Let me preface this broadside by expressing my deepest and sincerest sympathies to the family and friends of 25-year-old John David Davenport, the mentally handicapped young man who lost his life after being arrested by the Fort Smith Police Department this week.
Let me also say that Today in Fort Smith has always been and continues to be a defender of the police and law and order. This tragic situation is more a reflection on society and of the way we interact with individuals with disabilities than it is a condemnation of any agency or individual.
The bottom line?
John David was pronounced brain dead on Thursday and kept alive through today in order to allow procedures to facilitate harvesting of his organs for donation. Having been through the exquisite pain of a 14-month-old granddaughter's heart and lungs being implanted into a another human being after her death, I revel in the sorrow and rejoice in the ultimate act of altruism being the loved one of an organ donor entails.
This is not an exercise in placing blame, albeit there seems to be plenty to go around.
A short review of the situation is that John David was a mentally handicapped individual who was placed in a Bost Inc. group home. He became combative, police were called and he reportedly spat on an officer. He was arrested, taken to jail and given a court date. He failed to appear for that court date and was arrested again and thrown in a cell with another inmate.
And now, he is dead.
Now, let's look at some inevitable truths.
The first failure in a chain of failures here belongs with the caregiver and the group home. How a 100 pound man with the mental capacity of s six-year-old becomes such a threat to a professional in a group home setting to warrant police intervention is inconceivable.
Facts are facts.
Secondly, what type of law enforcement culture embraces a
philosophy that says when faced with a confused, frightened, combative, 100-pound, Elmo-doll carrying, mentally-handicapped person that the right response is to take them to jail in the first place. Human decency dictates some other solution .
Facts are facts.
After his arrest, John David is placed in a cell at the county lock-up with another inmate and supposedly placed on a "15-minute check". He later "falls from his bunk" and suffers traumatic head injuries that result in his death. Evidence may bear out that he suffered a seizure and actually fell off the bunk. But why was he in a cell in general population and on a top bunk to start with?
Facts are facts.
Let's address the court's cupability in all of this . An obviously mentally-challenged individual who should have probably never been arrested in the first place goes before a judge and is given a court appearance date. Having the mental capability of a six-year-old, the inability to provide transportation for himself to the court, and the fact that SOMEONE should have been responsible for making sure he appeared, the solution is to go arrest him again? And throw him in jail?
Facts are facts.
I got the tip on the story from a relative of John David's. I immediately FOIAed the Fort Smith Police Department and to their credit, they responded this morning. I am in the process of trying to get information from the Detention Center and the Sebastian County Sheriff Office as well.
I was appalled today that a sitting city director -- who was CCed on the initial FOIA request -- had the gall to make the statement on social media that the FSPD did the right thing in posting their explanatory statement to get ahead of "rumors and innuendo". He knew from the beginning (or at least after I included him in the email FOIA request) that the incident had occurred.
How callous --in the face of a young man's death --do you have to be that your first response is to go into "CYA" mode? Is it callousness or just business as usual to deflect heat from a seemingly rudderless ship?
Facts are facts.
What he called "rumor and innuendo" has now grown legs after the "real news" (i.e. television talking heads) took what we developed and actually reported something without being given their customary green light. But they're the "real news".
The FSPD, the SCSO, Bost Inc., or the court system didn't kill John Davd. Society did. We don't treat those that most deserve to be treated differently for one reason. Because they ARE different.
And we're just "social media". Just the "messenger".
I've been quiet for awhile. Just paddling the boat trying to stay afloat.
We took some well orchestrated hits in the early spring designed to silence us and run us out of business and it's taken some time to recover.
But I'm old and I'm tired and I'm continually outraged...and I'm done muzzling the truth for the sake of other people's definition of "propriety".
Settling is no longer an option.
To hell with the haters and imitators. I'm done playing.
Systems engaged.