Last evening, 7-1-09 my wife Pat and I went to a meeting of people interested in The Collective Press. This was the third such meeting we attended in the last three weeks and the second on held at 32 Spanish St. By 7:20 or so we had in attendance my wife Pat and I, Jamin, Ed, Molly, Casey, Marsha (who's home we were meeting in) a new guy friend of theirs we didn't know and Terry who stayed for the important stuff but left before the end of the meeting.We talked about organizing, proposed duties for various members, etc.
Casey spoke about advertising with some of the others adding their opinions about potential ads. Casey showed us his sketch for the David T. Queen cover story he was going to write and illustrate. He also mentioned the $500. he said he could come up with to cover the cost of next issue, including color. The meeting was winding down after about 2 hours so I stood up and said I'd heard enough and was leaving. Casey said he could throw $500. down on the table tonight for the next issue. He reiterated that he could write a check for it "tonight" and I, having heard this before said, "go ahead do it." He got out his wallet and threw down some kind of plastic card. I said, walking to the door, "That's not a check."
At this point Casey jumped up and yelled "Get out of my house!" which I gladly did as I opened the door and stepped out.
Casey then slammed the door shut behind me and I turned to wait on the stoop for my wife to come out.
Instead Casey yanked the door open and reached out with both hands hitting me on my chest and pushing me down the 4 steps onto the paved walk. Luckily I was able to turn and land on my knees and forearms. (see photos following) Otherwise I would have landed on the back of my head and probably would not have gotten up.
By now Pat came out the door yelling at Casey, "What did you do? Why did you push him?"
I had landed on a crock plant pot and broke it and smashed down hard onto the walk. I was bleeding from large lacerations and contusions on both legs, knees, entire right forearm and my chin. Pat helped me up and started checking my injuries. I stumbled to the street and called 911 on my cell phone. I asked for police and said I didn't want medical care as my wife, a nurse, was with me and we could clean up my wounds.
After several minutes Officer Andy Davis (badge #2706) arrived and took statements from Pat and I, then went inside to talk to the people in there.
At some time Officer Anthony Cuthbert arrived and asked a few more questions. He said that he was very familiar with me, "Mr. Pleasant" for the last 12 years. I asked him if he remembered when he and Barry Fox were sent to respond to my call (the only other time I've every called the SAPD in 22 years living here) because an enraged merchant had assaulted me and my video camera on the sidewalk north of the Spanish Garden at St. George & Hypolita as the city workers were closing it off to the public. I was documenting the occasion. Instead of citing the merchant for pushing my camera and it hitting my eye, the police made me write a lengthy statement describing the assault and then gave me a trespass warning forever forbidding me to set foot on that public walkway. The usual SAPD response to complaints against the merchant class. I think Officer Anthony remembered me pretty well. He also appears frequently in my video documentary, "St. Augustine Street Saga" about the banning of the artists and performers from St. George Street.
All of this only matters because last night they did about the same thing. They refused to arrest the assailant, Casey, saying they would file the report with the State's Attorney for any further action. Or not.
And so it stands. All my lacerations and contusions still hurt like hell. The one on my knee will be painful for 6 months or more. I'm on Coumadin so I bleed freely and heal slowly. I have requested the Incident Report from the police and will be posting it on my blog.
I'm still seeking a good personal injury attorney and I think I've found one. I hope to pursue damages for my pain and suffering, punitive damages for assaulting a Senior Citizen and more. The important thing, actually 2 things, about all this is that anyone who would push an aging peace freak survivor of open heart surgery down the steps onto hard pavement is a danger to society as a whole and needs at least to learn something about anger management. The other thing is the SAPD must learn not to choose which cases to act on based on their own prejudices and dislikes and stop always defending the actions of their downtown business click.
Incidentally I just learned that the 2 houses at 32 Spanish St. have been owned by Martha & Ronald Mickler since 1996. Those sound like deep pockets.
I hope someone is listening.
Thanks for your attention. The pictures follow:
No comments:
Post a Comment