Uhhh... You're blaming the police WHY???

[TXCharlie]

The letter to the editor below, and my counter-reply relates to this news article.

Let me get this straight... She or her father called police, and she's criticising them for doing their job? They're not there to determine guilt or innocence, they're there to protect her butt!!!:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...d.267fb97.html

Man faces assault charge after police standoff

07:22 PM CDT on Wednesday, May 23, 2007
From Staff Reports

A domestic disturbance call that led to a police standoff Tuesday evening in Flower Mound ended with one man in custody.

3300 block of Ridgecrest Drive, Flower Mound Flower Mound police said Joseph Pelegrino, 53, was arrested without incident in connection with an assault on a family member.

About 7:20 p.m., a woman at a home in the 3300 block of Ridgecrest Drive told police that her boyfriend had knocked her to the ground and was still in the home with weapons, Flower Mound police said.

When authorities tried to contact the boyfriend, he did not answer the door or the phone, police said.

The man then attempted to call the woman, and police negotiated with him for about an hour. He surrendered to authorities at about 10:30 p.m.

No injuries were reported. Police said several firearms were confiscated from the home.

TO: Letters To the Editor

SUBJECT: Letter from Laurie Gregoriou critizing the Flower Mound Police for their handling of the domestic assault standoff

Dear Editor,

In her June 6th letter to the editor, Laurie Gregoriou's criticism of the Flower Mound Police for their decisive action in ending the domestic abuse standoff is misplaced, in my opinion.

The only person to blame for injuries to her boyfriend Mr. Pelegrino is Mr. Pelegrino himself - As soon as he did not obey police commands, the police have every right to use decisive force to bring a standoff to a speedy end for their own safety, and for the safety of the suspect himself - He's probably lucky he only has a broken tooth. I don't think the Flower Mound police err'd, but if they did, then I'm proud that they err'd on the side of protecting the potential victim (Laurie Gregoriou), the community, and themselves.

The claim that police shouting and beating on his door did not wake him up (yet a FAX machine did) seems very unlikely to me - but even if that's true, the police could not have known that he was really asleep - They acted in good faith.

The reason the police probably did not listen to Ms. Gregoriou's recants is that victims of domestic abuse often recant for the wrong reasons - But the police are required by law to protect a domestic assault victim in spite of herself - They could not just walk away at that point. All five Flower Mound murders in recent years were the result of domestic, dating, or acquantance violence - Flower Mound Police could not just sit idly by and let number six happen right under their noses. Horray for them.

[gozling]

nice reply letter...yeah we have to protect them despite themselves as well...sometimes i wish these people wouldnt call the police over something that would cool down with just a night of friggen sleep...
but sometimes its just all about them.
this shouldnt even be something in the news... amazing.

[Ducky]

If she loved him so much, when he said "Hon, I'm tired and need to sleep a while. Can you handle things for a bit before I fall on my face from exhaustion?" why did she continue to bug him? Somehow I doubt the situation was as rosy as she claimed in her letter, and it was an attempt to mollify him and to keep him from blaming her for the mess they both made.

[BEB]

Nice try, Laurie, but you're still staying in the guest house with your parents.

[phantasm]

Instead of his wife as the complainant, it'll be PSTX. Felonies in NYS can have a complainant be PSNY even if the victim isn't cooperative with us, and decides they want to drop charges.

[TXCharlie]

Yeah, I was taught that in Texas, evidence of an assault amounting to Probable Cause means that the police can arrest the one at fault, even if the victim says nothing happened - At least that separates them for the night.

The TX law as I understand it doesn't require an arrest unless a protective order is violated, but it does mandate that the victim must be protected after an assault takes place - So if they haven't got Probable Cause for the assault, they have to either get her to stay somewhere else that night or look for something to arrest him on - criminal mischief, anything they can figure out.

[TXCharlie]

Hmmm... The girlfriend said that the phone call lasted 5 minutes - This article says an hour. Hmmm.... which should I believe?

http://www.thenewsconnection.com/art...articleID=1682

SWAT standoff in FM

Stephen Webster
Published 05/25/2007 - 12:16 p.m.

At 7:21 p.m. on Tuesday night, the Flower Mound Police Department responded to a domestic disturbance call on the 3300 block of Ridgecrest Avenue.

A female at the residence told police her boyfriend had assaulted her, and had multiple firearms in the home.

Officers could not establish communication with the man, so they dispatched Flower Mound’s SWAT team to create a perimeter around the structure.

When the suspect called his girlfriend, she turned the conversation over to officers. Police negotiators spent over an hour trying to coax the man out, and were ultimately successful.

He surrendered himself from the home and caused no further confrontation or injury. Several firearms were confiscated, and the suspect has been charged with Assault and Family Violence.

[lewisipso]

This is probably a letter written by her at the business end of Joe's fist for making him look bad. And only one broken tooth? Them boys are slacking.