Police chief recommends firing officers who ignored woman’s pleas

[proud2BlibKansan]

VIDEO
By CHRISTINE VENDEL
The Kansas City Star

Kansas City Police Chief Jim Corwin today recommended the firing of two police officers and one jail employee for failing to provide medical care to a pregnant woman arrested in a traffic stop last year.

Corwin also reprimanded a second jail employee who knew Sofia Salva was pregnant and bleeding but did not summon help.

The disciplinary action for that employee was less severe because the employee had only worked for the department for several days and was still in a training program, Corwin said.

“Police officers are expected to help people, and this incident did not demonstrate that value,” Corwin said in a prepared statement released today. “I expect members of this department to treat people with dignity and respect at all times. Behavior like this, although isolated, greatly disappoints me as a police chief and a human being.”

more . . .
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/16741706.htm

[Solly Mack]

1. Good

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. I agree

[CBGLuthier]

2. Good news. Especially Officer Spencer

She has to be the most heartless, cold, nasty excuse for a human being I have ever heard.

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. Oh yes, she was horrible

"Why is that my problem?"

When I heard that I wanted to slap her.

[sdfernando]

3. I can't believe some of the comments

on that article. If that is how people are in KC, I'm sure as hell glad I don't live there, and now, never even want to visit the damned place.

[Mind_your_head]

4. I was thinking the same thing. n/t

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. Wow where did you see that?

I'll have to look for those comments.

I live in KC and I can assure you the community has been up in arms over this. The talk today has been that people are angry it took the chief so long to respond. I have honestly not heard one person speak in favor of these cops. Not one.

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. Ok I found the comments

And there are a few bad ones but the vast majority are NOT supportive of the cops and agree they should be fired.

KC is a great place and we have a large and active DU group here. We took nearly 80 people to DC for the Jan 27 march (a 24 hour bus ride). But if you want to judge the entire city because of a few dumb comments on a newspaper website (which BTW, ANYONE can comment on, not just KC residents) then fine, we won't even consider inviting you here.

[liberalhistorian]

22. I have to agree here, there are always, in every area, going

to be shitty, nasty, fascist people who will make such comments about things, and it has nothing to do with the area where they live. They're in EVERY area, no matter how good it is. And their real nature tends to come out when they can be anonymous, such as on a newspaper comment board.

My own area paper, the Rapid City Journal (South Dakota, by the Black Hills) just initiated what they call "Rapid Reply" for each article on the newspaper's website. Some of the comments are real eye-openers and you wonder how people like that can go about their lives without getting shot at every day. It's because they keep it hidden, for the most part (except in the voting booth), but, because they can be anonymous in such a setting as a newspaper comment board, they have no qualms about showing who they really are. So, I wouldn't judge an area just by such things as anonymous comments on an anonymous message board.

[proud2BlibKansan]

24. You sound like a reasonable person

And because you are so reasonable, you will be invited to our next KC area DU meetup. :)

[BuelahWitch]

32. As a transplant to the area

I will say that one of the things that prompted me to move here was how nice the people were. And like someone else said, you have good and bad people everywhere...

[AnneD]

33. As someone with deep roots

in Texas, all I can say proud2Blib is grow a tougher skin. I am sure there are good folks in Kansas-just as there are in Texas. Folks that keep crossing places off their list are going to have such a short list, they'll never leave their driveway. The point is, folks were upset, the officers were reprimanded and hopefully attitudes will change. Oh, and just for the record-Texas makes the best BBQ.

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. Oh sheesh I just noticed you are from San Diego

which means you have zero room to criticize us. Talk about red state hell. LOL

[REP]

39. It's Not, But Please Don't Ever Visit My Hometown

Kansas City has many, many good point, some bad ones (namely, the weather) and some rotten ones - such ads those who badmouth it without ever darkening its doorstep. Do us all a favor and avoid Kansas City - it's a little too modern, a little too diverse and a little too interesting for some people.

[proud2BlibKansan]

40. LOL!!

[PLF]

7. They ought to be prosecuted.

[LibertyorDeath]

11. They need to improve their hiring standards

The cast from Reno 911 would have done a better job giving assistance to this lady.

The screening process for police applicants is designed to keep sociopathic
shit stains off the force unfortunately some always slip thru.

[galloglas]

18. We would like to , but we have this problem

subject.

Both Kansas City and St. Louis Metropolitan police departments are under the control of the State of Missouri. These are the only two major metro police departments in the nation to be under state control.

The reasons are too complex to go into, and have nothing to do with either KC or St. Louis being like the cops in LA that are usually portrayed as uniformly bigoted, racist, homophobic, etc. Our cops aren't that way )with a very few exceptions).

Our problem is that our state has been taken over by the Red Forces of GOP Dominionism, having had the elctions rigged by Diebold, et al., for a decade or so.

And our governor is the thirty three year son of Mel Blunt, a Tom DeLay wannabe, who is even "sundowning" Medicaid next year. So Missouri (and KC and St. Louis in particular) are at the mercy of the same breed of people who are overseeing our Bagdad surge.

Any suggestions that doesn't require violent overthrow?

Our plan of action is to get Hand Counted Paper Ballots in, and those GOP rat bastard sonsabitches out. Can you lend a hand?

[Luna_C_06]

21. Sorry, but I have to ask.

What is "sundowning"?

[proud2BlibKansan]

26. The governor is getting rid of Medicaid next year

Sundowning = doing away with.

[galloglas]

35. "Sundowning" is

just letting all legislation expire. Medicaid is set to expire in 2008, and the GOP (with the Gov.'s approval) has not let any bills out of committee.

If we don't see the legislaton come out, there is no vote for renewal. With no vote for renewal, there is no Medicaid after 2008.

[proud2BlibKansan]

25. LOL Only you can relate ANYTHING to the need for

hand counted paper ballots.

You go, Buddy, you go :hi:

[galloglas]

36. Those Hand Counted Paper Ballots are

Pure 100% representative democracy! Anything else is 3.2% beer! B-)

[LibertyorDeath]

31. Thanks for the info

"Our problem is that our state has been taken over by the Red Forces of GOP Dominionism"

I've read about the Dominionists
complete whack jobs http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/TheDespoilingOfAmerica.htm

Didn't realize they were so strong there.

"Our plan of action is to get Hand Counted Paper Ballots in, and those GOP rat bastard sonsabitches out. Can you lend a hand?"

Keep up the fight! I'm in Canada so not sure if I can lend a hand...

[galloglas]

37. The URL has the real stuff

Katherine Yurica is the real McCoy.

And, unfortunately, the Dominionists actually started their ascent in Springfield, Missouri about 1905.

I understand that you can't help much from Canada, directly, but you all sure serve as fine examples of how to use the HCPB. So with your permission (and that of Ireland, Switzerland, Scotland, and some other civiled places) we will use you as good examples as to how to change our untransparent, unaccountable, and unresponsive system to something that we can actually be proud of.

Thanks, Canada!

[LibertyorDeath]

38. Hey

Cheers! :toast:

[AX10]

12. There should be a prosecution too!

[galloglas]

20. We agree, but

we don't have any power or control. Baby Matt Blunt has it all.

Please see explanation at

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2738815&mesg_id=2739078

and remember when you diss KC, that this could happen to you.

[evlbstrd]

13. Damn.

I think that's the most heinous police behavior here since the Pendergast Machine.
I've always had a theory: sometimes that kid that everyone picked on in middle school gets through the police academy with a huge chip on their shoulder.

[proud2BlibKansan]

14. I know so many nice cops in KCMO

I really feel badly for them.

[evlbstrd]

16. The majority are good people.

They don't make headlines.
Ack, I sound like a freeper.

[proud2BlibKansan]

15. Did you notice we have some critics who never want to come to KC?

Be sure and don't invite them to your St Pat's party!!

[evlbstrd]

17. That'll show 'em.

Cuz this is a town full of corrupt, cruel cops and on St. Pat's they'll be out to bust a few drunken heads. Possibly even descending upon my more poor lame-ass party.
Even though an awful lot of 'em are Irish. Must be jealous. They have to work.

[Vidar]

19. Firing would be absolute minimum.

[liberalhistorian]

23. Anyone wanna make any bets as to whether or not

these "officers" are "pro-life?" Anyone? Anyone? And, speaking of which, what is the reaction of the local "pro-life" community? They should be all over this one, if they truly give a damn about what they say they do.

[proud2BlibKansan]

27. Well, so far they are silent

I think they are all out helping Snowflake Baby Sam Brownback run for president.

[liberalhistorian]

34. Oh, really? How hypocritical.

You'd think they'd have been all over it like white on rice. What a bunch of fucking hypocrites. Then again, it's what we've come to expect from them, I suppose.

[pschoeb]

43. Yeah they sould be yelling for Homicide charges

As Missouri has a Fetal Homicide law, but so far they are silent.

[smb5850]

28. I hope he is being honest

Imagine a police chief stating that the police are there to help people. How far have we come when a statement like that seems like a breath of fresh air and we can only hope that he is being honest. We wonder how could we be so close turning into an authoritarian state? The answer is with the attitude that people express on the most basic level. We, as a society, stopped concerning ourselves with maintaining a police force that centered on public service and started insisting on a police force that was strictly law enforcement. This betrays a move away from public responsibility toward authoritarianism that has led us to the precipice at which we now stand.

[proud2BlibKansan]

29. I blame the Patriot Act

When it was passed, the first thing I feared was the power it gave local law enforcement.

[all.of.me]

30. do they just train compassion right out of them?!

i cannot believe one of these officers was a woman! 'no job for you!'

[truthisfreedom]

41. "To Protect, To Serve" has been removed from our local police cars.

I once brought paper towels and a phone to a guy who was hit by a car while riding his bicycle. The cops wouldn't touch him... they all wore latex gloves and stood at a distance as he lay bleeding in the street, while they waited for an ambulance. (He was okay, ultimately.)

[all.of.me]

42. that reminds me of a story....

an old hippie friend of mine was hitchiking across country. she lost her wallet in amarillo, i think it was. no, maybe somewhere in oklahoma. it was definitely red-neck country.

anyway, she loses her wallet and ID, and knows if she gets picked up hitchhiking, they'll want ID. she walks into the cop shop for help, and says, 'you don't protect me, so you need to serve me.' or something along those lines. i thought that was a great line! no wonder they took that slogan off the cars - people were holding them to it!