Morning Roundup: Goodbye, Abe Edition
Vegetate to Close at the End of the Month
D.C. Police Seek Suspect in Series of Bank Robberies
Suspect in 9-Year-Old's Murder Found Dead in D.C. Jail
Wizards Owner Abe Pollin Dies at 85
The autopsy for 14 year-old DeOnté Rawlings, who was killed by an off-duty police officer last month, has been released -- but its findings don't provide many more clues as to what might have happened that night.
According to the Post, the autopsy report shows that Rawlings died of a gunshot wound to the back of his head. It also says that no traces of drugs or alcohol were in his blood, and more notably, that he sustained a number of unexplained cuts and bruises from blunt force trauma to his body, mostly on the left side of his face, shoulder and back. The report gives no guess as to how Rawlings might have sustained those other injuries.
A lawyer for the Rawlings family, Greg Lattimer, indicated that the additional injuries are suspicious, vaguely suggesting that the police officer who shot him, James Haskel, might have attacked Rawlings' body after he shot him. The Post also cites anonymous police sources who said it is possible that DeOnté sustained injuries in a fall immediately after he was shot.
Given how many times Mayor Fenty has already commented on this case, we can expect a reaction from his office to the autopsy report some time today.
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generally if one receives wounds after death as opposed to before death they look very different (blood isn't pumped into them). So it's interesting that both the police and victim's family suggest these wounds were formed after death- they would have the autopsy results.
Great reporting by the Post! Leonnig fails to disclose that she received the autopsy report from the family’s attorney Greg (I can’t keep track of my client’s funds) Lattimer. The autopsy report is being reported on without regard to context or other forensic evidence, two things that are necessary when discussing any autopsy report. If Leonnig does not know this she is incompetent, if she does know this and failed to disclose it, she is a hack. Basically the Post is helping Lattimer (who it originally started quoting in its series of articles without disclosing that he was the family’s attorney or prospective attorney) pave the way for the civil suit. Nice work Post.
Newspaper articles do not "pave the way for a civil suit", so I dunno what that was supposed to mean.
And while it would have been better to disclose, I'm not sure why it matters where the Post got the report, unless you're implying that the attorney passed along a falsified report (and btw, what is your source for claiming the Post got it from the attorney?)
So what percentage does Lattimer get for the inevitable wrongful death suit? Did DC ever get a cap on those rewards, or will this one cost taxpayers a couple mil?
Personally, I laud the MPD's new preemptive tactics against the city's hoodlums. That Lanier is one tough cookie!
#5, what the fuck are you talking about?
This post has nothing to do with "preemptive tactics", unless you're saying that shooting juveniles in the back of the head is a preemptive tactic.
Guest 1, it's charming that you watch CSI Las Vegas and Miami. But tell me this Columbo, how long does it take to fall and scrape yourself after being shot? When was the exact moment of death for the victim? When does the blood stop flowing? There is a difference between being cut up a few minutes afer and having it happen at the same time as the fatal wound. Keep watching tv, though. It's doing wonders.
I think that's exactly what he's saying.
Given Guest #2's inside knowledge regarding how the Post got the report, and the tone of his/her post, one can't help thinking that perhaps the cops, or their union reps, have decided to monitor dcist, and probably other influential blogs, and make sure their spin is heard.
Not that there's anything inherently wrong with this, except to the degree that commenters suggest that they are just random dcist readers.
Guest #5 probably believes Sadaam Hussein is responsible for 9-11. I'm surprised the bonehead has enough brainpower to form complete sentences. If there's a god maybe you'll get caught in the line of some "pre-emptive tactic" by some "tough cookie" whos obviously just doing his job.
# 9 when did the dcist become "influential"?
or are you part of the dcist staff pumping up the site ?
Not that there's anything inherently wrong with this, except to the degree that commenters suggest that they are just random dcist readers.
Can I finally tell my New York friends that we have police brutality as well?
I'm surprised no one mentioned/noticed this yat, but why does it look like someone spilled water on the kid's picture?
I would imagine that guest #5 was being sarcastic, but who knows, maybe people do advocate for preemptive executions of troublesome youth these days.
Guest 1, it's charming that you watch CSI Las Vegas and Miami. But tell me this Columbo, how long does it take to fall and scrape yourself after being shot?
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uhhh... my point was that both the lawyer and the police made this comment. what are you going on about with me and tv? I can't follow your post.
Good lord, people. Walk to the bathroom, bend over, and remove the rod. #5 was being sarcastic, obviously.
Between this and the responses to the cabbie who also made a sarcastic joke in Boston and got arrested for it, one can only conclude an awful lot of people are pretty severely lacking in the sense of humor department.
Or maybe all those pundits were right and irony really DID die on September 11th.
#16, Did you read the other comment threads on this situation?
I'd have assumed #5 to be sarcastic if I hadn't read some stuff pretty close to it on the other posts.