Police discrimination against disabled

[ChezPumkin]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? New Mexico<p>

My wife is completely disabled with a birth defect that causes chronic and degenerative back problems. She is in almost constant pain.

My adult daughter is acknowledged by the Dept of Veterans Affairs (VA) as an Agent Orange Child afflicted with Spina Bifida because of a birth parents exposure to agent orange in Vietnam. She receives VA benefits becauise of this. She is totally disabled and not competent to manage her own affairs.

I myself have two seperate 100% disability ratings from the VA that are connected to combat service in Vietnam. I also have lesser disabling conditions that are also recognized as connected to my Vietnam service.

Several years ago both my wife and I became involved with the local city Police by acting as witnesses in two court trials against local petty hoodlums. Since then all three members of our family been the target of revenge, harassment, assault, threats and vandalism by the thugs and their families.

We have been cursed, threatened before witnesses, forced off the road in heavy traffic, had stones thrown at us and have been targeted for a several year seige of phsycological warfare that has included trapping my wife in her car in our drive way and roaring loud noises at our bedroom windows night and day. For about a year my wife was followed everywhere she went by these thugs. We have build a six foot fence which has helped some but we are still targets.

The Police refuse to assist us with this problem. They make light of our situation and actually laugh at us. This goes up the food chain to the Chief of Police and the City Manager. At one point we actually abandoned our home for several months to escape the harassment.

We feel that the reason for the city Police ignoring our plight is that we present poorly because of our handicaps. We called ADA and they told us that we as individuals were NOT guaranteed Police protection so we had no valid complaint.

We do NOT want to sue. We want no money. We just want the Police to provide us the same protection as everyone else around us so that we can continue to live in our home. Any suggestions?
Chez

 

[Florid-aise]

"You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink."

There will be no police intervention in a non-event. Most notably because they consider themselves "hamstrung" from interferring in, or preventing some possible future no guarantee, non-event and therefor becoming succeptable to the exposure to "harrassment" allegations themselves - which ARE actionable.

Conspiracy to act in a unified and organized fashion by these "thugs" against any person, is a criminal infraction. Doing so against a disable person is a higher criminal violation.

Here is the catch. Who can prove the conspiracy? The disabled are at a disadvantage, yes? The police with no probable cause to institute an investigation?

Although you may wish not to sue. One way to get the attention to your plight may be just the way to do so.

 

[seniorjudge]

"... Any suggestions?..."

Go to the news media.

 

[Florid-aise]

"... Any suggestions?..."

Go to the news media.

All of them....

Right away.

Post back here the results.

 

[BelizeBreeze]

You are not entitled to any more or any less protection or access to the court system than anyone else. Therefore, since you have not stated here that you have filed complaints against specific person(s) regarding these incidents, what do you expect from the police or the court system?

 

[ChezPumkin]

Actually we have filed one complaint

A neighbor once joined my wife and I in filing a complaint against some of these people. A police SGT brought us the form and helped us fill it out. We filed it and nothing ever happened. I called the municipal court several times and they couldn't release any information.

Finally after about two years myself and another neighbor went to the municipal court offices and held a sort of protest. Refusing to leave until they told us what was being done on the complaint. After several hours (an entire afternoon) the court clerk told us the complaint had been misplaced in a file cabinet and over looked. And that it was now too late to process it.

One other time I made an appointment with a lawyer to assist me in filing a complaint. I went to municipal court accompanied by a friend to pick up the complaint form. But they would give me one. They said it was court policy that the complaint forms had to be filled out AT THE DESK at municipal court.But since my situation was fairly complicated I wanted legal assistance in filling it out.

After an entire afternoon of standing in line after line they finally agreed to give me a "zerox copy" of the complaint form but not the form itself. By that time I was so exhausted and discouraged that I canceled the appointment with the attorney and never went through wirth that attempt to file a complaint.

I don't think this is answer anyway. Because these folks operate a Auto shop and metal fabrication works in our residential neighborhood and are frequently in court for zoning violations and what not. They have told me that they aren't afraid of the courts and just consider fines to be a cost of doing business. In one of the trials in which both my wife and I were witnesses they were fined $1000 and were laughing about it as we walked thier gauntlet to get out of the court house after the trial.

I have also tried suing as was suggested above. I attempted to sue in district court. NOT for money but simply to get an order to stop the threats and offensive activity. My first set back was that the one attorney that I knew and trusted could not represent me because he had already represented several members of the Thug families in criminal court cases.

I found another attorney who charged me $5000+ over a several month period to file a suit in District court. This ended badly because my own attorney suggested I drop the suit because the combined family of thugs was able to afford a team of several attornies and they qwere "Lawyering" us to death. By that I mean that they were burying us in discovery requests and dozens of motions.

My attorney's advice to me was that I did not have enough money to continue the suit. Where as the thugs had good lawyers and seemingly endless funds.

I have also gone to the news media and there was actually an article about my family in the local newspaper several years ago. I was hopeful that this would embarrass the Police into acting but it had only minor effect. Since then our local paper has been taken over by the Gannett corporation and they do very few local stories. And have expressed disinterest in mine. We are a fairly small city and we have no TV station only cable or satelite. And Radio here is pretty much just a choice between Country and Western Music or Mexican music with 5 minutes of network news at the top of each hour.

Frankly I am pretty sick and not able to do much personally. Even though I would like to. I guess I was just hoping for some magic bullet civil rights law that would offer protection.

Chez

 

[seniorjudge]

"...Even though I would like to. I guess I was just hoping for some magic bullet civil rights law that would offer protection...."

Please explain which of your civil rights were violated.

Also, please explain what these people have done to you.

Thanks.

 

[ChezPumkin]

which of your civil rights

First let me say that I was unclear on the definition of "filing a complaint." If this means going to municipal or magistrate court and ascting as the prosecuting attorney yourself I have only done this once. If it means filing a Police complaint I have done it several times.

As to which (IF ANY) of my civil rights have been violated I don't know. I am not a lawyer. That is what I was hoping to find out here.

As to what they have done to me (and my wife and daughter) on tyhat I am more clear. They have run our car off the road three or four times in heavy traffic. They follow us almost everywhere we go. For two years we gave up on eating in a little cafe we liked near our home because they would follow us thier and sit at the next table and whisper threats, sexual taunts and other insults at us while we tried to eat.

They have killed our pet. Set one of our two mobile homes on fire. Stolen my daughters toys or destroyed them. They have many times parked racing cars outside our windows and roared the engines at us to frighten us. Before we put up the fence they would pound on the outside of our home at night and crawl onto our roof. They have frequently shined spotligts in our windows at night. When we drive down the street they pull out of drive ways and stop cars in front of us to block our way.

They litter our yard with liquer bottles and other refuse. They drive Hot Rods with loud engines and often pull up behind us in traffic and startle us by Revving the engines loudly. When my handicapped daughter used to play outside they would drive by and shout obscenities and sexual taunts at her.

etc etc etc Can I prove all these things? No. But everyone in the neighborhood knows they have targeted us. Including the Police. Even the least investigation by the Police would turn up parts of this.

But you are pretty sharp. And correct. They have indeed threatened the Police with legal action for targeting them. The Police fear them in that regard. Or rather the city government. Plus several Police Officers admire the Race cars they build and are buddies with them.

Almost everyone here is afraid of them and no one else will any longer testify against them. One neighbor and life long friend came to me in tears because he had to lie in court because they threatened to harm his family.

I will type more later but I am worn out now.

Chez

 

[Florid-aise]

First let me say that I was unclear on the definition of "filing a complaint." If this means going to municipal or magistrate court and ascting as the prosecuting attorney yourself I have only done this once. If it means filing a Police complaint I have done it several times.

As to which (IF ANY) of my civil rights have been violated I don't know. I am not a lawyer. That is what I was hoping to find out here.

As to what they have done to me (and my wife and daughter) on tyhat I am more clear. They have run our car off the road three or four times in heavy traffic. They follow us almost everywhere we go. For two years we gave up on eating in a little cafe we liked near our home because they would follow us thier and sit at the next table and whisper threats, sexual taunts and other insults at us while we tried to eat.

They have killed our pet. Set one of our two mobile homes on fire. Stolen my daughters toys or destroyed them. They have many times parked racing cars outside our windows and roared the engines at us to frighten us. Before we put up the fence they would pound on the outside of our home at night and crawl onto our roof. They have frequently shined spotligts in our windows at night. When we drive down the street they pull out of drive ways and stop cars in front of us to block our way.

They litter our yard with liquer bottles and other refuse. They drive Hot Rods with loud engines and often pull up behind us in traffic and startle us by Revving the engines loudly. When my handicapped daughter used to play outside they would drive by and shout obscenities and sexual taunts at her.

etc etc etc Can I prove all these things? No. But everyone in the neighborhood knows they have targeted us. Including the Police. Even the least investigation by the Police would turn up parts of this.

But you are pretty sharp. And correct. They have indeed threatened the Police with legal action for targeting them. The Police fear them in that regard. Or rather the city government. Plus several Police Officers admire the Race cars they build and are buddies with them.

Almost everyone here is afraid of them and no one else will any longer testify against them. One neighbor and life long friend came to me in tears because he had to lie in court because they threatened to harm his family.

I will type more later but I am worn out now.

Chez

I live in the world. The real world. I am forced to be a realist. I live that way. That is the real world.

Legal arguments are just that; legal arguments. SJ, himself has quoted himself as saying to a distraught restraining order recipient, what good will a sheet of paper do you in a direct confrontation. Or words to that effect.

Legal solutions, by and large, are for honest folks only. You fight in court, a winner is decided. The loser plays fair as a result. That is not always the case.

Two things come to mind. Remember, this IS reality. Legal fight or not. Legal grounds in any fashion or not. A legal victory can be a hollow victory too.

Because you must outlay cash in order to hire an attorney. Use the budgeted money to place surveilence cameras with recording capability facing the street. Capture the acts as they occur. Let them mount up.
There is always "Good Morning America", or Bill O'Reily; etc., etc., etc. Remember I am a realist. We have to think outside of the box. If local media cannot light a fire, then light a bigger fire.

I am thinking to myself and I said to myself; "Myself, you know what I think I want to do?" And then myself answered and said "No, I don't know. Tell me." And I answered myself and said, "I was thinking that since there are other people in the world whom need and hire body guards, that maybe I should get one too. What do you think?" I asked myself.

"I think that's a brilliant idea !! !!" I said to myself.