Murder, Most Foul: Who Killed Nick Christie?

This morning I saw a picture of a body,  that of Nick Christie, bright orange after being pepper sprayed, stripped of  his dignity, denied medication, kept in restraints until his body gave out. The story by reporter Radley Balko in the  Huffington Post noted that Nick Christie’s wife of 40 years, Joyce Christie, had contacted police before he left on his trip. She told them that he was 62, suffered from several problem including emphysema and was having a mental breakdown.

She wanted them to arrest him and get him the help that he needed. They arrested him, all right, but the pattern and practice in the Lee County Jail all contributed to a massive assault that Nick Christie could not survive.  These included being placed in restraints, sprayed while being restrained and kept in the massive soup of pepper spray for several hours. While Joyce Christie was at the jail, her husband was being killed.

Is it any wonder that outrage and shock have risen as the news of Nick Christie’s murder has spread? The State’s Attorneyhas found no fault with the investigation into the case. Now the only remedy for Nick and Joyce Christie is for the Obama Administration and Attorney General Eric Holder to launch an immediate investigation into civil rights violations. Radley Palko’s article in the Huffington Post noted that there have been other instances of improper spraying and use of restraints on prisoners, many of whom were mentally ill.

We must stop the murder of prisoners by those who are sworn to uphold the law.  We must seek justice. It is now for President Obama to repay the faith that the American people displayed when they elected him based upon his call for hope and change. The change that we need is to uphold basic human rights.  I recommend checking the links to articles I have included in this blog and help spread the news.

Image via Wikipedia

refused to over the hop

Related articles

• Growing anger over 2009 death of Nick Christie in Florida (100gf.wordpress.com)
• Lee County Deputies Tied Suspect to a Chair, Gagged Him, and Pepper-Sprayed Him to Death (reason.com)
• A Death In The Devil’s Chair (huffingtonpost.com)

We Have the Right to Violate You!

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

Imagine that you have reported wrongdoing  to the people at the top of the agency and in return you become investigated. Your higher ups come to your house and have you sent to a psychiatric ward without your consent and without a psychiatric evaluation. Your family does not know where you are. Is this a story about psychiatric abuse in the Soviet Union? No, it is  abuse of power by the New York City Police Department. The very institution charged with enforcing the laws is in fact a lawbreaker. And even after being exposed for their venal behavior, the police routinely visit a police officer on leave far away from the city where they have no jurisdiction and demand that he “act  like a man” and return with them for even more abuse. As if to tell him, “we have the right to abuse you.”

On September 10, 2010 the public radio program This American Life aired a series of stories  under the theme “you have the right to remain silent” about  a groups of individuals who at great personal cost spoke up about injustices they witnessed being committed. http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/414/right-to-remain-silent The most gripping story was about Adrian Schoolcraft, who exposed a widespread practice among his fellow officers of police inventing reasons to stop and arrest people. Such concerns as probable  cause, evidence and constitutional rights were thrown out the window in this reckless effort to enforce so-called “quality of life” issues. At the same time more serious crimes were being ignored or downgraded.

The Village Voice series that broke Schoolcraft’s story, written by Graham Rayman, is here. Schoolcraft’s website looking for other cops to come forward is here.

My concern is with the psychiatric abuse part of the story. If  you listen to Schoolcraft’s story, you will hear a recording of the incident I referred to in the introduction to this blog. His superiors came to his apartment under false pretenses and decided that his refusal to leave with them constituted mental illness. In my work as a peer specialist the police I have seen are scrupulous in informing mental health consumers of their rights. There are very strict procedures to be followed when declaring that someone is exhibiting dangerous behavior and must be transported to an institution. But the New York City police felt they were above this law. That is the most dangerous part of what happened to Schoolcraft.

What if others are being locked away under similar circumstances? We must continue to advocate for the right not to be violated. Employers can not be allowed to manipulate our minds, the way that the police attempted to manipulate Schoolcraft’s. We must be vigilant. Schoolcraft could be anyone. Say no to mental abuse.

Related articles

• Corruption in the NYPD much wider than Occupy Wall Street beatings (americablog.com)
• Anthony Bologna of NYPD Part of Long History of Police Brutality, Cover-Ups (ibtimes.com)
• #414: Right to Remain Silent (thisamericanlife.org)