Curiosity led me to try to follow up on the story regarding the 15-year-old boy, Bay City, Michigan teen who died after being tazed by police during a dispute officers responded to at an apartment at 3:40 a.m. this past Sunday. Somehow, I expected to read all about what a bad kid this boy grew to be this violent out of control adjudicated offender. However, I found nothing. Not even the name of the officer, who I suspect is suspended with pay during the investigation and it will all come out he acted in accordance with his professional oath when tazing a juvenile.
I have no idea how many officers were present, but I am assuming more then one. I have no idea what actually happened, but I guarantee there will be a lot of C.Y.A’ing. I cant imagine with all the skill and training officers go through, how they could not, even as rough as they like to, want to, or need to get could not over power a 15 year old kid. But, I can believe that without a second thought, despite all of that officers resources, tazing the kid was the first thing that went through his mind. Grant that we have some pretty tough kids these days, but I also believe we have some pretty regardless cops who resort to aggression and have no qualms about abuse of power. I’ve seen for myself how police are teaching our kids to despise and disrespect them just in the way they talk to them. So do I have a doubt this kid would not be dead if police could more effectively execute their powers.
From there I drifted again in thought….
To a vivid and beautiful little girl, named Megan Meier, from Missouri. At 13, she by every way of manner was a typical teenager, and a harmless one at that.
Betrayal and lost friendships are experiences we have in life, we live them and then let them go, but the proportion of bullying, psychological harm, fear, hurt and shame that a friend who she had simply split from, and the friends mother set a course of revenge against just shows how a perverse mind, breeds similar commonalities in their “familial village”.
The madness and pervasiveness of all those involved in the lies that tore a child apart until see saw no worth in herself, until she believed the embedding words of self-destruction, that upon prompting- by encouragement, this bright young child took her own life, much to young to understand that these people were sick. Although the consequences were handed down, they do not even closely equate to the loss of this precious and very loved girl.
Maybe somewhere there is a serious dysfunction in social functioning and it’s making it’s way in and out, live or virtual
This past February, an aspiring 30-year old model, Paul Zolezzi ended his life, publicly, and wrote his goodbye letter on Facebook, just before hanging himself in the park. Was it the self-medicating that got him, the mental illness that finally overtook him, or the demons that follow talent? I don’t know, he didn’t reach out, he just said his peace for the whole world to see and walked out the door and into the park and it was done. Sadly, his father had committed suicide in a public way, when he was in his forties. Paul likely had his fathers mental illness with an abetting heroin addiction, there is tragedy in life extinguished.
A few months ago, I came upon, by MySpace, a cry out. An intent, and inquiry as to why this man that I have never met, should want to live, he was contemplating a way out of his personal hell. As someone who witnessed a suicide at age 13, buried one uncle, and 7 friends, and seen buried 3 of my own teenage children’s friends by suicide – I would naturally respond with an absolute, “NO!” and key out some reasons. Noting that this very well drafted letter had been long thought through and even was written with an almost beautiful sense of artistic eclecticness. Reluctance in prose intermingling, I wondered, was his pain temporary or long sustained.
I read into some of the responses, and there was one guy that unnerved me with his ignorance. “Just quit talking about it and get it over with then.”- Comments to that posterity- I wonder, how does one, think like that? Be so conscious-less? Are we seriously these kind of people? Have we lost our senses? Would there be any remorse at all, should he have chosen to end his life. (Which by the way he did not.) What in this world could possibly make someone actually tell another to take their life? It unnerves me, that in tumultuous paths we walk amongst each other.
Then begot the MySpace murders…. (These vicious acts of destruction, are not solely linked to MySpace, they find their way in through all kinds of venues there is just an unfortunate sequence on MySpace that I am sure is working very diligently on it’s end)
The story begins with an emotionally disturbed young man by the name of Ulysses Handy the III. There are a cast of people, making the case pretty hard to follow at some of the most pivotal considerations when examining this case and at what point in time, was this kid failed- because in all his 21 years free to roam he was a danger to society, and even spent some time in jail. There were suicidal and homicidal thoughts. There were diagnosis’, which must have been the generalized popular psychological concurrent for teen psychosocial disobedience that year, and I call out the flawed outcomes this historic Forensic Psychiatric Exam. There were medications. There was violence. He sexually assaulted a younger girl that was revealed only because he gave her herpes. He was, as self-professed- a predator.
In 2005, Handy met another car enthusiast, 22-year-old Daniel Varo on MySpace via someone else so the story goes. They became friends, and Varo was known to have friends with money, drugs, and goods- when Handy first met Varo his intent was to jack his friend Darren Christian. As it turned out Handy changed his mind, and the three of them began hanging out quickly becoming inseparable friends. There were disturbing elements to the friendships. The bantering between the boys on their MySpace pages seemed more ridiculous then it did invoking.
In February 2006, Christian got upset with Handy over a coat, drugs, money and told Handy to get out and don’t come back without it. On February 7,2006, suspected of 2 shootings already, the new molestation charges came later, Handy wild in rage, went to Christians with an intent. That night, Varo was on the computer, they had just eaten dinner, and Christian was relaxing with his 21-year-old girlfriend, Lindy Cochran playing video games when Handy knocked. Lindy got up answered the door, they hugged, and she invited him for leftovers. He then walked over to Christian, kissed and shot him in the head. He executed all three of these lives, and never showed any remorse at all.
At the trial, Handy stood proud to say he had no regrets. Pleading guilty to all three counts of aggravated murder, to serve consequently, Handy got life without parole. He smiled at Varo’s family. As victims tried to open pathways to healing, Hardy told them all to get over it. Some of his friends even tried to intimidate the victims after the trial. Do we want to know these kind of people? Those that laugh in the face of pain?
There is murder, suicide, rape, abuse, assault rampant amongst our youth- so where do we begin, without the help of law enforcement? With humane-less predators, creeping towards our heels.


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