. Schramm said he was very angry about the incident. "There was no justification for beating Tony. He was completed restrained and the entire situation had been under control for some time. This was not a struggle while making an arrest where the level of force might be a subjective matter. This was an outrageous and criminal beating under color of law." Mlnarik said he will be filing a formal complaint with the Milwaukee Police and Fire Commission tomorrow. The Commission has stated it will investigate the matter. The Commission can suspend the officers, reduce them in rank, or terminate them. Police internal affairs can bring criminal charges against the officers responsible.
Dan Schramm Republican Propagandists Owe Hillary an Apology
This morning's paper featured an AP story about a report issued Friday by a special federal appeals court in relation to the activities of Anthony Marceca, the White House employee who read the files in question. By quoting extensively from the earlier report of independent counsel Robert Ray, this story reminded me of just what a fiction "Filegate" was. The following excerpts are taken from today's AP story and deal with Ray's conclusions:
". . . Ray's report stated that the 'central issue' for the independent counsel was whether 'Mr. Marceca's conduct reflected a conspiracy within the White House to compile derogatory information from confidential FBI reports.' "Ray said the independent counsel's investigation did fingerprint testing and took testimony from a range of witnesses. That plus the immunity grant to Marceca led 'to the independent counsel's conclusion that no senior White House official' or first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton 'engaged in any criminal conduct related to Mr. Marceca's requests for FBI background reports,' the final report stated. "Ray said the FBI lab examined bureau files of people including former Republican officials James A. Baker III, Brent Scowcroft, Tony Blankley and Kenneth Duberstein for fingerprintf of Marceca and his boss, Craig Livingstone, former White House counsel Bernard Nussbaum and associate White House counsel William Kennedy. "'The FBI's reports . . . reflected that four fingerprints were developed on Secretary Baker's report folder, all of which belonged to Mr. Marceca,' said Ray's report. Five fingerprints identified as those of a colleague of Marceca were on Scowcroft's report, the report said. "'Otherwise, there were no fingerprint matches with senior White House staff or Mrs. Clinton,' it said. 'No conspiracy existed.'" "No conspiracy existed." That is the conclusion of independent counsel Robert Ray. I repeat, "No conspiracy existed." In case some of the True Believers out there missed it, I will repeat it again: "No conspiracy existed." When one rushes judgment and bases one's conclusions on the fantasies concocted by Rush Limbaugh and his ilk, one sometimes finds oneself in the position of slandering innocent people. It seems to me that, in this regard, some of the people on this thread owe the president and first lady an apology. Or am I to conclude that there's some ethical system out there at the right edge of the earth that makes slander morally acceptable so long as one considers the party one's slandered "sleazy"?
Strato |
© 1997-2000 BEI