TAMPA, FLA -
Everything just got totally out of control today at what should have been another routine Tampa Code Enforcement Board meeting. Carl Roland Hayes, a 53 year old lawyer, was apparently upset about some type of code matter, and while addressing the board got a little lively. He was not using his "inside voice", according to witnesses. As a matter of fact, Lt. Ronald McMullen of the Tampa Police Department said that Carl was acting "irate", and even "verbally abusive". Lt. McMullen said that a police officer "warned" Carl to refrain from acting irate and being verbally abusive. Then the officer "tased" Carl.
Mr. Carl Roland Hayes, as you can see by glancing to the left real quick, is quite possibly an African-American person. If you look really close, you will see that his skin is darker than that of a stereotypical 53 year old lawyer at a code enforcement board meeting. Now I know what you are saying, same thing I said - "really? I did not notice, because I do not look at people in that way. I really don't see color". So to affirm my suspicions as to Carl's ethnicity, even though I don't care if he's Scottish, Lebanese, or Japanese, I checked his Official Arrest Record. It says his race is "B", his sex is "M", his ethnicity is "N" (it means he's Norwegian), and his birthday was ten days ago. Happy birthday, Carl!
So anyway, if you look beyond Carl's race, sex, and ethnicity, you will see the eyes of a human being. Just a guy with two arms and two legs, and a heart that beats 80 to 100 times a minute. No different from anybody else. Except that most people aren't so freaking scary looking. I just have to admit, that even though I feel like I don't have a single prejudiced nucleatide in my body, this dude Carl is just flat-out intimidating looking. Now I don't know a single thing about Carl except what I've read in his arrest record. (Happy birthday, Carl!). He is probably a wonderful person, a true blessing to all who know him.
So anyhow, be he virtuous or evil, the fact is that a police officer thought that Carl was "irate" and "verbally abusive", so the officer tased him. After warning him.
Amazingly, Carl displayed super-human resistance to the first taser shot. He began "fighting and flailing" after being hit with the taser, instead of the expected drop to the floor and assume fetal position. So the officer had to physically press the taser againt Carl's skin to finally bring him down. In "the biz" they call that move "the drive stun". The drive stun finally bought Carl down, but not before he commited a bunch of crimes. Somewhere in there Carl managed to engage in "battery of a police officer", "obstructing or opposing an officer with violence", and "trespassing". At least that is what he has been charged with.
Thankfully, no one at the board meeting was seriously injured. Even the police officer who was the victim of battery of a police officer managed to escape injury. Carl was arrested at 12:40, so I would bet that the members of the code enforcement board and everyone else involved got an early start on their four day weekend.
Carl was released from jail at about 8:30 this evening, on $4,300 bail. Come to think of it, at 8:30 this evening I was at Barnes and Noble, picking up books and looking at their covers to decide if they would be worthwhile to read. Really, that's what I was doing. I'm not trying to be ironic or even esoteric.
Happy Thanksgiving.
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