It Hurts Just To Read This

Holy owies, Batman!

A woman who ripped off her ex-boyfriend's testicle with her bare hands has been sent to prison.

Amanda Monti, 24, flew into a rage when Geoffrey Jones, 37, rejected her advances at the end of a house party, Liverpool Crown Court heard. She pulled off his left testicle and tried to swallow it, before spitting it out.

A friend handed it back to Mr Jones saying: "That's yours."

...

The pair remained on good terms and on 30 May she picked him up from a party in Crosby and went back for drinks with friends at Mr Jones's house. An argument ensued and Mr Jones said there was a struggle between them. In his statement, Mr Jones said she grabbed his genitals and "pulled hard".

He added: "That caused my underpants to come off and I found I was completely naked and in excruciating pain."

The court heard that a friend saw Monti put Mr Jones's testicle into her mouth and try to swallow it. She choked and spat it back into her hand before the friend grabbed it and gave it back to Mr Jones. Doctors were unable to re-attach the organ. In a letter to the court, Monti said she was sorry for what she had done.

Court Decision Gives Police Extraordinary Powers To Lie And Steal

Wired

Ascension Alverez-Tejeda and his girlfriend were stopped at a traffic light near La Pine Oregon, and when the light turned green, the car in front of them stalled. Alverez-Tejeda stopped in time but a pickup truck behind him rear-ended him. When he got out to look at his bumper, the police showed up and arrested the truck driver for drinking and driving. The cops then convinced Alverez-Tejeda and his girlfriend to go to a nearby parking lot, ordered them out of their car and into in the back of the cop car for 'processing.' While they were in the cruiser, a person jumped in their car and took off. The cops ordered the pair out and set off in full pursuit up the road. A few minutes later, the stolen car comes flying back down the road with the police cruiser in pursuit. The pursuing officer returns alone with the woman's purse, telling the duo that the carjacker thrown it out the car window and escaped. The woman is so upset she hurls and the police put the distraught couple up in a motel.

What's really scary is the Ninth Court of Appeals ruling that this type of activity - causing a car accident, stealing a car, stealing the personal effects of the occupants - is legal.

So what happens when they do this to the wrong person, an innocent person in a case of mistaken identity which happens?

Tough shit?

Ever Heard Of A Taser?

(Updated below)

Completely avoidable

A 15-year-old boy is listed in critical but stable condition at Cooper Hospital after being shot by police outside a private Willingboro school for special needs students.

Burlington County prosecutor Robert Bernardi says the incident began when police arrived at the Garfield Park Academy on Glenolden Lane. Several 911 calls regarding an out of control male had been reported. Police found the teenage special needs student armed with a pair of scissors, in the lobby of the school.

...

The student was shot in the abdomen and chest. He has undergone emergency surgery at Cooper. Willingboro police are witholding the identity of the teen.

Even with the first demonstration drawing pictures with a non-Stinger style taser, from 12 to 15 feet, the child could have been subdued and incapacitated for an arrest.

Yet what amazes me about this is that on almost every recent episode of C.O.P.S. I've watched, all of the police carry tasers either in their car or on their person. And although I disagree with indiscriminate use or abuse in an educational environment, I believe it's the right tool in the right place for controlling a potentially violent or lethal scene from escalating, within reason.

But since:

"He then went outside of the lobby area, went out onto the property area.

and

The officers were attempting to persuade the individual to drop the weapon, gave him repeated commands, the student refused to do so...

before it even got to

and at one point, made an aggressive movement toward the officer

Bang. Out comes the taser. Situation under control and no 15 year old's with two bullets wounds putting them in the hospital in critical, but stable condition.

(Update) - Seems the use of Tasers by police in New Jersey isn't allowed

But to Steve Tuttle, the shooting shows a flaw in New Jersey law. He's the spokesman for Taser International, an Arizona-based company that makes nonlethal weapons that can disable an attacker with an electric shock.

New Jersey, he said, is the only state where police are not allowed to use the devices, commonly called Taser guns.

"The difference we make is we could have been a tool that could have been chosen," said Tuttle.

The gun-shaped devices deliver 50,000 volts through two darts connected to wires extending up to 35 feet. A pulsed electric current travels through the wires, over-stimulating the nervous system and causing muscles to lock up. After a 5-second jolt, the subject generally regains muscle control immediately.

I think this case clearly highlights the need to change that law, then.