Court and A Bloody Day In Georgia

What a week/end we have had. The news was not good.
Brian Nichols, a prisoner detained on various criminal charges including weapons and raping his ex-girlfriend in August 2004, became the headline for last Friday and Saturday, when he was finally captured.

Brian Nichols, it is alleged (the legal jargon), beat a female deputy within an inch of her life, took her gun, hunted down the trial judge in his courtroom and fired a bullet in his head. Then he turned the gun on the judge's court reporter, killing her. He fled down seven flights of stairs and killed another deputy in a confrontation on the sidewalk. He then carjacked several different auto owners within the shadow of the courthouse. And he escaped a wide Georgia Police net to end up caught on the outskirts of Atlanta in an apartment complex with a "hostage."

Now, I want to know why that "hostage," was accorded more respect than the female deputy who was escorting Nichols to the courtroom and suffered grave injuries as a result? The news pundits went after her like a lion in a den of unguarded lambs. I believe it was because the deputy was a black female that the white female pundits spit out such venom against her, even as she lies in critical condition in the hospital fighting for her life. Those white news females are, in effect, saying that women ought not be guards -- and, in particular -- not black women. They are allowing their "guests" to call the Georgia deputies incompetent and ignorant, and they are calling for the Sheriff to be fired ("heads are gonna roll,") they say.

Well. On Saturday, Nichols was caught after a 27-hour killing spree in which he also murdered a customs agent and took his weapon, badge, and truck before fleeing to the outskirts of Georgia, where he was apprehended.

ASHLEY SMITH, Hostage
What a story she tells (reiterated here in part)

Ashley Smith is touted as being the heroine of the day. She is a young, white widow. A single mom with a child. As she tells it, she was on her way out of her apartment at 2:00 a.m. to "go to the store," and noticed the truck parked there. When she came from the store about five (5) minutes later, she saw the truck was still there. Nichols got out and accosted her and forced his way into her apartment, where he stayed the night and they talked -- after he had tied her up with masking tape (?), extension cord, and draped a curtain around her waist. He carried her into her bedroom and taped her legs. Then he picked her up and carried her to the bathroom and sat her on a stool she had there. Nichols then decided he was going to take a shower and told her he was going to cover her head with a towel "so you won't have to see me take a shower," (to which she glibly replied, "o.k. you can take a shower"). Then Smith goes on to relate that following Nichols's shower, he asked her if she could walk to which she said, "No, but I can hop." And she said she hopped into her bedroom where he proceeded to remove the tape, extension cord and the curtain from around her. And as they continued to talk, she began to let him know he had done wrong and needed to give himself up.

She continued stating that towards morning, Nichols decided he had to get rid of the (custom agent's) truck. He told her he wanted her to follow him. She asked if she could take her cell phone. At first he said, "No." Then he agreed and off they went. Him in the stolen truck and her in her automobile with a cell phone following behind. After Nichols put the truck another place, he got into her automobile and she drove him back to her apartment. She had not attempted to call the police while she was alone in her car. (?) They continued to talk about her life and about the events that had unfolded around his rampage. She read to him and later on, she fixed him breakfast in her apartment. He was overwhelmed at having pancakes and real butter. He finally let her go see her daughter. And, she said that he was giving her money but she refused it. And, as she was preparing to leave, he asked her if she wanted him to do anything around the apartment for her while she was gone "like hang curtains"? She said she "guess he just wanted some normalcy in his life."

Then she went out to see her daughter and, on the way, called 911 and said Nichols was in her apartment and that she was on her way to get her daughter. The 911 dispatcher told her "to turn around and go to the leasing office."

Questions Remain Unanswered~
This may sound cynical, but Smith seemed entirely too calm and cool in telling her story. She did not miss a beat. She covered every minute-by-minute occurrence. Nevertheless, there are still far too many unanswered questions for me. And I am waiting for the other shoe to drop on this one! There is a world of difference between how the news media treat white people and black people. Next thing will probably come a movie about "Ashley Smith and The Big, Black Mad Killer."

I am reminded of the Boston murder where the white man reported that Black men killed his pregnant wife while they were stopped at a light and he caused the police force to turn the black Bostonian neighborhoods upside down routing a whole lot of young, Black males only to learn later that the white man was the perpetrator/murderer after all. And he later committed suicide by leaping off a bridge.

The Real Heroes?
The local, state, and federal law enforcement, including that female deputy Nichols pounced upon and left for dead in that Atlanta (GA) courthouse.