http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2009/07/06/their-first-mistake Comments On: Their First Mistake by Dan Savage en-us Copyright 2009 The Stranger. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, The Stranger readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:00:01 -0800 Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:15:00 -0800 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Posted by Puzzlegal]]> Thu, 09 Jul 2009 21:43:03 -0700 The Stranger He was arrested because he was drunk.
He fell down because he was drunk.
The groping is just icing on the cake...
Posted by MeThinks Hysterical Gays are the ones OverReacting]]> Wed, 08 Jul 2009 06:00:23 -0700 The Stranger
Cops are supposed to be able to diffuse situations without beating the crap out of people. He could have been forceful without being violent.
Posted by MinnySota]]> Tue, 07 Jul 2009 23:27:06 -0700 The Stranger
Even if dude did grab a piece, I don't think that warrants beating the snot out of him.
Posted by MinnySota]]> Tue, 07 Jul 2009 23:23:45 -0700 The Stranger
No surprise if some of those parishoners are cops or young boys that want to grow up to be cops and carry out the word of God and "kill some fags", ala Fred Phelps style.

And Texas wants to leave the Union, well I say fine! See 'ya! Just give time for the gays to get the heck out!
Posted by Eddie89]]> Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:00:53 -0700 The Stranger
Did photos show what happened right *before* and during the moment Chad was starting to be taken down that definitively show either version of the story? No, apparently not (yet, anyway). They recorded the result. That's not the same thing unless there's a photo floating around that shows a cop slamming Chad's head into the ground when he was already effectively pinned down.

He has a brain injury and can't remember? Then he's getting his entire perspective on his injury from eyewitnesses that are hardly going to be unbiased in what they saw (if they even had a full sight line of Chad and Cop #1 just before he went down). He just doesn't know what he or that cop did.

And I'm including the cops in this, too. I haven't read any accounts by the individual officers themselves. They're probably being shut down by the Police Chief and told to zip it but it would be good to hear what they say now about what the hell where they expecting to do that night, what they thought they were going to encounter and what they saw or did (and a good reporter would push to get those statements), while this is still fresh, because it could either shed some light on why they did what they did (which doesn't make them right, thanks, you can leave the yelling over there -->) or hang them out to dry (which'll look lovely in Chad's future lawsuit). But trying to pull as many strands of facts out of all the knots in these stories, trying to eliminate some obvious faulty or just plain wrong suppositions and starting to build a coherent timeline and case is *exactly* what will be part of the invariable basis of any investigation and lawsuit. So why doesn't the media just start asking some of these questions now... to ask *everyone* before everyone gets so personally entrenched in this that they're susceptible to influences.

I'm not saying Chad's lying. I'm not saying eyewitnesses are lying. I'm not even saying the cops are lying. I'm saying an effective media (especially one who knows that this event is going to shine a dark light on Fort Worth, regardless) should be doing some investigatin' of its own at this point. Because I don't give a shit that this happened at a gay bar; a raid that ends in anyone getting injured like this is a failed raid. Period. I'd like to think the same people upset about this raid would be just as upset if the bar patrons were urban cowboys or an university/artsy crowd or any other group not traditionally associated with violence ('cept rednecks... they's trouble, man).
Posted by Your Name Here]]> Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:10:21 -0700 The Stranger owns Ft. Worth by the time this is done. I want to see Ft. Chad or Ft. Rainbow pinned on the map of Texas.
Posted by Uriel-238]]> Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:24:39 -0700 The Stranger
That being said, they'll probably get off. It is Southern Baptist Central and juries are still 12 people too dumb to get out of jury duty.
Posted by yucca flower]]> Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:36:50 -0700 The Stranger Hey Guys-
Lets move this party over to my place;
ICU room #311....
Posted by byoIV]]> Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:39:19 -0700 The Stranger Has anyone seen my brain?
I think it rolled under that barstool...
Posted by funfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfun!!!]]> Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:37:16 -0700 The Stranger Posted by those were good times...]]> Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:27:28 -0700 The Stranger
I will say this, if cops could do that up here in New England, I'd never go out. Who wants to be there for cops to suddenly come in, bark questions at you, detain you, require you to show ID, and possibly arrest and assault you, all because you decided to go out to have FUN?! I don't think so. I'm surprised any of you in Texas actually go out to bars, knowing this could happen. Or do you all just have one drink, because any more and you could be publicly drunk? Yeah, that must be it, especially at all the straight bars, none of you must drink too much because the cops don't cause head injuries in straight bars.

And while I Seriously doubt any of these men groped the officers, that does not give anyone the right to cause broken bones and head injuries.

Did anyone see that rotten editorial over the weekend by the Fort Worth Newspaper? I came on here looking to see if Dan had mentioned it, it was pretty bad.
Posted by acoolerclimate]]> Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:23:49 -0700 The Stranger

Posted by merry]]> Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:33:15 -0700 The Stranger
Fallacy: argument to moderation [also known as the 'gray fallacy']
Posted by Greg]]> Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:13:44 -0700 The Stranger
Oh, and I'm going to conveniently forget about all the eyewitness testimony and photographs showing Gibson all bloodied up at the bottom of a fucking cop dogpile. Then I'm going to claim that my doubts are due to a desire to be objective until I receive more evidence. Then I'll probably ignore that evidence, too, and say that anyone who pays attention to real evidence that favors one side over another is being biased. See how that works?

If I always take the middle road automatically, I can be just as intellectually lazy as an extremist, but can still pretend to be thoughtful and unbiased! How convenient!
Posted by Bonefish]]> Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:44:31 -0700 The Stranger Posted by breakdown]]> Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:27:31 -0700 The Stranger
Thank you for the links.

I, too, am glad to hear that Gibson is doing well.
Posted by kim in portland]]> Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:20:43 -0700 The Stranger
If all you want t o find is likemindedness, please google the phrayde

"the daily me"

You will find everything you have be confirmed by your own bias there.

YEAH! ME AND MY OPINIONS! THE DAILY ME!

GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME
Posted by Parker Todd]]> Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:12:24 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Bauhaus I]]> Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:49:39 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Massive Attack]]> Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:20:39 -0700 The Stranger http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/us/05t…

and the LA Times:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/…

Much to the dismay of the FWPD, this story isn't going away any time soon.
Posted by jasonzenobia]]> Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:08:32 -0700 The Stranger
Bad cops. Welcome to the rest of America.
Posted by Gomez]]> Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:46:59 -0700 The Stranger
I am very glad he is doing better and will stand up for himself in Texas. I am much too young to have every remembered a time where this was common and probably too naive to think why it wasn't reported.

Trolls: Yes, traumatic head injury causes memory loss.
Posted by clearlyhere]]> Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:40:44 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Sometimes Drunks fall down. Really.]]> Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:40:14 -0700 The Stranger Posted by franky]]> Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:29:21 -0700 The Stranger