Before we get to the “show”…



In our Community Voices section this week several readers respond to a question posed to them by El Editor concerning the death of Juan Manuel Nunez; who died on April 16, Easter Sunday, after being Tasered by Lubbock police officer Matt Doherty who had answered a 911 hang-up at the Nunez residence. Although the Lubbock medical examiner has ruled that the death resulted from a combination of Mr. Nunez’s intoxicated state, the TASER and a blow to the back of the head, the Nunez family has filed a civil lawsuit in the matter.

If you believe what has been reported in the mainstream media, which is all we have to go on at this point, then one would have to conclude that Mr. Nunez had full responsibility to bear for the initial call to 911 and for the officer’s response. But, the question goes much deeper than that. The real question is who was responsible for the eventual outcome; after the officer arrived at the home.

A response from Robert Pratt, asks whether El Editor, in formulating the question, even thought about adding “Juan Manuel Nunez to the list of responsible actors”.

Of course, when we came up with the question we thought of including Nunez as a responsible party. But, for a couple of reasons we did not.

One; because, the issue which will be decided in the courts, based on the civil lawsuit filed by the Nunez family, asks whether the city of Lubbock, the police department or TASER International, the stun gun manufacturer is responsible. The lawsuit does not ask for a jury to decide whether Nunez was the responsible party. The question was in reference to the lawsuit filed by the family; perhaps we should have made that clearer in the question.

To be sure, Mr. Nunez was responsible for the initial call to 911. The facts are clear that he had been out drinking, and something happened upon his return home. But the questions remain; was the use of the Taser necessary, was it excessive force, could the situation have been handled differently, have police officers gotten to the point where it is easier to “Taser first and ask questions later”.

The fact that 911 was called and the Tasering of the victim are not one and the same. Even if Mr. Nunez was solely responsible for the

police coming out to the Nunez home; the resulting event; the Tasering of Mr. Nunez (which was the nexus between the blow to the head and Mr. Nunez blood alcohol content) which resulted in his death is a totally separate issue.

Otherwise we all have to assume that anytime a police officer is called to the scene of a domestic disturbance; any action they take will be considered appropriate; because by placing a 911 call, or the fact that a person may have had too much to drink and is in his or her own private home, we are automatically stripped of our civil rights; and are at the mercy of the police officer(s) who respond.

There is a reason why the U.S. Department of Justice recently announced that up to 150 cases involving Taser related deaths would be reviewed and why several police departments around the country have suspended the use of Tasers until their safety factor concerns can be addressed.

*****

In what could easily be called an “immigration dog and pony road show”, a Republican led House panel held immigration hearings in San Diego, California this past week. In an attempt to highlight differences with the Senate passed immigration reform bill and with their own Republican administration; the panel met at a San Diego Border Patrol station.

Focusing on the war on terror, Republican, Ed Royce, R-California, stated that “Immigration reform must be a national security reform; we live in an age when dedicated terrorists want to hit us as hard as they can”.

For their part, Democrats used the occasion to ridicule the Republican’s efforts. Representative Bob Filner, D-California was quoted as saying: “This is a charade, it’s a cover-up for the fact they can’t produce a bill and they can’t secure our borders”.

According to news reports, the next step will be to hold hearings somewhere in this country, probably in states like Arizona, California, or Texas, a border state in which immigration tensions run high, on making English the nation’s official language and how enforcing immigration laws affect American workers. A hearing the week of Aug. 14 in Arizona will focus on costs to local and state governments "caused by an unsecured border."

It is clear that these types of “politically motivated pretenses” will be used to inflame people’s emotions. Border or national security risks, disguised as immigration reform, are being used to confirm some

people’s fears of a “Mexican illegal immigration invasion”: and to fuel the flames of racial intolerance.

These are just some of the tactics House and Senate Republicans and the rest of the GOP will use to try and scare their voting base into going to the polls in November.

They may as well just run around the Southern part of the country, just like Chicken Little, yelling, “The Mexicans are coming, the Mexicans are coming”.



Email: acruztsc@aol.com