Government has no duty to protect anyone

[KaosTheory]

A local article I thought you all might be interesting in.
KT

The Capital News Paper, Tuesday, March 7, 2006

County denies liability in killing

Says operators in botched 911 call had no legal responsibility to help victim
By Eric Hartley Staff Writer

Baltimore – Anne Arundel County can’t be sued for botching an emergency call about a Glen Burnie woman’s 2001 killing because 911 operators and police have no legal duty to help someone being abducted, assaulted or murdered, a county lawyer told a federal judge yesterday.
The family of Yvette Beakes, however, said she might still be alive if a 911 dispatcher had told officers about the 26-year-old pharmacist’s kidnapping or passed along an eyewitness’ description of her abductor’s van.
“I think my sister could have been saved,” her older brother, Jason Beakes, said in an interview yesterday. “We’ll never know for sure.”
The county fired two employees over the incident and admits mishandling the calls, but now says there was no legal “special relationship” requiring it to help or protect Ms. Beakes.
“As harsh as it may be, the Constitution simply doesn’t impose on government a duty to provide any sort of minimal service to its citizens,” said Assistant County Attorney Andrew J. Murray.
U.S. District Court Judge Marvin J. Garbis tried to see how far Mr. Murray would take the argument.
What if a police car had been in the area, the judge wondered, and Ms. Beakes had run to the car screaming that she was being abducted, but the officer was drunk and refused to help her, leading to her being murdered?
Mr. Murray said the county still wouldn’t be liable unless the officer had actually agreed to help, then failed to do so.
Shaking his head, Judge Garbis said, “I don’t want to go to Anne Arundel County anymore. I’m afraid to go to Anne Arundel county.”
The judge didn’t rule yesterday on the motion to dismiss the case and said he’ll file a written ruling.
Ms. Beakes was heading back from Pickles Pub in Baltimore on Aug. 8, 2001, when she was rear-ended by a van on Arundel Corporation Road in Glen Burnie just before midnight.
When she stopped and got out to exchange insurance information, the men inside grabbed her and threw her into the van, and another man drove off in her car. The captors drove around withdrawing money with Ms. Beakes’ ATM card as she was tied up in the back, even returning to the scene of the crime to look for an accomplice they’d lost.
About three or four hours after abducting her, the men abandoned the van in Baltimore, took Ms. Beakes to a wooded area and shot her dead.
Jamal Barnes, who planned the carjacking to repay a $1,300 debt from cashing a stolen insurance check and who shot Ms. Beakes, was sentenced to life in federal prison. Two other men, one of whom was 16 at the time of the murder, got 45 years each and the youngest – 15 at the time of the murder – got 35 years.

Waiting for help

Ms. Beakes’ mother, LaVerna Cordova, said evidence suggested Ms. Beakes desperately tried to buy time with her abductors, hoping that help was on its way.
It wasn’t.
Dewanda Williams of Glen Burnie, a witness to the abduction, called 911 from a pay phone at 11:58 P.M. but hung up when she didn’t get an answer right away. She called back moments later.
An officer was sent to check out the hang-up call, but meanwhile call-taker Brenda Skinner had answered the second call and was taking down the details of the abduction and description of the van.
Ms. Skinner put the information in the computer system, but made a critical mistake, the lawsuit says.
Instead of creating a new incident report, she simply added to what colleague Idella Gregory had typed about the hang-up call. Dispatcher Dawn Miller, busy with other calls, never saw that information and closed the case out at 12:14 A.M. after the officer went to check on the hang-up and found nothing amiss, the lawsuit says.
Meanwhile, Ms. Skinner told Ms. Williams to wait for police at the scene of the crime rather than continuing to look for help, destroying Ms. Beakes’ only chance at being save, the lawsuit says.
Ms. Skinner and Ms. Miller were fired. Union officials said at the time they were scapegoats and simply did what they’d been trained to do.
No trial date has been set in the lawsuit, which doesn’t seek a specific amount of damages and claims state and federal civil rights violations, wrongful death and negligence.
The lawsuit also names Tampa, Fla.-based Geac Public Safety, which sold the software that runs the county 911 center’s computers, saying the software should have alerted Ms. Miller that new information had been added about what was initially a hang-up call.
An attorney for Geac said yesterday the company had no duty to protect the public from criminals.
Ms. Cordova said she and her son were in court to be a “voice” for Ms. Beakes and to push for changes in the county’s system. They were puzzled by the county’s argument.
“It’s a fascinating theory,” Mr. Beakes said. “If there is no duty for them to provide that service, why are the citizens of that county taxed to provide that service?”

ehartley@capitalgazette.com

[idknow]

Originally Posted by KaosTheory

A local article I thought you all might be interesting in.
KT

The Capital News Paper, Tuesday, March 7, 2006

County denies liability in killing

Says operators in botched 911 call had no legal responsibility to help victim
By Eric Hartley Staff Writer

Baltimore * Anne Arundel County can*t be sued for botching an emergency call about a Glen Burnie woman*s 2001 killing because 911 operators and police have no legal duty to help someone being abducted, assaulted or murdered, a county lawyer told a federal judge yesterday.
The family of Yvette Beakes, however, said she might still be alive if a 911 dispatcher had told officers about the 26-year-old pharmacist*s kidnapping or passed along an eyewitness* description of her abductor*s van.
*I think my sister could have been saved,* her older brother, Jason Beakes, said in an interview yesterday. *We*ll never know for sure.*
The county fired two employees over the incident and admits mishandling the calls, but now says there was no legal *special relationship* requiring it to help or protect Ms. Beakes.
*As harsh as it may be, the Constitution simply doesn*t impose on government a duty to provide any sort of minimal service to its citizens,* said Assistant County Attorney Andrew J. Murray.
U.S. District Court Judge Marvin J. Garbis tried to see how far Mr. Murray would take the argument.
What if a police car had been in the area, the judge wondered, and Ms. Beakes had run to the car screaming that she was being abducted, but the officer was drunk and refused to help her, leading to her being murdered?
Mr. Murray said the county still wouldn*t be liable unless the officer had actually agreed to help, then failed to do so.
Shaking his head, Judge Garbis said, *I don*t want to go to Anne Arundel County anymore. I*m afraid to go to Anne Arundel county.*
The judge didn*t rule yesterday on the motion to dismiss the case and said he*ll file a written ruling.
Ms. Beakes was heading back from Pickles Pub in Baltimore on Aug. 8, 2001, when she was rear-ended by a van on Arundel Corporation Road in Glen Burnie just before midnight.
When she stopped and got out to exchange insurance information, the men inside grabbed her and threw her into the van, and another man drove off in her car. The captors drove around withdrawing money with Ms. Beakes* ATM card as she was tied up in the back, even returning to the scene of the crime to look for an accomplice they*d lost.
About three or four hours after abducting her, the men abandoned the van in Baltimore, took Ms. Beakes to a wooded area and shot her dead.
Jamal Barnes, who planned the carjacking to repay a $1,300 debt from cashing a stolen insurance check and who shot Ms. Beakes, was sentenced to life in federal prison. Two other men, one of whom was 16 at the time of the murder, got 45 years each and the youngest * 15 at the time of the murder * got 35 years.

Waiting for help

Ms. Beakes* mother, LaVerna Cordova, said evidence suggested Ms. Beakes desperately tried to buy time with her abductors, hoping that help was on its way.
It wasn*t.
Dewanda Williams of Glen Burnie, a witness to the abduction, called 911 from a pay phone at 11:58 P.M. but hung up when she didn*t get an answer right away. She called back moments later.
An officer was sent to check out the hang-up call, but meanwhile call-taker Brenda Skinner had answered the second call and was taking down the details of the abduction and description of the van.
Ms. Skinner put the information in the computer system, but made a critical mistake, the lawsuit says.
Instead of creating a new incident report, she simply added to what colleague Idella Gregory had typed about the hang-up call. Dispatcher Dawn Miller, busy with other calls, never saw that information and closed the case out at 12:14 A.M. after the officer went to check on the hang-up and found nothing amiss, the lawsuit says.
Meanwhile, Ms. Skinner told Ms. Williams to wait for police at the scene of the crime rather than continuing to look for help, destroying Ms. Beakes* only chance at being save, the lawsuit says.
Ms. Skinner and Ms. Miller were fired. Union officials said at the time they were scapegoats and simply did what they*d been trained to do.
No trial date has been set in the lawsuit, which doesn*t seek a specific amount of damages and claims state and federal civil rights violations, wrongful death and negligence.
The lawsuit also names Tampa, Fla.-based Geac Public Safety, which sold the software that runs the county 911 center*s computers, saying the software should have alerted Ms. Miller that new information had been added about what was initially a hang-up call.
An attorney for Geac said yesterday the company had no duty to protect the public from criminals.
Ms. Cordova said she and her son were in court to be a *voice* for Ms. Beakes and to push for changes in the county*s system. They were puzzled by the county*s argument.
*It*s a fascinating theory,* Mr. Beakes said. *If there is no duty for them to provide that service, why are the citizens of that county taxed to provide that service?*

ehartley@capitalgazette.com

the cold, hard, harsh and stark truth is sometimes not palpable.

However, perhaps with all the scoti agreeing in this (Pa SCOTUS has already said this) The People will rise up with private solutions!

Pray!

[charlesa6]

Originally Posted by idknow

the cold, hard, harsh and stark truth is sometimes not palpable.

However, perhaps with all the scoti agreeing in this (Pa SCOTUS has already said this) The People will rise up with private solutions!

Pray!

Amen! Amen to that.

[Akira]

Great post KT !


Yet another shining example !

Originally Posted by KaosTheory

Baltimore – Anne Arundel County can’t be sued for botching an emergency call about a Glen Burnie woman’s 2001 killing because 911 operators and police have no legal duty to help someone being abducted, assaulted or murdered, a county lawyer told a federal judge yesterday.

The county fired two employees over the incident and admits mishandling the calls, but now says there was no legal “special relationship” requiring it to help or protect Ms. Beakes.

“As harsh as it may be, the Constitution simply doesn’t impose on government a duty to provide any sort of minimal service to its citizens,” said Assistant County Attorney Andrew J. Murray.

Mr. Murray said the county still wouldn’t be liable unless the officer had actually agreed to help, then failed to do so.

“It’s a fascinating theory,” Mr. Beakes said. “If there is no duty for them to provide that service, why are the citizens of that county taxed to provide that service?”

[emphasis mine]

USSC says:
"Citizenship is membership in a political society and implies a duty of allegiance on the part of the member and a duty of protection on the part of the society. These are reciprocal obligations, one being a compensation for the other. " LURIA v. UNITED STATES (10/20/13) 231 U.S. 9, 58 L. Ed. 101, 34 S. Ct. 10 [emphasis mine]

No duty to protect = no duty of allegiance = no citizens = no political society = no state = no country

But that doesn't stop them from taxing you..

(read: "Adventures in Legal Land")


For HIS Glory,
Akira

[KaosTheory]

Akira,

Yup, you hit that one right on the head. AiLL all the way.

I thought the judges comment about being afraid to go to Anne Arundel county was funny but I know what he was really thinking

"Oh Boy.... I hope the sheep stay alseep for this one too. Ok....just keep pretending to care...maybe they won't notice."

The lawyer seemed to say it proudly that there were no such things as citizens and that everyone is being scammed.

The last sentence should be in a movie or something. Actually, this whole situation should be made into a movie.

KT

[BOBT12]

Originally Posted by KaosTheory

Akira,

Yup, you hit that one right on the head. AiLL all the way.

I thought the judges comment about being afraid to go to Anne Arundel county was funny but I know what he was really thinking

"Oh Boy.... I hope the sheep stay alseep for this one too. Ok....just keep pretending to care...maybe they won't notice."

The lawyer seemed to say it proudly that there were no such things as citizens and that everyone is being scammed.

The last sentence should be in a movie or something. Actually, this whole situation should be made into a movie.

KT

It appears that We the people should keep tools to protect ourselves.

A few words on the issue of Guns (and Gun Control), thankfully, Guns are still in fashion.

History shows that an unarmed people are often enslaved or destroyed....

Understandably, I grow concerned as I see the (federal/super-state) government on the rise. Growing ever more arrogant and intoxicated with power by the day(IRS intimidation, kangaroo courts throwing good citizens in jail, etc.).

http://www.suijuris.net/forum/genera...ghlight=strong

Pinder v. Johnson, 33 F.3d 368, 372 (4th Circuit 1994):

'Our survey of the legal landscape as it existed in March 1989 indicates, that, in general, members of the public have no constitutional right to be protected by the State from harm inflicted by third parties. E.g., Fox v. Custis, 712 F.2d 84, 88 (4th Cir. 1983); Wells v. Walker, 852 F.2d 368, 370 (8th Cir. 1988), cert. denied, 489 U.S. 1012, 109 S.Ct. 1121, 103 L.Ed.2d 184 (1989); Ketchum v. Alameda County, 811 F.2d 1243, 1247 (9th Cir. 1987); Bowers v. DeVito, 686 F.2d 616, 618 (7th Cir. 1982).

Judge Posner aptly explained the reasoning behind this general principle when he stated in Bowers that:?
The Constitution is a charter of negative liberties;
it tells the state to let people alone; it does not require the federal government or the state to provide services, even so elementary a service as maintaining law and order....{Thus, because there is no} constitutional duty to provide such protection {the state's} failure to do so is not actionable under section 1983.

http://www.atgpress.com/dtom/dt076.htm

[kmcarr]

US armed forces on foreign soil/embassays have no duty to protect citizens or people. They are there to protect the "property" of the US.

[charlesa6]

Originally Posted by kmcarr

US armed forces on foreign soil/embassays have no duty to protect citizens or people. They are there to protect the "property" of the US.

Yep! Unless american citizens run into problems, then they chime in.

[weishaupt1776]

CASTLE ROCK V. GONZALES (04-278) 366 F.3d 1093, (Decided June 27, 2005)
(This was a Title 42 U.S.C. § 1983 & 14th amendment complaint.
[Obvious
problem there]. The court does not say "No Duty, as they worded it
carefully, but if you read the dissenting opinion and then the majority
opinion again you realize that is what they said in so many words very
carefully crafting within a 14th amendment meaning).

Warren v. District of Columbia, 444 A.2d 1 (D.C.App. 1981)
(Court clearly says no duty to protect!)

Moran v. City of Chicago, 676 NE2d 1316, 1323 (1997).
(Court clearly cites common law public duty rule, there is no duty to
protect any individual; presuming the duty is to the whole. Like Marc
says
if McDonalds operated that way you'd think they were insane. We don't
owe a
Big Mac to any particular individual but to the whole of the public.
Well
then who gets it?)

Van Meter v. Darien Park District, 799 N.E.2d 273, 279 (2003)
(I think this is the cite, but it was to remain unpublished by order
of
the IL Supremes under Rule 23. It does not have the actual words "No
Duty"
but the defendants were successful in citing 745 ILCS 10 - The Tort
Immunity
Act).

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs...p?ChapterID=58
(Link to Illinois Compiled Statutes Code - Tort Immunity 745 ILCS)

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs...mmunity+Act%2E
(Link to 745 ILCS 10 - Local Governmetal and Governmental Employees)

Here are some others in Illinois I found but I haven't had time to read
them
yet:

Doe v. Calumet City, 641 N.E.2d 498, 503 (1994).
Leone v. City of Chicago, 619 N.E.2d 119, 121 (1993).
Zimmerman for Zimmerman v. Village of Skokie, 697 N.E.2d 699, 702
(1998).
Calloway v. Kinkelaar, 659 N.E.2d 1322, 1330 (1995).
Lawson v. City of Chicago, 662 N.E.2d 1377 (1996).

Some cases the plaintiffs went after the government based upon 740 ILCS
-
Civil Liabilities, but the defendants cite 745 ILCS, claim no duty, and
the
court agrees. Essentially the only section of Illinois Law that means
anything is 745 ILCS, because when that is brough up as a defense the
court
always agrees; Therefore there is no responsibility or duty on part of
government in illinois to do a damned thing except oppress the
people!).