...BUT SEATTLE CITY ATTORNEY ISN'T EXACTLY A FAN
Charges were dropped against Phoenix Jones in what is widely known as "the pepper spray incident." I witnessed this incident myself during a trip to Seattle last month.
Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes cited a couple of reasons for this- only two out of four alleged victims spoke to investigators. The other two fled the scene. My guess- didn't really want to talk to police for reasons of their own. The City Attorney also said that an individual is allowed to use force when coming to the aid of another person, and this law casts reasonable doubt on the assault charges.
However, Holmes also made it a clear point that he did not approve of Phoenix Jones.
KOMO News quotes Holmes as saying:
"Mr. Fodor is no hero, just a deeply misguided individual. He has been warned that his actions put himself in danger, and this latest episode demonstrates that innocent bystanders can also be harmed."
Now I get why so many people is just watching afraid of getting involved. They are waiting for Pete Holmes' approval!
ReplyDeleteNo PJ fan, but that Pete Holmes is funny. I'm off to start a PH fan club.
One liked the text;
ReplyDelete"I urge Mr. Fodor to consult legal counsel regarding his own potential personal civil liability if he persists with his vigilante alter ego," said Holmes. "Our state's good Samaritan statutes are designed to protect individuals who happen upon-rather than actively seek out-opportunities to render assistance to others, without expectation of compensation. These laws are not designed to protect a branded, costumed character, his roving video crew, or their copyrighted videos from the reach of tort plaintiffs."
Source;
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/No-charges-against-Seattles-self-appointed-superhero-134427698.html
This is from the City's Attorney, and it's a blueprint for every lawyer who wishes to see superheroes broken. They CAN be sued, and their money and freedom taken. Who pays for Jones's Medical, when he is injured? His family's savings. Who pays for his legal defense? His children's college tuition.
If fame before family is your game, then superheroes are recruiting.
-Lord Malignance
On one hand, it's good that the City Attorney dropped charges.
ReplyDeleteHowever, it's not good that the City Attorney had to throw in those sly remarks about Phoenix Jones.
While anyone can have their own opinion on what a hero is or isn't, for him to call Phoenix Jones by a name other than what he prefers to use, as well as saying he's no hero - not just despite Phoenix Jones risking his own life to save others - but in spite of the fact that he risks his own life to save others?
And that's not a hero? Then what is? Someone who conforms to two-faced in-crowds and goes with the flow all the time because they don't know who they really are?
About a year ago, I had a bunch of two-faced fake superheroes condemning and harassing me every single day - even though I hadn't spoken to nor about those people for several months. I'd get woken up from phone calls from people telling me stuff like "'So & so' is talking bad about you again" - those same people I refer to as "so & so" were some of the same people to try to convince me that Phoenix Jones (a guy who had always been a cool friend of mine) was a bad guy - just because he doesn't follow their false standards of superheroism that they put on their websites - and just because he makes them look bad by comparison because he actually does more heroic stuff than them, and no matter how much crap they talk about him on the internet - or me for defending him - the world is starting to see the difference between the REAL superheroes who actually do real superheroic stuff - and the fakes who want to do less but pretend to be perfect.
And that City Attorney who said that "Our state's good Samaritan statutes are designed to protect individuals who happen upon-rather than actively seek out-opportunities to render assistance to others" - WTF? If someone's in trouble, I don't think they would care if the person coming to their assistance was someone who just randomly stumbled upon that scene/situation or whether they were looking for people to protect. But people are more likely TO be helped when needed be, when more people are out there looking for others to help. And such people are more likely to be more experienced at doing so, when they do it more often.
People should stop trying to build themselves up by taking others down. It may 'look' heroic to those it appeals to, but it's not heroic. It's more heroic to be hated for being someone's friend, than it is to be loved just for being someone's enemy. Still, the world does not yet recognize this logic.
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ReplyDelete"Our state's good Samaritan statutes are designed to protect individuals who happen upon - rather than actively seek out -opportunities to render assistance to others,..."
ReplyDeleteThat sounds a little messed-up to me. If I was getting beat up, I would *want* someone to be looking for stuff like that to be there for me. Think, how often to people really just "stumble-upon" anything? How many people just walk away, unseen? People need to be looking out for this stuff, if only 10% of the people on the planet were looking out for the good of others, then think of how many could be helped by prevention and deterrent alone.
People need to be looking out for others in need. The people discouraging it, are the same kinds of people that enact laws that punish people for feeding the homeless (Yeah, there's really a law against that in Orlando, Florida).
Looks like Seattle needs to elect another City's Attorney. One with more heart than agenda.
Although, I am glad that he dropped the charges.
@Tothian, Showstopper, and anyone misguided by them: There is a reason the Samaritan statutes are as flexible as they are. They assume that those protected by them do not have the chance to develop a proper understanding of the law. This understanding not only protects the person from acting illegally, it also protects those who are being "detained". The average citizen doesn't understand things like entrapment, reasonable doubt, or even the difference between a felony and a misdemeanor. The current laws anticipate this and attempt to encourage bystanders to take action by offering them protection from the pitfalls of not having gone to police academy but trying to break up a fight anyways because it's the right thing to do.
ReplyDeleteCops ARE expected to know these things, and are (in theory) held to a much higher standard. That is why they get to hunt criminals, because they are trained in how to do so effectively and legally.
When people who are not trained as the police are still attempt to hunt criminals as the police do, they are unfairly taking advantage of laws meant for the average citizen. Why should those attempting to do the police's job, WITHOUT the training/societal authority/oversight that the police receive, get protection meant for those who do have the training or never had a reason to receive that training in the first place?
@John Bridges you have a valid point but on the other hand even now Police training, action and decisions based on the training are still highly scrutinized and labeled "police brutality" by society. Especially when it comes to the use of force and deadly force. The legal system is very forgiving to "civilians" than they are with police officers.
ReplyDelete@ Rev. Tothian/Showstopper: I agree with you guys too. I have looked at the RLSH community with great interest only to find out a lot of it is sometimes ego driven fueled by the need of "heroes" to really call out and bash other heroes. The cause and mission of the RLSH is one of high value and worthy of support. It's just the manner in which the process is carried out and the actions of the community members that bring a lot of negative press.
@John Bridges,
ReplyDeleteI can understand what you're saying in the sense that police have their reasons for how they do things, and it might sound good on paper for some people but obviously in practice it just doesn't work. You don't have to agree with me, obviously, but I don't appreciate calling people who agree with me and ShowStopper as misguided.
People should be encouraged to go out of their way to help others, not just live a boring, meaningless life where they only help themselves.
If you take a look at the situation with what happened to Kitty Genovese nearly 50 years ago, she was being beaten to death, and nobody did anything. One guy shouted at a safe distance telling the attacker to stop and get away, but that didn't do anything. Someone called the Cops, but that didn't save her life neither because by the time the Police and Ambulence had arrived, the injuries were so bad that Kitty Genovese eventually died on the way to the hospital.
@Anonymous,
Thanks for understanding what ShowStopper and I were saying. While I do view media coverage as mostly irrelevant, in the sense that be it good or bad - it doesn't change the mission - I do agree that ego has played a huge part in taking away the Spirit of Camaraderie from the RLSH Community, as well as removing it's Warrior Spirit. Ego took away the Spirit of Camaraderie in the sense that people are looking out for their own selves before others, and it also played a part in taking away it's Warrior Spirit by some people trying to water down the idea of what a Superhero is or should be. Of course, everyone has their own mission, but there are some who are okay with settling for less, and that's not good neither.
@Anonymous: I have no idea how that applies to this situation. Every barrel has bad apples. The whole barrel is not bad, because those apples were trained to be "apples". I will admit that it is infuriating when the bad apples are protected by the good apples, but that's really not what we're talking about.
ReplyDeleteAlso, as a general rule of thumb, society is dumb. VERY few people actually understand what a policeman can legally do and not do. For the same reason, I'm hesitant to see people trying to do the police's job.
@John Bridges You were mentioning how police officers can hunt criminals because they are trained and held to a higher standard. I was commenting saying sure but just about anything a police officer does is blindly labeled as police brutality, etc. thus making it hard for law enforcement to earn the trust of the public. You now have the existance of "RLSHs" who basically do the same thing but unpaid with little to no training or experience.
ReplyDeleteThe point is it doesn't take a rocket scientist to do police work. A citizen can essentially get out there, do a crime watch or citizens patrol or even make a citizens arrest and it having a greater chance of being approved by society than say a police officer making the arrest.
So I think there is a double standard when it comes down to citizens doing police related work compared to a sworn law enforcement officer doing it.
"The point is it doesn't take a rocket scientist to do police work. A citizen can essentially get out there, do a crime watch or citizens patrol or even make a citizens arrest and it having a greater chance of being approved by society than say a police officer making the arrest."
ReplyDeleteFalse.
Ahem, what do you think the point of a detective is? They investigate crime and criminals to prevent them from Happening again. Not Everything has to be solved with fists. That is why detectives are higher on the food chain than a beat cop. Learning how to find and identify crime is brains. That's how the real work gets done, if you have to resort to violence all the time, you are no hero, just an asshole. Learn to do something besides punching, kicking and grappling. But that won't happen 'cause the grunts get off on the violence.
ReplyDeleteRIP Phoenix Jones
ReplyDeleteWhat the fuck is that supposed to mean?
ReplyDelete