Jonathan Turley reports that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is outraged at the hospital tasing of his epileptic nephew,
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is reportedly outraged and maybe heading down to New Orleans after his nephew, Derek Thomas, was punched and tasered at a Louisiana hospital after refusing to put on a gown.
Derek Thomas may have been admitted after a possible suicide attempt and suffered a “massive seizure.” When he refused to put on the gown and attempted to leave, he was reportedly punched by a security guard who also pulled out some of his hair. He was then tasered.
Jeff Gamso cautions against the optimistic route.
A liberal is a conservative who’s been arrested. A conservative is a liberal who’s been mugged.
Make them see the world from the other guy’s perspective. Don’t dis someone until you’ve walked a mile in his shoes.*
It’s all sound in principle. We’re products of our experience. But it’s also a bit too easy. So when we hear the news from New Orleans, we can hope it leads to greater compassion, but we’d be fools to bet on it.
I’m with Jeff. Does anyone really believe that Justice Thomas was so wholly unaware of the suffering inflicted on people, particularly young black men, by police? Come on. He watches Youtube videos in his spare time just like the liberal justices. He knows that young black men are only a curly hair away from a darn good tasing. Or worse.
But Justice Thomas’ career, and belief system, are firmly rooted in the notion that the police are the guardians of the line between good and evil, and he’s made the choice of which side of the line he prefers to toe. Sometimes, an incident close to home is an epiphany. Other times, it’s an isolated incident.
Reports are that Thomas is heading down to New Orleans to investigate. Investigate? What exactly does he plan to do, put on his Sherlock Holmes cap and start snooping around the hospital? Or will he pack his spare robe in his two-suiter and hold an inquest? What will he do when the officer tells Uncle Clarence that he’s not talking, and the department explains that they can’t comment because they too are conducting an investigation. You know, the departmental investigation that invariably results in the conclusion that the cop followed departmental policy.
Under other circumstances, much good could come from this incident. It may only be a nephew, but it’s close enough to home to touch Justice Thomas’ ideologically cold heart. But for a man of color in a position of great power to have made a career of turning a blind eye to the reality suffered by so many, that they are institutionally victimized by an armed force that so lacks respect for their kind that the infliction of pain is the preferred method of control, Justice Clarence Thomas has already made his decision.
Of course he’ll be outraged at what was done to his nephew. Who wouldn’t be? But somewhere, there will be too great a gap between synapses to connect the dots. One young man was wrongly harmed. No vote will change. Society will proceed as it always has, with the blessing of Supreme Court Justice and Uncle Clarence Thomas.
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I agree with everything, except the race part. Maybe the race angle is true in NY, but in CO the abuse is equal opportunity. What about all the violent black and Hispanic cops? Don’t you guys have those losers too?
I was just reading about the involuntary for the German-American cop in CA. Getting any verdict was probably a miracle, despite the ludicrous ‘I thought my gun was my Taser’ defense. But to me, it’s way more about the defendant being a cop, than the vic being black.
My belief is that a black or Hispanic person who puts on a shield becomes cop first, person second. They shed their racial and cultural heritage for their new blue persona. It doesn’t happen to all, but most forget where they came from and need to be a part of their new family.
Good post. I agree with the “isolated incident” understanding. I recall learning as an undergrad about cognitive dissonance and race and felt completely frustrated that the theory doesn’t seem to work when folks force-feed analyses through race-based decision trees that devalue Blacks in general (the “isolated incident” compliment: “You’re different; you’re not like the others!”) and vilifies powerless poor Blacks especially.
BTW: I’m new to your blog, having just discovered it this morning (after clicking through to it) while updating my (co-authored) Crim Pro book’s web page. I’ve now linked you there; I believe our adopters will appreciate your perspective.
Please link us readers to your web page, Professher. Great screen name, btw. Scott’s great, and I’m not his press agent or anything.
Hospitals have become very frightening places. I have represented families in the throes of fighting them to prevent respirators and the like from being removed without consent of the patient or family. In one case, they put armed guards on the door of the ICU, intimidating the family (and me).
They have become huge bureaucracies and, in some cases, have lost the ability to defuse situations–like the one in your post– through compassion and understanding. The Good Samaritan model of medicine has been lost.
Quite frankly, I’m afraid to go to one as a patient.
Mr. Greenfield,
I do not disagree with the general outline of the post, but you are making the post into a comment on public law enforcement officials, while it appears that the actual persons involved were private security guards.
See today’s Washington Post article which concludes with: “Officers with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office responded to the emergency room, said Col. John Fortunato, a department spokesman, but they took no action because the situation was being handled by hospital security officials.”
Rather than lambaste, in this instance, public law enforcement officials, why not point out the indignities and illegalities foisted upon the American public by private security forces? There are certainly plenty of examples.
Pete Brownback
Am I wrong that this was an incident involving private security guards and not cops? If so, there will be some easy, minimum wage making fall guys who will probably be charged criminally and Thomas’ belief in our new professional police forces (Scalia’s words, I know) will only be further enforced by contrasting it with these un-professional toy cops. There interest is not in protecting people who do bad things and act like assholes, et. al., only those who do so with the State’s stamp of approval.
Lee,
Good points. Do you have a cite or link to this Scalia opinion that I dread the thought of reading. He was my law school prof and I kinda like the guy. He’s pretty intellectually snobbed out, as am I, so I’m upset to hear he finds overpaid highschool grads of today’s dumbed-down highschools, “professionals.”
Thanks,
Laura
Laura, it was Hudson v. Michigan, http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/04-1360.ZS.html.
I’ve seen him speak in person and, like W., he actually seems like a fairly likable guy. Just, you know, evil.
Unfortunately, you’re quite right and this will no doubt be spun as private security gone crazy. Obviously, this would never have happened with the new professional police. Another reason why nothing is learned.
I wasn’t there so I can’t be sure of what happened but I believe there is more to the story than just that Clarence Thomas’s nephew was punched and tazed just because he refused to put on a gown in a hospital and because he was Black.
First of all I must admit that New Orleans is a moral cesspool and we shouldn’t be surprised at what happens there. I worked as a Registered Nurse in psychiatric units in St, Paul, MN for 20 years and had to deal with a lot of non compliant patients and patients that were violent to the staff.
Neither the Nursing staff or the guards were ever allowed to punch or in any way hurt a patient, even if they were trying to hurt us. The police were allowed to hit a person in self defense outside of the hospital or if the person resisted arrest.
We never called the police to help us unless the patient was extremely strong and there was a real possibility of the staff getting injured.
There was never an instance of police abusing a patient for any reason, and certainly not because a person was black.
In this case, it certainly doesn’t sound to me as if Derek was just standing around minding his own business and was assaulted. I get really tired of people assuming that in every instance of an incident involving a black man and the police, that the black man was innocent and the police were abusing him (although I know that that happens at times)
I really object to judge Clarence Thomas being portrayed as some unfeeling person and according to one comment an evil person. I know that Liberals generally see Conservatives as uncaring because we believe the law should be obeyed as it is written, not as some Liberal wants it to be.
I see Justice Thomas as a courageous, righteous, person who votes according to the law without injecting his personal opinions.
Jerri Lynn Ward said that the situation with Derek should have been defused by the hospital staff using “compassion and understanding”. Someone who has had a “massive Grand Mal Seizure is often confused, agitated, and disoriented for a long time after the seizure and no amount of compassion and understanding is going to help that.
If Derek tried to commit suicide and had a huge seizure afterward, he probably took a large amount of some chemical to attempt to kill himself. People in this situation are often belligerent and combative and nothing but physical restraints will be able to keep the patient safe until he is more clear mentally.
Again, I was not there and I don’t know exactly what happened but I have been present at hundreds of similar situations and what I recounted is what is usually the case.
Thanks, Lee. I’ll make sure to have a strong Margarita before reading this.