TIME How Cops Go Bad
For anyone who would like to know why I feel so strongly that any reform that does not address the issue of regulation, oversight and enforcement... perhaps my experience will serve as an example of how the judicial system fails to protect those who so desperately need help to fight injustice, inequity and corruption in the United States of America.
At twenty-two…
At 22 I was diagnosed with a degenerative spinal condition. Yes, there are times when the pain is so terrible, I cannot lifet myself out pf ed or tie my shoes. But far worse is having the knowledge that the level of damage to my spinal cord could have been stopped had I received adequate health care.
Yes, I had insurance. But who was there to make them pay???
14 years later, I finally received surgical intervention, and I could feel my hands again. As a wanna-be writer, that alone had been a miraculous gift for almost 18 months.
Through the toughest times in my life, no one told me I was wasting my time and money on an education I would never be able to use.
I wanted a diversion. I wanted a purpose. I wanted people to learn from my experience, so that they would not find themselves bankrupt in every sense of the word before the age of 25.
Even more disturbing than the damage to my spinal cord, is the realization that I missed mosre than 14 years of my life. So not only did I waste my time and money on an education I will never be able to use, I wasted a window of opportunity. A moment in time when I almost had a world the world at my fingertips.
Our Penna Blue Cross Shield will not [note double underscore] be applicable in the Tennessee Thus, please do not use the numbers for doctors drugs, etc.MEMO From Law Offices of Marc Durant4/12/94Dear Elyssa,
Also, do not tell doctors to bill us for any reason. Dad
At twenty-two…
I was 22.
The next four years would prove to be the closest one could become as i fell following a trail that that never squesks clean.
I learn the most significant defining factor in my life. My FBI facts were nothing but lies. I must sign off my signal goes to blank but before I go learn from my transparency that these are the only thing that keeps me on the radar. It may corrupt fbi snipers but someone for once may here me scream for Justice for All. I am only #ONE Just me. Spotty. Just a girl without a new plan. [insert american girl when web feed works #TwitterShitter]
I was diagnosed with a degenerative spinal condition. Yes, there are times when the pain is so terrible, I cannot lifet myself out pf ed or tie my shoes. But far worse is having the knowledge that the level of damage to my spinal cord could have been stopped had I received adequate health care.
Yes, I had insurance. But who was there to make them pay?
14 years later, I finally received surgical intervention, and I could feel my hands again. As a wanna-be writer, that alone had been a miraculous gift for almost 18 months.
Through the toughest times in my life, no one told me I was wasting my time and money on an education I would never be able to use.
I wanted a diversion. I wanted a purpose. I wanted people to learn from my experience, so that they would not find themselves bankrupt in every sense of the word before the age of 25.
Without any real place to go after college, I felt I had no other choice than to become a professional student of sorts—you know, the ones who stay in school forever to take advantage of cheap housing, health insurance, and student loans.
SHIT MY DAD SAYS, FORMER DEPUUTY CHIEF OF CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS, EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA
EXPERT AND TASK FORCE FOR SEC #MADOFF INVESTIGATION
Unfortunately, I wandered aimlessly through the system acquiring useless knowledge and letters after my name that do not mean jack in the real world. But it distracted mye from the fact that my spinal cord continued to worsen my physical and emotional health.
So with no prosepects on the horizon-- and so thrilled thto feel my hands today, that the one thing I can do is write. So for now, I write, maybe tomorrow I'll read, but if there is any justice left in this world, maybe someday I will actually live.
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/elyssadurant/gGxh4R/commentary
The insurance investigators ultimately ruled in my favor, however I was unable to collect any damages for two reasons: Although mandatory federal fines in the amount of $560,000 would require legal assistance and complicated civil litigation that would be timely, costly, and emotionally traumatic. Second, under federal law, grants immunity to ERISA plans: a type of group insurance that is totally untouchable due to federal preemption of state law that leaves the beneficiary without recourse or the ability to collect punitive damages under federal law. Corruption Scandal
Unfortunately, this was a very complicated case that involved unscrupulous attorneys that involved tax and insurance fraud, and has yet to be resolved despite the overwhelming evidence of fraud and the favorable ruling from the insurance department. It should also be notes that no criminal charges were ever brought against any of the participants, which s even more disturbing if you knew the history of the parties involved, some were arrested for RICO conspiracy, Tax Evasion, Embezzlement, Extortion, and wire fraud. One man actually shot himself in the head one month after the Insurance Dept. opened the investigation.
So one is dead, one got off on a technicality, one was acquitted, and several others were never prosecuted. I however, pay a price for their crimes every day of my life, I now live in a prison of sorts: a prison of poverty, and despair with no real expectation of change on the horizon.
So here are the facts
I recently learned that for the last 14 years, my parents have been using my social security number to claim as (1) an employee -- thus covered under an ERISA beneficiary plan that I have never been able to access and (2) was claimed as a dependent on my mother's NY State tax return for many years making impossible for me to file taxes or obtain insurance, disability benefits, or student financial aid since neither parent is willing to release a copy of their return.
I filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania Insurance Department in 1995, and received response six months after the policy had expired. Despite the considerable evidence I provided to the Insurance Dept. and Pennsylvania Blue Shield, I was told that despite the overwhelming evidence that I provided, the Insurance Dept. Did not have the authority to override the terms of the contract.
Since ERISA mandates that all beneficiaries (including insured dependents) be given a copy of the policy (among other forms of insurance identification, e.g., EOBs, Insurance ID C, and a copy of the policy, my requests for ERISA mandated materials were repeatedly denied until the Jason Manne from the Dept. of Public Welfare sent a letter to my insurance carrier to inform them that they in accordance with federal law, they must honor my request for a copy of the insurance policy.
Washington requests in Washington in accordance with federal law, e.g., self-insured, their assistance in (with information Furthermore, the Dept. of Labor requesting this information were never answered. I never found out the name of the plan administrator or the fiduciary, and was never offered COBRA continuation, and then BCBS refused to let me continue under COBRA, claiming they were not obligated to offer it to... so who is ultimately held accountable in these situations.
I was unable to find anyone who would take my claims seriously, and could not find anyone to take my case pro-bono or on contingency. Eventually, I moved to Nashville, TN and tried to recover from the physical injuries and the new emotional scars that left me cynical and bitter about a judicial system that consistently fails to enforce natural and human rights.
Today, the facts about the Philadelphia Police forces propensity for manufacturing evidence, planting contraband and perjuring themselves in court was finally the subject of a New York Times article.
Everyone I spoken to thus far reiterates the same statement-- practically verbatim, "I sympathize with your dilemma, yet, as you know, our office does not have the jurisdiction to assist you in this matter."
I sought the assistance of an attorney at Shnaeder Harrison years ago (regarding Pennsylvania Act 62) and Jason Manne in the Dept. of Public Welfare.
I have been unsuccessful in my search for a competent litigator (unfortunately, this is an unprecedented case that touches on all the hot issues before the 3rd circuit including ERISA and the State's interest in Equal Educational Opportunity and due process protections for children (and adults) who are "victimized twice... first by their parents, and then, again by a judicial system who fails to protect them" (it's been a while, but I believe that is a paraphrase of the dissenting opinion from Justice Montemuro in Curtis v. Klein.
In many ways, I feel it is too late for me to recover what I lost due to a snag in the law and a few loopholes in the system. I have collected evidence for over 14 years because I used to believe that justice might prevail.
if you are prepared to look bold into the bold into he face of the mos obvious yet unresolved example of poltical corruption, manioulation and the effects of chronic exporsure to being systematic ignored, marginalized, and eeventaully forced out of into a life of complete and total isolation... then you have clearly come to the right place.
NEW EVIDENCE FOUND FRIDAY 2010 TEN YEARS 2 THE DAY
Much to the embarrassment of my former feinds, colleagues, and family, for two reasons: 1. because share my story (and the documents) to be sure no other child in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania falls victim to such heinous crimes due to legal technicalities from an outdated piece of legislation. It has been 14 years since my case was “abandoned” by the state judicial system in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.
With the support and inspiration, I received from some very kind and brilliant professors in sociology and social policy, plan to submit a book proposal to document the sequence of events that still astound me and curious onlookers who take a quick peek as they casually pass in and out of my life. You see, it is much like a traffic accident- people like to take comfort in seeing the tragedy of a broken man and his family demonstrating the social injustices and inequity resulting from a stratified society.
The federal division of local, state and national police forces is being broken down ever since the law enforcement assitance administration in the Nixon years continuing with the crime bill, with the funding and the equipment coming from the federal government.
To show you how police manufacture proof, or evidence,
It is time to have these loop holes closed for good and ensure equal protection under the law for all children—not just those who are lucky enough to have a fair hearing or be heard before they reach the age of majority.
against criminals, against people who have been incarcerated for being criminals. Not fair! When you think of the lives of men have been ruined. Crime Line Exposed
Prison systems that punish only "violent" criminals but forgive those who commit acts against humanity systematically all things we hold dear when they sold us school... they never told us what was real~ violating natural law rights; impeding emerging culture; drowing out dissent from voices like my own that scream in the dark of night calling for justice. Constitution and federal law rights are consitsently twisted shedding new light for those searching endless to find that same fire exists somewhere anywhere outside the powers that beat me to a whisper and mumia and so many so MANYcountless voices.todays top news: 1/29/2010 IT'S BEEN TEN YEARS #noshit
Speak in any language you chose. I am listening and I need you. Tweet a sign that you see the spark in me that rages ever since that in May of the Philadelphia Fire.
Mrs. Patterson, a widow, who cleaned other people's floors and
THEY WERE CALLED FIVE SQUAD BUT THERE WERE SIX
clothes to keep her family together and now delivers newspapers
before dawn with her grandson, was framed by corrupt police officers and spent 3 years in prsison in the early 1990's after being falsely convicted of selling crack cocaine.
Mrs. Patterson and her church always knew whe was innocent, but only in the past couple of months has the rest of the city learned the truth.
And although Philadelphia has been rocked by one police scandal after another in recent years, the new charges reveal a group of officers so corrupt, so calloused to the rights and welfare of residents, that the details have shaken the city to its roots.
Mrs. Patterson is one of dozens, perhaps even hundreds of victims of a band of 5 renegade offciers who for at least 3 years haunted her predominantly poor and Black North Philadelphia neighborhood, beating, robbing, lying and planting phony evidence on the good and the bad, Federal and local prosecutors said.
"She went to jail for 3 years for something she was completely innocent of.," said Lynne Abraham, the Philadelphia District Attorney, "This whole thing has made me physically ill. This is the ultimate betrayal of the public trustm and it has some very destructive consequences. It justifies people's suspicions of the police."
Earlier this year, the officers pleaded guilty in Federal Court to being criminals in blue; nearly 50 cases were invovled in, including Mrs. Patterson's have been overturned by the courts and the District Attorney's office. Hundreds more could also be thrown out.
Scheduled for sentencing in October are Officer Hohn Baird, 40, Thomas BeGovanni, 44, Officer Steven Brown, 48, Officer James Ryan, 39, and former officer Thomas Ryan, 38, who is on disability. Most of them have apparently been cooperating with investigators.
A sixth officer, from the same district, was charged today in Federal District Court with conspiracy to violate civil rights. There are reports that even more officers will be charged, expanding the scandal and the city's potential liability.
Others who have not been taken seriously by the judicial system or the public at large. Unaware of the consequences that arise from dual standards in the worst of academic snobbery and intellectual elitism- living a lifestyle they might otherwise envy. #namaste
There is a good reason we call it "Idenity Theft."
None of us are really defined by a number. So when yor social secrity number threatens your security or conflicts with your personal idea of who yo are by sending you back to the sorce of the trauma, BLINK!
Identity Theft steals more than your tax id, bank and credit history, it steals your secuirty yor independence and a piece of the person i was becomong. BLINK!
A person with hope and Choices. Free, Indepent. Self-reliant. Defiant!
#nofear #nosilence #truth is I hope together we can build #alliance together as #ONE an army of #ONE saying peace, not war, no #reliance on #violence
Sunrise is almost upon the us, I made it through another night trapped way deeper in the a Conspirary of Silence.
can you my whisper? now can i define it! i forgot #whoiam so i mst refine it!
Can I be free to can be me and may i just say goodnight my friends, all is good in my heart because distance know no boundaries when friends mean i am with WOman without a contry a community or a place to call #home peace out to my friends without borders namaste.
with identity that means either relocating to another country and/or having my name and social security number changed or restored, it is probably well worth the inconvenience if it means there is still hope for living a peaceful existence.
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Elyssa D. Durant, Ed.M.