TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

You There! Assume The Position

ADVERTISEMENT

By DANIEL RUTH, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 14, 2008

If you didn't know any better, you would have thought the film footage coming out of the Orient Road Jail, of ham-handed thugs masquerading as guards, was something out of "Cool Hand Luke."

About the only thing missing as quadriplegic Brian Sterner was dumped out of his wheelchair by a so-called officer of the law was a lip-smacking Strother Martin saying with a sneer, "What we've got here is ... failure to communicate."

You have to believe Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee was having one of those Southwest Airlines "Wanna get away?" moments of mortification as he was attending a Florida Sheriffs Association meeting in Jacksonville, only to learn his underlings were turning the jail into Torquemada meets "Macon County Line."

There you are one moment walking around in all that spit and polish and brass - the very pillar of law and order professionalism - only to be embarrassed in front of your peers by your employees, who have decided to treat a crippled man in a wheelchair to "Uday and Qusay's Big Adventure."

Fiendish Desperado

Sterner was hardly some fiendish desperado.

On Jan. 29, the 32-year-old Sterner, who has been quadriplegic since a 1994 wrestling accident, was arrested at his Riverview home on a third-degree felony charge of fleeing a traffic accident.

While being booked into the Orient Road hoosegow, Sterner was ordered by Detention Deputy Charlette Marshall-Jones to stand up.

Apparently the fact that Sterner was sitting in a wheelchair at the time was not enough of a - CLUE!!!!!!!!!! - that the suspect might, just might, have had a teeny bit of an issue when it came to standing up.

Clues are like that, elusive buggers that they are.

Indeed, Marshall-Jones was having none of this obvious malingering. And as cameras in the booking area whirred away, the deputy walked behind the prisoner's wheelchair and unceremoniously dumped Sterner to the floor.

Fun, Fun, Fun

Who knows? Maybe Marshall-Jones had just watched a cackling Richard Widmark shove a woman using a wheelchair down a flight of steps in "Kiss of Death," and she simply wanted to see what all the fun was about.

And if the sight of a deputy abusing a prisoner wasn't enough to make you wonder whether Marshall-Jones received her training at Abu Ghraib, also caught on camera was Cpl. Steve Dickey, who appeared to be grinning. Classy guy.

To be sure, disciplinary measures are afoot, and Sterner has retained the services of lawyer John Trevena. No good will come from this, especially for the dolts running the jail.

It's merely supposition, but is it possible that after a period of time, the bumpkins with badges simply become inured to the suffering of people, assuming that every prisoner who comes through the door, even in a wheelchair, is lying, scamming or faking?

Sorta makes you wonder who is really handicapped here, doesn't it?

Keyword: Book of Ruth, to read and comment on Daniel Ruth's blog.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT