The Herald talks to the daughter of the injured guy in the ambulance that had to be diverted by yesterday's I-93 protest shutdown . She's livid.
Norfolk County DA Michael Morrissey, whose office will prosecute the 11 people arrested in Milton yesterday (including Angela Davis, but, no, not that Angela Davis), says:
The disregard for the safety and welfare of innocent citizens that this action manifests is shocking.
But, hold on a second. Chris Faraone reminds us this isn't the first time I-93 was blocked in both directions for a long period of time. But apparently it's OK as long as it's Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz making a movie.
Rebecca Hains, a professor at Salem State University, marvels at some people's sudden concern about other people in ambulances, when they normally couldn't care less when ambulances get diverted because our roads suck or the Sox game just got out:
One local mom, Nicole Aliberti, agrees. "I find it disingenuous that people keep complaining about ambulances not being able to get to Boston hospitals due to the protests," Aliberti told me. "I once experienced being in the back of an ambulance that was transporting my critically ill baby in stopped traffic due to a Red Sox game. No one would move out of the way and we had to find another route to the hospital."
She asks: "Why is there outrage about the Black Lives Matter protest, when there is no outrage about this disruption of hospital traffic that happens many times a year?"
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Comments
So ambulances are diverted all the time?
By mplo
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 9:59pm
That makes it okay for people who are stupidly blocking traffic, especially on an interstate highway with extremely fast-moving traffic on it?
We don't see eye to eye on this, Kaz--that's all.
Adam...if you're listening in, the same goes for you, too.
Yes, ambulances are diverted all the time
By adamg
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 10:01pm
For a variety of reasons.
Extremely fast moving traffic?
By SwirlyGrrl
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 10:35pm
Not this road at this time.
Someone posted some information yesterday that typical speed on this route is around 16mph at that time.
Traffic inbound from the North is usually creep-and-crawl from about 7am and can back up past 95 in Woburn.
How about some Federal charges there Mr DA....
By RichM
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 9:43am
FEDERAL LAW FORBIDS INTERFERENCE WITH INTERSTATE COMMERCE BY THREATS
1. 18 USC - 1951 - Interference with commerce by threats or violence
(a)Whoever in any way or degree obstructs, delays, or affects commerce or the movement of any article or commodity in commerce, by robbery or extortion or attempts or conspires so to do, or commits or threatens physical violence to any person or property in furtherance of a plan or purpose to do anything in violation of this section shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.
Did you read what you copied?
By Kaz
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 9:48am
It must be "by robbery, extortion, or physical violence"...none of which was involved.
Sorry but
By RichM
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 9:56am
Stepping into a highway with traffic can be considered physical violence
Yes
By Kaz
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 9:58am
In the same way my keyboard can be considered ice cream.
so if they caused
By RichM
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 10:05am
a 50 car pile up that wouldn't be violent enough for you?
This state doesn't even jail drunk drivers
By SwirlyGrrl
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 10:10am
Why is it super specially different that people were actually politically active?
True....
By RichM
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 10:21am
Can't argue with that.
When it happens, let's talk
By Kaz
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 10:34am
If they formed Voltron and blew up the highway, that would probably be pretty violent too.
It seems to me, Kaz, that
By mplo
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 12:00pm
You're engaging in a mound of hypocrisy if you think that blocking I-93, which has a speed limit of 55 miles per hour or more, and risking causing not only a diverging of emergency vehicles, but a real possibility of causing a 50 or more car crash that could get people killed or badly hurt.
I just don't agree with you on this, Kaz. That's all.
How was your commute yesterday?
By SwirlyGrrl
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 12:29pm
Do tell us how you were personally inconvenienced by this.
Also explain why it makes sense to send someone into a known daily traffic jam when the services they need are actually closer in the other direction?
Doesn't apply -- at least, not that paragraph
By Ron Newman
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 9:49am
The protest didn't involve robbery, extortion, physical violence, or property damage.
Reading comprehension is cool and fun.
By tape
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 9:50am
You should try it sometime.
One problem
By Waquiot
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 9:58am
The Norfolk County DA does not prosecute federal law. That would be the U.S. Attorney's Office for Massachusetts.
Any other issues I will leave to the others.
There were indeed threats of physical violence, see end of video
By O-FISH-L
Sat, 01/17/2015 - 7:18am
Great video by a commuter who decided to turn the
tablescameras on the protesters and their green hat "legal" team. Turns out they didn't like it very much, especially "Prince," the only black guy on their team with his own expensive camera.Kudos to the videographer and to WRKO's Jeff Kuhner and his staff who found "Noah" one of the protest leaders living in a $1.5 million Jamaica Plain mansion with millionaire parents. Note, in speaking with a State Police commissioned officer involved in the situation, nearly all arrested had an arrest history from Occupy Boston. Essentially, professional protesters, insert cause du jour ____________. Have any of the spoon-fed media asked Sen. Elizabeth Warren if she still supports what was done yesterday?
Idiotic
By Kaz
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 10:32am
Do you even know what a Legal Observer is? He's requested to make sure everything that happens is documented so the cops can't say something happened that didn't (or vice versa). Your video consists of harassment against the Legal Observers. Classy.
Also, the "violence" you're talking about was on a street corner outside of a Dunks, not a part of any action earlier that day which is what's being discussed by RichM in attempting to apply some random federal statute to the protesters.
You're losing reality, O-FISH-L...come back to the light.
Re: Idiotic
By O-FISH-L
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 10:56am
Kaz, keep your eyes on the frame of the picture starting about 0:51 when it becomes quite clear. The Dunkin Donuts is at the site of the protest. Later in the day? This was a fresh and continuing event. Place it before a federal Grand Jury. When there's even a smidgen of evidence, "you can indict a ham sandwich" as they say.
As for "harassment" of the Legal Observers, how is questioning and answering harassment? Elsewhere it is known as the Socratic method. As for the outraged passerby who uses profanity, I don't condone it but have seen victims say and do worse. I sympathize with the swearing man who has apparently lost a days pay or portion thereof.
Still not getting it
By Kaz
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 11:09am
A "Legal Observer" (did you bother reading their hats, eagle eye?) is a lawyer asked to make sure nothing illegal occurs and document it when it does. They're a disinterested third-party. The cameraman wants to blame them for the protest, but they're just there to make sure the legal system doesn't take shortcuts. You may not like the protesters, they may be guilty of many crimes in doing what they did, but they have rights and the LOs are there to keep track if their rights are broached.
Whether they even sympathize with the protest isn't even established in the video. Not that you've ever needed proof of anything to indict people yourself.
Kaz those were just hats
By Pete Nice
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 11:13am
The people wearing them were not lawyers, they just happened to read up on what to wear in chapter 3 of "protesting for dummies".
Even the ACLU doesn't use lawyers for their neutral observers all the time.
7 News?
By Ron Newman
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 11:25am
A 7 News microphone went in and out of this video several times, but I can't imagine their newspeople taunting and insulting their interview subjects this way. What was the station's role in producing this video?
Please find someone to explain the meaning of "interstate"
By perruptor
Mon, 01/19/2015 - 2:35pm
It doesn't mean what you think it means.
How to deal with E-vehicles
By alabb
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 9:47am
On a related subject--
How to pull over for emergency vehicles--
The general rule for traffic is to move to the right.
I've been in a few of these going up Jamaicaway into the Longwood Medical Area. The drivers go to the left, and have told me that traffic needs to pull to the right. (Prior to that, I had no idea on what to do; I just did my best to get out of their way in one way or another. I don't think I was alone in that way of thinking.)
hypocrisy doesn't look good on you, Greater Boston.
By tape
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 9:48am
heck of a lot of people acting super concerned about an ambulance who probably don't make a regular point of pulling over for ambulances on a normal day.
Do you know us all?
By Waquiot
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 9:56am
Do you?
Heck, when I am walking and an ambulance needs to get somewhere, I occasionally run blockage to make sure the cars that cannot see it don't accidentally get in its way.
Trust me, the are automobile people who hate cyclists here. There are automobile people who hate SUVs here. There are people here, myself included, that feel that police officers sometimes turn on their lights to get through red lights. I feel confident to speak for all the drivers here by noting that almost all of us would make room for an ambulance with its lights on.
But Where?
By BostonDog
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 11:58am
Surely you've seen situations where there is absolutely no place for cars to go when an ambulance is trying to get though. People try to move but the road is only so big and if traffic is that thick there still isn't room for the ambulance to get by.
Until ambulances can fly they'll keep getting stuck in thick traffic just like everyone else. They might be able to move slowly but it's not like they can fly though even if people are attempting to move. (You see this commonly in midtown NYC.)
The original point was that
By Waquiot
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 4:01pm
Those who oppose the protests are the same ilk that would not yield for an ambulance. Yes, there are times when you can't do anything, but I'm willing to be most drivers feel horrible about being in that situation.
I will say this, I have seen on the highway people use ambulances to block for them to get wherever they are going quicker. It boils my blood.
Hold on a minute, Waquiot!
By mplo
Sat, 01/17/2015 - 12:42am
This:
imho, really is a little bit of a stretch. Not everybody who opposes the tactics that the protestors have been resorting to is the type of person who refuses to yield for an ambulance.
But tape did
By Waquiot
Sat, 01/17/2015 - 2:00pm
And were I on a better device, I'd basically cut and paste the post at the beginning of this subthread. Since I can't, please scroll a little bit above.
In short, tape is an idiot who claimed that those who were concerned with ambulances on Thursday are the same kind of people who wouldn't yield to one. I disagree.
the lede of that Herald piece
By tape
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 9:53am
the lede of that Herald piece makes it sound like the actual cause of the man's injuries was the fact that his ambulance was diverted, instead of the car accident he was in that caused him to be in an ambulance.
"A beloved 83-year-old West Bridgewater grandfather has been left with spinal fractures and broken ribs after his ambulance had to be diverted around yesterday’s protest on Interstate 93"
that's horrible writing, even for that joke of a publication.
I propose we ban all private
By J
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 10:11am
I propose we ban all private vehicle traffic from the highway to ensure that our emergency vehicles will never be delayed. Those without an emergency can take the T.
"A beloved 83-year-old West
By Meaghan W
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 10:40am
"A beloved 83-year-old West Bridgewater grandfather has been left with spinal fractures and broken ribs after his ambulance had to be diverted around yesterday’s protest on Interstate 93"
the delay caused those injuries?
Easy to be snarky if it's not
By Patricia
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 11:22am
Easy to be snarky if it's not your loved one.
If it were my loved one
By SwirlyGrrl
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 11:49am
1. I would wonder what conditions led to the accident in the first place (including "should this person be driving" and "what were the road conditions").
2. I would seriously question the decision to send someone to Boston in the heart of morning rush hour when Providence is closer, if time were really of the essence.
But thats the thing Swirly,
By Patricia
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 1:14pm
But thats the thing Swirly, it wasn't you. It was someone else who was possibly put in harms way.
We don't know the details of the gentleman, his family or the conditions - nor do we need to. All we know and what we can comment on is what happened.
Your points have no bearing on what happened.
Policy fail is still a policy fail
By SwirlyGrrl
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 1:25pm
The problem wasn't that it was protesters blocking the road this time. Your insistence otherwise is a strawman.
The problem is that if the patient truly needed a level 1 trauma center as soon as possible, they shouldn't have sent an ambulance to Boston, period. That's as true at 10pm on a weekday evening as it is at 8am with mounting traffic. Providence is closer. Providence is faster.
Kaz is right - this situation and this woman are being used for agitprop.
level I trauma center
By johnmcloughlin
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 4:44pm
Swrlygrl,
perhaps the elderly gentleman expressed a desire to go to MGH? I am not an emergengy responder so I am not certain what the policies are, but I imagine there is probably some room for the patient's input in the situation described. MGH have a fairly good reputation after all. Perhaps he already is a patient there? Not uncommon in Easton. Easier for the family members to get to MGH than Providence for the duration of the hospitalization. Insurance networks may be another factor. I am not saying that all of this flashed through his mind at that time, but perhaps there is a reason why that pattern has been established?
J
The one time I needed an
By anon
Sat, 01/17/2015 - 10:33am
The one time I needed an ambulance the responders asked me where I wanted to. Granted, I live in Boston so the differences in time/distance weren't enough to matter. But after being hospitalized 3 times at one area hospital I NEVER want to go back there. I told them they could decide as long as it wasn't ______. I also wanted a hospital that would be relatively easy for family to drive to/park at. As much as I've been hospitalized, I'm so grateful to be in Boston. And if anything ever happened to family in RI Is hope they would go to Boston too. When you have world-class doctors not that much farther away, it seems like a reasonable choice.
I-93, and the immediate Boston area, generally,
By mplo
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 12:13pm
already has severe congestion problems, even under normal circumstances as it is. Blocking an interstate highway, catching commuters off-guard, and risking people's limb and lives, including the lives of the people involve in such a stupid activity really does add to an already-existing, severe problem, in a huge way.
If the protest leaders had any common sense, they would've gone and talked with politicians to get some feedback from them, instead of going all hog-wild, thinking they can block an interstate or whatever any old time they pleased. Sure, people have the right to speak up on an issue, but there's a line that really has to be drawn somewhere. That being said, I'm of the opinion that the protestors really have crossed a line that should not've been crossed, under any circumstances, no matter how drastic the cause.
The real gem in all of this
By anon
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 12:19pm
The real gem in all of this is when one of the young female protesters snapped at the reporters 'Excuse me, I need to go to the hospital! Please get out of my way!'
Oh, the irony.
I am baffled
By Anon for now
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 2:10pm
I am baffled when trying to understand why the worst thing someone can apparently do in America is block a highway.
This attitude is not just in Boston but follows all the #blm activities. Has suburban life disconnected from all sense of proportion to the degree that Highway access is really the SINGLE most important thing in the world?
How would you feel if these
By anon
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 4:49pm
How would you feel if these young protesters lost their lives pulling this stunt? Would you encourage your teenage / 20-something child to risk his/her life by jumping onto a highway during rush hour traffic? It's dangerous and stupid.
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