cannabisnews.com: Right to Know What Giuliani Finds Relevant





Right to Know What Giuliani Finds Relevant
Posted by FoM on March 20, 2000 at 16:39:32 PT
By Joyce Purnick
Source: New York Times
It wasn't entirely clear at first why the mayor and the police commissioner were kind enough to give the public all that information about Patrick M. Dorismond, the latest unarmed black man killed by a police officer. But over the weekend, the mayor enlightened us. "The public has a right to know," he explained. 
That was it. Concern about an informed citizenry. From Rudolph W. Giuliani, whose administration so frequently withholds basic information from journalists, civic groups and elected officials that resorting to lawsuits has become routine. What welcome news that the mayor now champions the free flow of information. Forgive the sarcasm, but a 26-year-old man was shot dead after angrily rebuffing an undercover police officer's request for drugs. And ever since, the mayor has been demeaning him, most recently on a Fox television program yesterday, where he gave up any pretense of abiding by his own admonition "not to jump to conclusions." Mr. Giuliani even said that he authorized Commissioner Howard Safir to reveal Mr. Dorismond's record -- confirming that he makes command police decisions. In his harshest description yet of Mr. Dorismond's record, the mayor told the Fox reporters: "He has been arrested for robbery, attempted robbery, possession of a gun. He's been arrested several times for drugs. And in at least one incident, possibly more, when dealing with a drug situation, he beats people up." Mr. Giuliani also said, "All the facts should be known." The facts then, from law enforcement officials: Mr. Dorismond was arrested three times, first in 1987, when 13, for what Mr. Safir said was robbery and assault. But because the charges were dropped and the record sealed, that cannot be confirmed. In 1993, Mr. Dorismond was arrested for assault for punching a friend who shortchanged him $10 on a marijuana purchase. He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct. In January 1996, he was accused of pulling a gun on a driver and threatening him. He was charged with menacing, harassment and criminal weapons possession, but no gun was found. He again pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct. Based on the known facts, then, Mr. Dorismond committed no robbery, was a marijuana user, not a dealer, threatened someone with a gun that disappeared and punched a friend he caught cheating him. He emerges as a man with a hot temper and a taste for marijuana -- not admirable traits but not capital offenses either. Good thing because, the F.B.I. says, one American is arrested on marijuana charges every 45 seconds -- mostly for possession.   HE larger question is whether his background is relevant to his shooting in front of a Midtown Manhattan bar. "This incident has nothing to do with whether this man was a low life or Park Avenue surgeon," said Arnold Kriss, a former deputy commissioner of trials in the Police Department. "The facts of this case have to be on the four corners of what happened on that street." According to contrasting accounts, either Mr. Dorismond attacked the undercover officer after he was approached for drugs, or the officer was the aggressor. Detective Anthony Vasquez, a backup, rushed in and, his lawyer said, his gun went off when Mr. Dorismond lunged at him. Other witnesses dispute that account. Presumably, the district attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau, and a grand jury will sort out the facts. But Mr. Giuliani has already judged Mr. Dorismond's history relevant: "People do act in conformity very often with their prior behavior." Under that theory, then, here is Detective Vasquez's record, from police authorities. He shot and injured a neighbor's dog in 1996, worried it might hurt his son. The next year, he was arrested for drawing his service weapon during a bar fight in Pennsylvania; he was docked a day's vacation. Later that year, his wife accused him of domestic abuse, then dropped the complaint. Those incidents may be relevant to the shooting. Or they may not be. The same for the Dorismond record. Nobody can be sure at this point, but that has not stopped the mayor from calling Mr. Vasquez "a distinguished undercover officer" and repeating exaggerations of Mr. Dorismond's record. It is a convenient tactic. It shifts attention away from a fatal police shooting and serious questions about undercover techniques and unofficial arrest quotas, and squarely on the lumpy life of the victim. "At least take a neutral viewpoint," Mr. Giuliani admonished this weekend. He said, too: "It would seem like real hypocrisy to close off half the facts." When the man's right, he's right. Published: March 20, 2000Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company CannabisNews Police Related Articles:Unarmed Man Slain In Police Struggle http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread5101.shtmlhttp://www.cannabisnews.com/news/list/police.shtmlhttp://www.google.com/search?q=cannabisnews+police 
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Comment #1 posted by eco on March 22, 2000 at 04:04:09 PT
Republican Giuliani up there with Bob Barr.
Republican propagandist drug warrior at work. Spinning away a marijuana murder by the New York narcs. This is important. Imagine if all the press allowed this marijuana murder to be spun by Republican mayor Rudy Giuliani. Overall, Republicans are far more callous toward average people than Democrats. Giuliani is approaching Republican representative Bob Barr levels of drug war fascism.2 articles. NYPD marijuana killing. MANY LINKS. CHARTS.> http://www.egroups.com/group/drug_war_news/208.html?Diallo trial, GOP-coded racism, drug war, Republicans.> http://www.egroups.com/group/drug_war_news/161.html?McCain hits GOP-religious intolerance! Drug warriors.> http://www.egroups.com/group/drug_war_news/165.html?Giuliani-Haider link like Bush-Bob Jones.> http://www.egroups.com/group/drug_war_news/169.html?McCain bares his GOP drug warrior teeth. Press.> http://www.egroups.com/group/drug_war_news/136.html?Rabid GOP Drug War, & bible-thumping in bedrooms & schools. HUGE LIST OF LINKS.> http://homepages.go.com/~marthag1/AlabamaLive.htmNRA and mandatory minimum drug sentences. Cannabis, too.> http://www.egroups.com/group/drug_war_news/206.html?Banning US handguns. To END US Drug War.> http://www.egroups.com/group/drug_war_news/205.html?*WORLD DRUG WAR CHARTS. JUST THE CHARTS. Very few notes.> http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/y/charts2.htm*WORLD DRUG WAR TABLES AND CHARTS. Revised Edition. WITH MANY NOTES. Read the many notes about Republicans.> http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/y/charts.htm 
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