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Zorro

(15,690 posts)
Tue Dec 29, 2020, 09:34 PM Dec 2020

Trump's worst pardon is one you haven't heard about

Opinion by Alex Busansky

Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Charles Kushner, Stephanie Mohr. You’ve probably heard about President Trump’s odious pre-Christmas pardons for the first three — and nothing about Mohr, a former Prince George’s County police officer. But Mohr’s pardon — for violating a homeless man’s civil rights by unleashing her K-9 on him — is equally, if not more undeserving. Of all the acts to pardon in a year that witnessed the killing of George Floyd, it is the most insensitive and inflaming.

I know; I was part of the team at the Justice Department’s civil rights division that helped prosecute Mohr in 2001.

In the middle of the night on Sept. 21, 1995, a local Prince George’s County police burglary stakeout unit found two homeless men on the empty roof of a business, eating food they had found in the trash in Takoma Park, Md. Ordered down from the roof, Ricardo Mendez and his friend willingly climbed down. Lit by a police helicopter above and facing a brick wall, the two men were surrounded by police officers, some with guns drawn, and Mohr holding her German shepherd on a leash. Both men obeyed commands and stood facing the wall with their hands up.

It should have been over. It wasn’t.

A police sergeant later testified that he was approached by Mohr’s supervising officer who said, “Hey Sarge, we got a new dog. Mind if it gets a bite?” The sergeant gave consent, and Mohr set her dog to attack Mendez, an undocumented immigrant whose only crime was seeking a safe place to eat and sleep. Mohr testified that she was doing her job as trained, and the victim needed “only 10 stitches.”

Think about that: only 10 stitches. Mohr disregarded her training to give her dog a taste of flesh and blood.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/12/29/trump-pardons-stephanie-mohr-prince-georges/

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I_UndergroundPanther

(12,439 posts)
1. Cops with sociopathy
Tue Dec 29, 2020, 09:40 PM
Dec 2020

Suck. Find and kick all the sociopaths, authoritarians and narcissists out of the police force and blacklist the fuckers to make sure they are disempowered for the rest of thier days..

Mike Nelson

(9,881 posts)
2. I think...
Tue Dec 29, 2020, 09:42 PM
Dec 2020

... there is an ugliness to the story that is uniquely deplorable, when compared to the others...

erronis

(14,853 posts)
3. I worked around Tacoma Park during that period - a real mixed bag.
Tue Dec 29, 2020, 09:44 PM
Dec 2020

There are really three Tacoma Parks
- Montgomery County, MD
- Prince George County, MD
- Washington DC

The Montgomery County was much more part of the white and privileged group altho it was heavily inhabited by a lot of people who really cared about equality and fairness and were very socially active. Still, their property values were much higher than the other areas.

PG had some real poverty issues as well as the attendant drug problems of those times.

DC was pretty nice but suffered from being far away from the center of the capital.

The Metro was built straight through these neighborhoods further separating any track-side differences.

There were many instances of cross-border chases and difficulties altho usually not as bad as this one.

happybird

(4,482 posts)
4. WTOP was running a short interview with her
Tue Dec 29, 2020, 09:45 PM
Dec 2020

It’s nauseating. She talks about how she didn’t ask for or expect a pardon and how difficult the whole ordeal has been for her. Ugh. What a piece of shit.

IronLionZion

(45,163 posts)
11. "Mohr told WTOP she had been pursuing presidential pardon for much of 2020"
Wed Dec 30, 2020, 12:11 AM
Dec 2020
https://wtop.com/prince-georges-county/2020/12/former-prince-georges-co-canine-officer-among-those-president-trump-pardoned/

Mohr said she’s had a lot of time to reflect over the events that led to her conviction and has “peace in my heart that I did the right thing.”

“There’s really not much I would have done differently, even if I could. I did my job and acted appropriately,” she said, adding that she was a victim of “an agenda of the times and I was made a scapegoat.”

Mohr has a message for those who feel her pardon is undeserved.

“I would just hope that people would have an open mind and the ability to see the other side and possibly realize that not everything the Department of Justice does is legitimate, or by the book or above board,” she said.

happybird

(4,482 posts)
12. Huh. That's definitely not what I heard her say,
Wed Dec 30, 2020, 12:23 AM
Dec 2020

but it was just a couple stitched together soundbytes from the longer interview. One of the segments they replay every half hour or so. It focused mostly on how she was “coping.”

I was distinctly disgusted by the idea that she didn’t pursue a pardon but Dumbass had apparently sought her out to give her one. Thank you for clearing that up for me.

Of course, she’s still a huge piece of shit, perhaps an even bigger one in my eyes now (if that’s even possible). My feelings are even stronger after reading the article you posted. Absolutely disgusting. I thought she was just whiny about her “ordeal,” but to read that she wouldn’t change a thing about her actions enrages me.

IronLionZion

(45,163 posts)
13. She's a POS alright. People request pardons
Wed Dec 30, 2020, 12:29 AM
Dec 2020

either for themselves or on behalf of someone. Presidents don't go searching for criminals to pardon. This dumbass president is known for supporting people who have committed brutality in the line of police/military duty so those types of people write him a sob story about how the evil prosecutors had a witch hunt to scapegoat them or whatever.

happybird

(4,482 posts)
14. Just thinking-
Wed Dec 30, 2020, 12:30 AM
Dec 2020

Wonder if she said she wasn’t expecting to get the pardon and my horrified, disgusted brain added the “and didn’t seek” part.
It ran for a couple days and I started changing the station whenever it came on.

RVN VET71

(2,686 posts)
6. It was gross and despicable, even by P.G. County Police standards.
Tue Dec 29, 2020, 10:44 PM
Dec 2020

I did not know that this sadist had actually been given the OK to unleash her dog -- by her sergeant who, it seems, was urged on by Mohr’s “supervising officer.”

Jesus Christ!

halfulglas

(1,654 posts)
10. I disagree.
Tue Dec 29, 2020, 11:42 PM
Dec 2020

Trump is a horrible human being and president, but Champ and Major don't deserve what might happen to them because he is still under Secret Service protection and the agents are honor-bound to protect him.

Collimator

(1,638 posts)
15. According to this source. . .
Wed Dec 30, 2020, 03:41 PM
Dec 2020

. . . the suspect was running. The officer "made a decision to use a certain amount of force during an arrest."

I am not saying that I buy her story. But it is interesting how a news source can report something and manage to present or avoid mentioning certain details.

calimary

(80,521 posts)
16. Um ... once a dog gets a taste of flesh and blood, it should probably
Wed Dec 30, 2020, 07:19 PM
Dec 2020

be put down. It’s now dangerous to keep around. A friend of mine had a dog that did that. Her vet recommended that solution.

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