A Female Passenger on Benson's Boat Called for Help

[DaBoys4Life]

Want a cookie?

no just a degree

 

[DaBoys4Life]

Well then once you graduate you can work on freeing all these "innocent" people wrongfully jailed

no that won't work we must have to find a way to improve the system overall and then the people wrongfully jailed would have to be released afterwards.

 

[Hostile]

no just a degree

Good luck. I hope once you get it you do more with it than I saw in this thread.

I do not mean that as an insult.

 

[Bach]

When athlete's say "it's not about the money" - it's about the money.

When someone says "I don't mean that as an insult." They mean it as an insult.

 

[heavyg]

no that won't work we must have to find a way to improve the system overall and then the people wrongfully jailed would have to be released afterwards.

Well good luck with that. Since the system in this country is the best in the world. I don't see any way of improving it. The accused is given every opportunity. As a matter of fact it is up to the prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the accused is guilty. Then the decision falls to a jury of the accused peers.

 

[DaBoys4Life]

What an interesting thread.

At this point we really just do not know what happened, but obviously either scenario could be true or a portion of each.

I think most people drawn conclusions from their own life experiences, but like I have told my wife several times, assumptions are dangerous.

I have had several life experiences that hold completely with what Benson and his friends are saying.

YES, there are definetly police who profile whether it is status, race, or whatever.

Growing up I always had friends of different races, I am white. I can not tell you how many times we where involved with Police Officers who where pulling us over, questioning us or whatever, the majority of those times, they did not even ask me a question, usually just had me stand to the side while they searched my friends, had them on the ground in cuffs or even arrested them for reasons they had no cause. What an eye openeing experience this was.
It is just wrong and sadly does happen way to often.

On the other hand their are good Police officers and those who have enough sense to handle things the right way and do their job with integrity.
While the offenders will say what is needed to get off the hook.

I think the lesson in a situation here is dont assume, none of us where there, we do not know what really happened, either case could be true.

Hopefully the truth comes out.

Thats the thing our court system isn't about finding the truth. It is about prooving beyond reasonable doubt. What is reasonable doubt? How vague is thaT?

 

[Hostile]

The Bored Queen sure has some powerful Koolaid.

 

[JohnnyHopkins]

Well good luck with that. Since the system in this country is the best in the world. I don't see any way of improving it. The accused is given every opportunity. As a matter of fact it is up to the prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the accused is guilty. Then the decision falls to a jury of the accused peers.

You could improve the punishment by forcing them to read the Cowboys Zone during the offseason or taking a college course with DaBoys.

 

[heavyg]

You could improve the punishment by forcing them to read the Cowboys Zone during the offseason or taking a college couse with DaBoys.

LOL...when I worked in the prison I always found it funny that in the min security prisons they had wall to wall carpet, micro-waves two tvs per dorm with CABLE. A commissary that would rival most mini-marts. Yet they complained about living conditions. Oh forgot to mention they have air conditioning and forced heat

 

[Hostile]

LOL...when I worked in the prison I always found it funny that in the min security prisons they had wall to wall carpet, micro-waves two tvs per dorm with CABLE. A commissary that would rival most mini-marts. Yet they complained about living conditions. Oh forgot to mention they have air conditioning and forced heat

Not in Maricopa County Arizona.

 

[dallasfaniac]

LOL...when I worked in the prison I always found it funny that in the min security prisons they had wall to wall carpet, micro-waves two tvs per dorm with CABLE. A commissary that would rival most mini-marts. Yet they complained about living conditions. Oh forgot to mention they have air conditioning and forced heat

What about the toilets. Were they metal without butt warmers?

 

[adamknite]

Thats the thing our court system isn't about finding the truth. It is about prooving beyond reasonable doubt. What is reasonable doubt? How vague is thaT?

Stop whinning about it and start coming up with a solution if you dislike it so much. How would you change it huh? What system would you put into place, that is completely perfect? You're not telling us what would be better, you're just picking apart what you don't like.

You're moaning and crying about everything, yet you have no reason behind why you are. You make broad statements with no factual evidence and your assessments of the legal process seem skewed because you don't sound like you know what you're talking about.

And to top matters off, if you're a criminal justice major, then I'm losing faith in our legal system, because I know I don't want somebody who thinks it's ok for a taxi driver to not pick up a black man because "he may not pay", having anything to do with our laws. You are coming off as part of the problem, not like part of a solution.

 

[JohnnyHopkins]

LOL...when I worked in the prison I always found it funny that in the min security prisons they had wall to wall carpet, micro-waves two tvs per dorm with CABLE. A commissary that would rival most mini-marts. Yet they complained about living conditions. Oh forgot to mention they have air conditioning and forced heat

No TiVo? Surely that place is the lair of Satan!

 

[heavyg]

What about the toilets. Were they metal without butt warmers?

No butt warmers but they did have dividing walls.....lol

 

[adamknite]

LOL...when I worked in the prison I always found it funny that in the min security prisons they had wall to wall carpet, micro-waves two tvs per dorm with CABLE. A commissary that would rival most mini-marts. Yet they complained about living conditions. Oh forgot to mention they have air conditioning and forced heat

...... That sounds better than my college dorm.... and I was paying to stay in there.......

 

[heavyg]

...... That sounds better than my college dorm.... and I was paying to stay in there.......

Some got paid up to $50 per month for "jobs" they had inside. I know $50 doesnt sound like much but when you consider they got everything else free thats not a bad deal at all.....lol I have heard some say they were on vacation. They used to call our place Camp Snoopy.

 

[WoodysGirl]

And in other news....


BENSON HIRES LAWYER TO FIGHT CHARGES

Posted by Michael David Smith on May 8, 2008, 2:04 p.m.

Bears running back Cedric Benson, who says he was mistreated by officers who pepper sprayed him during a weekend boating excursion, has hired a new lawyer as he prepares to fight charges of boating while intoxicated and resisting arrest, the Austin American-Statesman is reporting.

“I do not believe from what I’ve been told that Cedric was intoxicated,” lawyer Sam Bassett said. “I do not believe he was aggressive toward an officer to warrant being pepper sprayed.”

Meanwhile, the paper reports that former Texas linebacker Aaron Harris also was on Benson’s boat, and that Harris said he took pictures of Benson while he was undergoing a field sobriety test and being arrested, pictures that he plans to give to Benson’s lawyer.

Harris is the fiancé of Elizabeth Cartwright, another passenger on the boat, who told the Chicago Tribune that Benson wasn’t drunk and was mistreated by police.

On the night in question, Cartwright says she called her father and told him “to call 911 and tell them my black friend is getting beat up by cops,” possibly suggesting that Cartwright believed the police targeted Benson because he is black. The Lower Colorado River Authority, which made the arrest, says that in the last five years, its officers have made 457 arrests on the lake, and that 428 of the people arrested were white and 10 were black.

The American-Statesman reports that Bassett will represent Benson in a preliminary hearing on May 19 in front of a Travis County administrative judge

 

[heavyg]

Meanwhile, the paper reports that former Texas linebacker Aaron Harris also was on Benson’s boat, and that Harris said he took pictures of Benson while he was undergoing a field sobriety test and being arrested, pictures that he plans to give to Benson’s lawyer.

I do not see how still pictures are going to prove if he was intoxicated or not. You might be able to tell if there was a video

 

[Vintage]

Well good luck with that. Since the system in this country is the best in the world. I don't see any way of improving it. The accused is given every opportunity. As a matter of fact it is up to the prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the accused is guilty. Then the decision falls to a jury of the accused peers.

How does one determine who has the best system in the world?

Seems pretty subjective to me. Especially when you consider many western European states have similar systems as we do.

 

[adamknite]

I do not see how still pictures are going to prove if he was intoxicated or not. You might be able to tell if there was a video

Why would the officers allow Harris to take pictures of it? I don't know if that would be breaking a law (I figure not) but it seems a little weird that while they're administering this test, they let Harris just stand there snapping pictures.

Also, maybe he's just hoping there's something on the pictures that would help. You know, like a "it can't hurt to try" situation.