[nfbwatlk] You just never know

Wed Oct 24 16:02:07 UTC 2012

Mike, you hear of some of these stories and wonder if they are an urban
legend. Me, Becky, just takes things at face value.  But sometimes even my
innocent type eyebrowls go up.  This one I actually did believe. 

The lady who was hit by a Policemen's car, crossing a street in Erie PA, I
got to speak with her. On an overcast day she was walking west and the
police car was in front of her heading south and stopped.  So if he would
have just looked left he would have seen a very blond lady with a light blue
coat on handling a white shepehred, but he didn't and bumped her right knee
with his bumper. Nice bigbruise on her knee, and her dog was fine. 

One second of innatention or just not thinking by anyone, things could have
come out worse.

Thank you I can put the Police Officer showing the map to the guide dog in
the eye witnessed category.

Becky and the puzzled Jake  

-----Original Message-----
From: nfbwatlk [mailto:nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Mike
Freeman
Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2012 7:29 PM
To: 'NFB of Washington Talk Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [nfbwatlk] You just never know

Hi, becky.

I don't remember the details of the incident as I seem to recall it
happening in 1980 or so. The gist of it, though, was that a number of blind
persons (including me) were going to a restaurant somewhere in either
downtown Portland or Southwest Portland and since this was prior to mobile
phones and the idea to go to the restaurant was a spur-of-the-moment thing,
we didn't know how the address translated into actual streets. (I may have
had a ham radio with me but a call to a commercial establishment like that
was iffy territory as to whether one could do this via autopatch on the ham
radio legally.) So one of us with a guide dog asked a cop whom someone with
some sight saw. The cop unfolded a map and proceeded to hold it under the
dog's nose. The dog didn't react; it was probably bewildered. The rest of us
laughed and just said something like: "MMM ... I don't think the dog's gonna
get it!" and asked the cop to give us names of nearby streets. He did so and
off we went. We were more interested in the food than in educating the cop
and his behavior seemed ill-omened to his grocking the education anyway.
(grin)

That's all I remember; it's been over thirty years since it happened.

Mike

-----Original Message-----
From: nfbwatlk [mailto:nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Becky
Frankeberger
Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2012 8:45 AM
To: 'NFB of Washington Talk Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [nfbwatlk] You just never know

Ok, Mike, can't just say you saw a cop show a map to a guide dog without
more details.  Thank you for the good laugh this morning.  You know I heard
of this incident, or one similar, but never talked to the person witnessing.

Warm smiles,

Becky and Jake 

-----Original Message-----
From: nfbwatlk [mailto:nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Mike
Freeman
Sent: Monday, October 22, 2012 2:22 PM
To: NFB of Washington Talk Mailing List
Subject: Re: [nfbwatlk] You just never know

I once actually witnessed a cop trying to show a guide dog a map! 

Mike

On Oct 22, 2012, at 13:59, "Prows, Bennett (HHS/OCR)"
<Bennett.Prows at HHS.GOV> wrote:

> And I complain when a car crushes my cane as the driver tried to beat 
> me
to the driveway of a parking lot when I was just walking down the sidewalk.
Certainly gives you perspective.  On the other hand, you gotta wonder about
police that can't tell the difference between a cane and a samurai sword.
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfbwatlk [mailto:nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
Nightingale, Noel
> Sent: Monday, October 22, 2012 9:12 AM
> To: nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [nfbwatlk] FW: You just never know
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Altman, Jeff
> Sent: Monday, October 22, 2012 8:14 AM
> To: NCBVI Everyone
> Subject: You just never know
> 
> Police use Taser on blind man, thinking his cane was samurai sword
> 
> A blind man carrying a white cane received a 50,000-volt Taser shock 
> from
British police who thought his walking stick was a samurai sword.
> 
> "It felt like I was grabbing an electricity pylon," 61-year-old Colin
Farmer told the BBC
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-19979184
<blocked::http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-19979184> > .
> 
> Lancashire police officer Stuart Williams said authorities had 
> received
several calls describing a man walking through the streets carrying a
samurai sword.
> 
> "One of the officers who arrived in Chorley believed he had located 
> the
offender," Williams said. "Despite asking the man to stop, he failed to do
so and the officer discharged his Taser."
> 
> However, even in offering an explanation, Williams said the police had
"deep regrets" over the incident and says the Independent Police Complaints
Commission has launched an investigation into the matter.
> 
> "We have clearly put this man through a traumatic experience, and we 
> are
extremely sorry for that," Williams said.
> 
> In fact, Farmer says he thought the police were criminals attempting 
> to
mug him
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/oct/17/police-taser-blind-man-stick?CMP=t
wt_gu
<blocked::http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/oct/17/police-taser-blind-man-st
ick?CMP=twt_gu> > when the assault took place. He said that once police
approached him, he became "absolutely terrified," and repeatedly attempted
to inform them that he was blind.
> 
> "I walk at a snail's pace. They could have walked past me, driven past 
> me
in a van or said: 'Drop your weapon,'" he said.
> 
> However, as far-fetched as it may sound, the samurai sword angle did 
> not
come out of nowhere. But the reality of the situation was far more mundane
as opposed to resembling the plot line of the 1989 Rutger Hauer action film,
"Blind Fury." After Williams was taken to a nearby hospital, police later
arrested a 27-year-old man who was carrying a samurai sword and was
suspected of being drunk and disorderly.
> 
> Williams said the police stayed with Farmer at the hospital until he 
> was
released and escorted him to a meeting with friends afterward, at his
request.
> 
> Tom Brennan KD5VIJ, CCC-A/SLP
> web page http://titan.sfasu.edu/~g_brennantg/sonicpage.html
<blocked::http://titan.sfasu.edu/~g_brennantg/sonicpage.html> 
> 
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