Next Week, on CSI...
Dec. 22nd, 2006 07:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
saint_monkeyTeen fights removal of bullet from forehead.
A gang in Port Arthur Texas tried to rob a used car lot. The owner, Alan Olive, (a competetive marksman,) returned fire, and struck one gang member (the one he says shot at him,) in the head.
Police investigating the robbery spoke to gang members, who pointed to Joshua Bush, who happens to have a bullet lodged in his skull, right in the middle of his forehead. (Kinda like the mark of Cain, if you ask me.) Bush told the police he was injured playing basketball, and later told doctors that he was struck by a stray bullet while sitting at home on his couch, (once again we are reminded of the dangers of a sedentary lifestyle.)
My favorite quote from the story:
Yeah, the bullet in the forehead just cements that argument into place, doesn't it?
From a search and seizure aspect, it's pretty darn interesting. The kid has a right to be secure in his person, (your skull is pretty much your property, imho) but the bullet is in plain sight, and the police have pretty clear cut probable cause. No matter how it works out, crimlaw students will see this one on an exam, I think.
A gang in Port Arthur Texas tried to rob a used car lot. The owner, Alan Olive, (a competetive marksman,) returned fire, and struck one gang member (the one he says shot at him,) in the head.
"I just can't believe I missed him at that distance," Olive, a competitive pistol shooter, said in court papers. Olive told authorities he never saw the man's face in the dark alley.
Police investigating the robbery spoke to gang members, who pointed to Joshua Bush, who happens to have a bullet lodged in his skull, right in the middle of his forehead. (Kinda like the mark of Cain, if you ask me.) Bush told the police he was injured playing basketball, and later told doctors that he was struck by a stray bullet while sitting at home on his couch, (once again we are reminded of the dangers of a sedentary lifestyle.)
A judge took the unusual step of issuing a search warrant to retrieve the bullet from Bush's head in October...(removal) was postponed...after the hospital decided not to participate for reasons it would not discuss.
Prosecutors said they continue to look for a doctor or hospital willing to remove the bullet.
All sides agree that removing the bullet would not be life-threatening. But Bush's family and attorney say it would be a violation of the teenager's civil rights and set a dangerous precedent.
"When the medical profession divorces itself from its own responsibility and makes itself an arm of the state, it's a dangerous path," said Rife Kimler, Bush's lawyer...
"It truly is a moral quandary," Caplan said. "Doctors are caught between wanting to help solve crimes and their responsibility to patients' rights to refuse a procedure."
My favorite quote from the story:
Tammie Bush, the teen's mother, disputed allegations her son is a gang member.
"We know he's not a criminal," she said. "He's a good kid."
Yeah, the bullet in the forehead just cements that argument into place, doesn't it?
From a search and seizure aspect, it's pretty darn interesting. The kid has a right to be secure in his person, (your skull is pretty much your property, imho) but the bullet is in plain sight, and the police have pretty clear cut probable cause. No matter how it works out, crimlaw students will see this one on an exam, I think.
