Rising Hegemon
Patrick J. Dorismond (1974-2000) was the father of two children, an off-duty security guard and a Haitian immigrant who was killed by an undercover NYPD officer on the evening of March 15, 2000. The undercover police officer--who approached Dorismond and his friend who were standing outside the Wakamba Cocktail Lounge--asked him where he and his partners could purchase crack cocaine. One of the officers, Anthony Vasquez, shot Patrick Dorismond in the chest after a scuffle...On March 12, 2003 the City of New York agreed to pay the Dorismond family $2.25 million to settle a suit filed on behalf of the family.
Much of the controversy over the Dorismond shooting revolved around then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani who was then in the midst of an aborted Senate campaign. His unauthorized release of Dorismond's sealed juvenile delinquency record immediately after the shooting raised the ire of the African-American community as well as critics of the Mayor. The Mayor's office defended the release, which violated a state law, by arguing that the law requiring the sealing of juvenile records should not apply to a dead person. No such exception is found in the words of the statute. In addition his comments on a Fox News program were seen as insensitive and overly critical of Dorismond: "People do act in conformity very often with their prior behavior... (the media) would not want a picture presented of an altar boy, when in fact, maybe it isn't an altar boy, it's some other situation that may justify, more closely, what the police officer did." In fact, not only was Dorismond an altar boy when younger, but he also went to the same private Catholic high school as Giuliani, Bishop Loughlin in Brooklyn.
Rich, Republican and White Guy:
"I think what the judge did today [to Scooter Libby] argues more in favor of a pardon because this is excessive punishment," Giuliani said.
Yeah, because 30 months in jail for perjury and obstructing justice is no where near as fitting a punishment as killing a guy because he didn't like being considered a drug dealer.
Patrick Desmond could have been other "brown" people of course; Abner Loiuma, Amadou Diallo, etc.
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