Reply #47: I was viciously attacked on this board, even as I lay in a hospital [View All]

from the same nasty people who are attacking protestors now...it was the March 22, 2003..a United States Park Police officer hit me with his police car...some people on the DU board (the very same people attacking again) called me liar, demanded the incident reports, and when I gave posted the incident reports, they still attacked me, viciously, mercilessly and cruelly, claiming that nobody ever gets hurt in these protests, that the police wouldn't do that...the same nasty people have accused me just recently (on DU) of lying and say I can't be trusted because of the post shown here from the March 22nd anti-war protest...there are tons of medical records, it took 5 months before I could stand up again, and then, only with canes....and now I marched again...and surprise...attacked again on DU !!! by the same people, who now show more posts, and appear to many as regular DU posters...vicious and underhanded, cruel..they know how to spin things, distort things, and they are very good at it, posting just close enough to keep from gettting tombstoned and adding little seeds of suggestions and innuendos everywhere...they came here right after the January 18, 2003, when bush* minions realized that WE THE PEOPLE were standing up....

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Here's the report that I posted, and for which some DUers felt the necessity to attack (one of the attackers is posting here on this thread right now)....

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Incident numbers for this report:

United States Park Police (Department of Interior), Incident #7389, 14:30 hrs., 03/22/2003, injured person, 16th and E St.

District of Columbia - Emergency Medical Services, Incident #F030031265, 14:21 hrs., 03/22/2003, vehicle-pedestrian, 1600 E. St., responded to by Engine 23 and Medic 1, transport to George Washington Hospital Emergency.

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CONGRESS SHALL MAKE NO LAW RESPECTING AN ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGION, OR PROHIBITING THE FREE EXERCISE THEREOF; OR ABRIDGING THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH, OR OF THE PRESS; OR THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE PEACEABLY TO ASSEMBLE, AND TO PETITION THE GOVERNMENT FOR A REDRESS OF GRIEVANCES.

(The Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution was ratified on December 15, 1791)


It was a beautiful day in the District of Columbia, Saturday March 22, 2003. I arrived late for the 12 noon event at the White House. It was about 1 PM, and I rose up the escalator at the Navy-Memorial Metro (subway train) stop on Pennsylvania Avenue, Southeast of the White House. The journey on the Metro had been uplifting. There were cheers and support from passengers who noticed my sign, thumbs up from the Metro train drivers and support people, several people decided to also go to the White House, people on the platform chatting about their pro-peace stance and giving encouragement. My simple two-sided sign read: "God said: Thou Shalt Not Kill" and on the other side" "Bush is a War Criminal". As I walked up Pennsylvania Avenue toward the White House event, people asked me to pose for photos, cheered from their passing cars, gave me the "thumbs up" and encouraging words from an outdoor restaurant. Little children really liked the "God says: Thou Shalt Not Kill". They asked their parents questions like "is that the war?" "are we killing people?". There were only two irate guys during the walk up Pennsylvania Avenue. They shouted at me "It's murder, not killing, don't you know the difference..murder, that's what it's all about, stupid." I did not speak, simple held my sign. "God says: Thou Shalt Not Kill" seemed to boggle the minds of the pro-war agitators. The pro-war, anti-first amendment people seem troubled by the commandment. Their moral confusion was fascinating to hear. Four times during my Pro-Peace walk, I heard this idea "it's murder, not killing, stupid". Such lame statements must come from some ditto-head limbaugh-type hate-radio host.

As I got closer to the White House, there were bigger crowds. The entire White House area was an amazing fortress, looking more like a war-torn, military-protected third-world type embassy, buttressed by lots and lots of those ugly concrete highway crash barricades (some two or three deep), high chain line fences, metal barricades, and heavy metal police officers (with clubs and serious guns) lining all the streets, snipers on the roof. The People's House has really gone to the dogs.



This photo was taken on the North side of the White House. There were lots of people taking pictures of me and my sign, some requesting the "God says: Thou Shalt Not Kill" sign, while others wanted the other side "Bush is a War Criminal". There were many "thumbs up" and cheers. Lots of supportive people were random tourists, visiting OUR Nation's Capital to show their children the front line of our democracy. A Philadelphia Catholic priest stopped to tell me that he was proud of my sign "God says: Thou Shalt Not Kill". He noted that some pro-peace people wrongly took God's name in vain (violating another commandment). The priest had blessings and prayers for me.

In the photo, there is a veteran hugging me. He told me that he was Pro-PEACE and he held a sign "Vote to Impeach". I just met him and we stood together for photographers. He was standing next to a pro-WAR Veteran who held some kind of military flag (which was difficult to see, because the flag was hanging down along a pole). Part of the flag can be seen. As I joined these two Veterans, the pro-WAR Veteran told me that he objected to my sign. I said nothing. Then he said that he respected my right to speak, and it was OK for me to stand there. So the three of us stood there for a long time for photographers. The pro-PEACE Veteran with a "Vote to Impeach" sign, the pro-WAR Veteran with some kind of flag, and me with a "Bush is a War Criminal". We were all respecting each others right to freedom of speech, with the White House behind us.

As I read the papers the next day, I realize that I missed the main marching event. As many other pro-peace people, I had simply gone to the White House and walked around the entire complex. There were plenty of pro-PEACE people walking around the White House fortifications. With such large crowds, it was easy to mistake it for the main event. For the most part, my peace walk was extremely uplifting. People cheered, gave thumbs-up, passing pedestrians whispered "thank-you", cars honked.

There was one small, but sad encounter along the east side of the sprawling White House fortifications. A family group saw my sign: Dad, Mom, and three young girls. The girls were real happy to see the commandment so prominently displayed and were asking their parents about the war killing, and telling them how they learned this famous commandment in school. So I paused for a moment and stood humbly to the side of the very-wide sidewalk, quietly standing with my sign "God says: Thou Shalt Not Kill". Both the dad and mom suddenly got very angry: "Get your sign out of here, we've seen it already. These are children, how dare you show them that sign". Then, young girls displayed fear and confusion on their faces. As their dad became increasingly vocal, they hid from him near their mom. This was followed by cursing, using God's name in vain, and then the dad spit on the commandment right in front of his children and called me a *--** -* coward. I said a prayer for them. Blessed are the children.

As I came to the South side of the White House, there were more tourists trying to photograph the White House. It was a beautiful day, but sadly, the tourists' view was very impeded by concrete and metal barricades, snipers, and heavy police presence. On the South side of the White House, the street was totally closed to vehicle traffic with a series of blockades on both ends. There is a large tall black metal fence along the entire South side of the White House grounds. Adjacent to the black metal fence, the entire pedestrian sidewalk was also closed. Several major concrete/metal barricades were run along the street, parallel to the black fence. The police were allowing and directing pedestrians into only two of their barricaded corridors, the furthest from the White House. One of these barricaded corridors included part of the street, the curb, and a dirt area, the other included a dirt area and a sidewalk with a final barricade running along the entire South side.

First in the outer barricaded corridor, I held my sign for photographs, and several people asked me to go around into the closer pedestrian corridor. People wanted better photo views of my sign with the White House. I exited the outer pedestrian corridor to the West side, where police controlled entry and exit to both pedestrian corridors. As some people left each corridor, police signaled that others could enter. With other pedestrians, I waited on the West end, while two police cars came through the closer pedestrian corridor. The police officer said those were "emergency vehicles" and we could enter after they passed through. As the cars had moved through the corridor, they occasionally stopped and sounded to encourage people's movement toward the sides of the corridor.
After the cars cleared the corridor, the officer directed me and others to enter that corridor, where we joined about 30 people already there.

As I got into the main White House view, there were lots of people taking pictures. About 25 white-uniformed Navy officers entered the outer pedestrian corridor, standing along the outer barricade, smiling, giving me the "thumbs-up", especially as I raised the "bush is a war criminal" side of my sign. There were at least 100 people in the outer pedestrian corridor, looking toward my sign with the White House behind me. As I turned the sign around to the "God says: Thou Shalt Not Kill" and cameras were in action. There were people cheering. An IndyMedia reporter came in front of me with a microphone and asked about my sign. I was standing very close to the curb. The reporter was on the dirt area while I spoke into his microphone. Just as I noted that my sign came from the ten commandments, suddenly I was hit by a police car on my right side.

The police officer, who hit me with the car, had made no attempt to warn me. As I rolled backwards onto the passenger corner of the car hood, I saw the driver's menacing face. Suddenly standing precariously next to the vehicle, I took one step and fell onto the pavement right next the curb. It was just sheer luck that I hadn't rolled into a fatal position under the wheel. Another police officer was yelling at me: "get up….get up before we run you down again….you're in the way of our car, get out of here or we'll hit you again." I was in horrible pain. I told the officer that I was injured and could not walk. He continued to yell about hitting me again if I did not get out of the way. The car engine began to rev, and the car moved forward. As the car began to back up, with a major effort, I saved myself by desperately crawling and pulling myself up over the curb. Then, the car was right next to the curb and inches from my head. The officer continued to yell "you're still in our way, get out of here, stand up and get out of here." I went into a major medical shock. The effort had taken it all out of me.

So there I was. A middle-aged, tax-paying, law-abiding American woman on the dirt in front of the White House. My friends told me that the police delayed even calling an ambulance for a very unacceptable amount of time. The police focused only on telling me to get up and leave, and filling out their version on incident forms. Police ordered witnesses to say that I deliberately walked into their car. I was left in the dirt, in a slumped position, in medical shock, with my sign "God says: Thou Shalt Not Kill" prominently displaced next to me. There were at least 100 people watching. No one was allowed assist me. The main officer continued to interrogate the IndyMedia reporter and my brave young friend, who demanded that they call an ambulance. The police harassed them and were very threatening. The officer refused to allow the IndyMedia reporter and my friend to be witnesses (both refused to say that I ran into the car, as the officer demanded).

Although one officer claimed to be a paramedic, he did nothing to stabilize me, just yelled about how I was being uncooperative. When the ambulance finally arrived, the police did not allow the emergency vehicle to use the barricaded corridor where I was located. The police insisted that the ambulance enter a farther away barricaded corridor. To get me into the ambulance, paramedics had to strap me to a very narrow board, and slowly lift me over TWO major barricades. This was a lengthy, time-consuming, cumbersome, and dangerous effort for both me and the paramedics. My friends told me that another pro-peace person took my sign, promising that it would be seen again. When I got to GW Hospital, I was treated for life-threatening medical shock. There were several medical personnel there when I finally regained consciousness following intravenous injections. The doctor whispered in my ear "They tried to kill you."

After many hours, my condition was stabilized through a series of medical interventions. It seemed like forever, but I was stabilized, and I was conscious, and wonderful people had saved my life! The doctors treated me for possible tetanus, due to my abrasions, and cuts, and being forced to crawl onto the dirt with open wounds. They attended to the risk of infection. The assault has badly injured me. My injuries are listed as "Car vs. Body" and the follow up is Orthopedic Surgeon and Internal Medicine Doctor, with Tylenol/ Codeine for pain control. As I lay injured in the Emergency room (and a lot of dirt was brought in on me), I prayed for the people of Iraq that we are killing with our tax dollars. The Iraqis do not have any medical facilities or trained personnel like the people who saved my life. Unlike so many Americans today, I am fortunate to have medical insurance. Our country is spending so much money on killing, and so little on Americans' necessary medical care. I will forever be grateful to the DC Fire Department/Paramedics, and the caring people at the GW Hospital Emergency Department.

These White House thugs are defended by John Ashcroft's Justice Department. Our rights to free speech are being dissolved. On March 22, 2003, the White House police attempted to murder a 52 year-old law-abiding woman, in front of over 100 people. And now we are Germany in 1939. What will YOU do? Your silence encourages the next step.