Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post

dksuddeth · 08-31-2007, 05:50 PM

Police not responsible for your protection
How can we, as a supposedly free people, be expected to sit quietly by as nanny state governments dictate our lives by denying not only our right to self defense (duty to retreat laws), but also denying effective means of self defense like keeping and bearing arms.

Yes, this is another thread that I'm sure will de-escalate into the supposed advantages and disadvantages of gun control and gun rights.

How do people live with themselves knowing that their support for 'non-violence' allows criminal acts like this to happen.

How do people live with themselves by wholeheartedly supporting law enforcement even with huge breaches of authority for the publics protection?

When do we, as a people, finally come to grips with the fact that you and you alone are the main person responsible for your own safety and demand that your elected representatives stop denying your rights of self defense by the most effective means possible? yes, by guns

I don't feel like researching how to hide an article, so if you don't like me or my opinions, dont' RTFA.

Quote:

MONTPELIER -- A state trooper had no special duty to arrest a man who had sexually assaulted and battered his former girlfriend and continued to do so after the trooper left, the state's highest court has ruled.

Col. James Baker, director of the Vermont State Police, and Sarah Kenney, public policy coordinator with the Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, said the case points to the fact that whether to arrest an alleged perpetrator of domestic violence is often a tough call for police who are responding.

Trooper Maurice Lamothe of the St. Albans barracks, responding to a domestic violence call on Nov. 18, 2002, saw marks on the victim's face but did not arrest the man later convicted of battering and sexually assaulting her, despite what Baker described Thursday as a "pro-arrest policy" in the state police manual.

Also contrary to the manual, the court said, the trooper interviewed the woman about the case within the perpetrator's earshot.

After Lamothe, who Baker said is still a trooper in St. Albans, left the scene, the man beat and sexually assaulted the woman again; he did both things again after breaking into her apartment early the next day, the court said.

The court's decision said the man was arrested a week later. He was later convicted of sexual assault and domestic assault and is serving a 20-to-45-year sentence. The court did not identify the man; the woman's lawyer, Kurt Hughes, identified him as Stephen Desautels. The state Corrections Department's online offender locator lists a Stephen Desautels, 47, serving time at the Lee Adjustment Center in Beattyville, Ky., where Vermont houses inmates.

The court did name the victim; she was the plaintiff in the lawsuit. The Associated Press does not identify the victims of sexual violence.

In a decision written by Associate Justice Brian Burgess, the court said there is a high bar for someone suing the state, because it is protected by a legal doctrine of "sovereign immunity."

The victim would have had to show gross negligence on the part of the trooper, Burgess wrote, and his failure to foresee and prevent further violence did not rise to that level.

"Ordinarily, the duty owed between strangers does not extend to controlling the conduct of third persons to prevent physical harm," he wrote. And while Vermont law calls on police officers to protect public safety, "the statutes create no special relationship between crime victims and law enforcement personnel."

Baker said domestic violence is a high priority for the state police because so many homicides result from it, but he said it is not always possible for a trooper to make an arrest at such a scene, or to interview the victim outside the perpetrator's earshot.

While saying he could not comment on the specific case, Baker said, "Sometimes the victims are not cooperative with us. ... The whole idea is to get them separated but sometimes that is easier said than done."

Kenney said she, too, could not second-guess the trooper's actions. "I don't know the facts of the case well enough to say that" he acted inappropriately, she said.

"In terms of the police response, we don't have mandatory arrest laws or policies in Vermont," Kenney said. "We do have pro-arrest policies, but they allow law enforcement officers some discretion at the scene of a domestic violence incident. And that affords an opportunity for increased safety for victims."

A quick arrest can sometimes result in a perpetrator's being released the next day on bail or conditions, Kenney said, "and potentially be even angrier."