Australian Throws Daughter Off Bridge to Death, Police Say

[WriteDown]

Source: Canada Free Press

Witnesses said Arthur Phillip Freeman, 35, suddenly stopped his family car – which also had his two young sons inside – and, with young Darcey Iris in his arms, walked to the side of the West Gate Bridge, just after 9 a.m.

He then allegedly dropped his young daughter over the railing and into the water, 190 feet below.

Shocked drivers who witnessed the incident – which police say occurred in a matter of seconds – immediately called emergency hotlines as Freeman reportedly got back in the large white family Land Cruiser, and drove away...more

Read more: http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/8010

---

If there was ever a time for police brutality...

[atreides1]

1. Regardless of the crime

There is never a time for police brutality!!!!!

[Xithras]

4. How about some bystander brutality?

Had I been witness to something like that, it would have been difficult to restrain the impulse to throw him off as well.

[ej510]

11. That mutha fucka needs to be thrown in Pelican Bay in general population and

then inform his fellow inmates of his actions.

[depakid]

12. Australia isn't uncivilized like Texas

and the guy will be dealt with by the courts appropriately.

Sad situation- the cops and paramedics are also traumatized and getting counselling.

Apparently the security guards were trained to recognize people in distress like this, but somehow got slack and din't intervene effectively,

[WriteDown]

13. They should take him to the same bridge and show him...

what its like. I am always amazed at people who have sympathy for these monsters. If this has been my daughter, they would have to use a mop and a bucket to collect this guys body.

[ej510]

14. I agree with you 100%.

[depakid]

15. The usual Texan response- look around the world to find some excuse for torture

Things are done a bit diferrently down under.

Which is one reason why Australia doesn't have your gruesome violent crime and murder rates....

[WriteDown]

17. Excuse?!

I'm talking about this particular monster. There is not much doubt about his guilt. As far as down under is concerned (a place I love), considering their continued treatment of the aboriginal population, I'd be careful about getting up on a pedestal. Also, the Texas stuff is bunk. I am a native NYCer and just recently find myself in Dallas for employment.

[ej510]

19. Australians have a fucked history when it comes to the native people.

[depakid]

22. And much more than most countries- have come to terms with it

The Apology

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=9XtUJTbQaN0

Also- I don't suppose there's anything like this in the states:

http://nitv.org.au/

[WriteDown]

25. Sorry, words don't cut it...

Let me guess? You're white?

[depakid]

20. No- you're reacting emotionally

Finding an excuse for venting outrage.

As I mentioned- the courts will deal with the case- and the various authorities will learn from this and try to ensure tragedies like this won't happen again.

Unlike most of the states- Aussies tend to be problem solvers, rather than vengence seekers.

[WriteDown]

24. Intellectually....

he deserves swift death. He through a little girl off a bridge to her death. Society doesn't need him and he needs to be removed just like you would remove any cancer.

You're right about Australians. Looks like they solved the problem of the indigenous population. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolen_Generations

[Cronopio]

27. " ... he deserves swift death."

Swift death would be letting him off easy, don't you think?

"Society doesn't need him and he needs to be removed just like you would remove any cancer."

So you judge the worth of a person on how much you believe "society" needs them?

Purely intellectually speaking, would you say that "society" needed Darcy? You don't know fact one about her or the situation other than she was killed by her father.

Basing your death penalty verdict on the idea that "society" has no need of a person, without even the due process of a trial to verify the facts of a situation, gives me fact one about you - you're a closet totalitarian.

[WriteDown]

29. Facts....

100's of witnesses saw him do it. I am not against a trial, but hopefully the result will not have him sitting in a room for the rest of his life watching TV. I say have the trial and then take him back to the bridge.

[Cronopio]

33. Excellent.

That's certainly more humane than wishing a swift and instant death. Society still needs him as an opportunity to prove that it isn't the murderer he allegedly (alleged until proven) is.

[JoDog]

26. If you look down on Americans so much

then why bother frequenting a site that deals in our politics? Surely our prattle is just a waste of time.

[Cronopio]

28. From one American to another ...

... Australia's judicial and penal system *is* more humane than America's.

You don't need to be from Australia to know that.

[WriteDown]

31. This sure sounds humane...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_immigration_detention_facilities

[Cronopio]

36. And that's better than our official rendition facilities/torture chambers?

Reminder: I said "more humane than America" not "squeaky clean".

The day I hear an official apology from the American government about the torture chambers (the type the Australian government gave) or even about the genocide of the American Indian a few generations ago, I'll admit the possibility of a moral equivalence.

[WriteDown]

40. As an actual Native...

Apologies mean squat. Show some action. Give up some land to the various tribes that languish on US soil. I have yet to see how Australia is more human than the US. Its 6 of one, half dozen of another.

[nyy1998]

37. Amen

I couldn't agree more from a fellow ex-NYC(Yonkers-area) living in Texas(El Paso)....not everyone in this state are indecent people

[muriel_volestrangler]

18. He has some idea of the enormity of what he did - from your story:

Freeman was arrested by police an hour after the tragic incident when he was spotted, accompanied by his two sons, Benjamin, 7, and Jack, 23 months, in a “visibly distressed” state outside the Commonwealth Law Courts across town in central Melbourne. The family had been in the midst of a custody battle.

Security staff at the court said that Freeman was shaking like a leaf, and staring with wild eyes when they spotted him and alerted police. Police, initially unaware he was involved in the bridge incident, said they took him into custody peacefully.

As he was being led away, Freeman reportedly begged court staff to "take care of my kids.''

“He was pretty down and he had the two other children with him and he tried to enter the court. He couldn't talk to anyone, he wouldn't talk to anyone, he was just a mess,'' witness Vince Mascia told the Nine Network.
...
Her father was then charged with murder and set to appear before a criminal court. However he was deemed "suicidal" by psychiatrists and remanded in custody. He will next appear in court on May 21 for a committal hearing.

[LanternWaste]

32. I think it's less sympathy for the...

I think it's less sympathy for the perpetrators of these acts, and more a love of justice meted out appropriately.

I say that because I have seen zero posts that sympathize with the individual or his acts, but I've read many posts which dismiss revenge-oriented actions...

[kentauros]

23. And some people don't know when to give it up with the cracks against Texas.

Live here for a while and see what we are all like or STFU!

Would you like me to judge all of Oregon by you and you alone? I could, you know, easily.

I was going to go to lunch soon, blissfully unaware of the insanity seemingly gripping the world at the moment. Now this is going to be on my mind for the rest of the day. I could not imagine witnessing such a horror, yet my mind is going to what the little girl went through by her own father and the terror she must have felt. And still, I would not want police brutality against him nor the death penalty. Imagine how traumatized the remaining boys would be to witness not only the death of their sister but then the violence against their father. Could it get any more insane?!

[mimitabby]

2. how awful

they were able to rescuscitate her but she died anyway

[pnorman]

8. This is whatws in that article:

Darcey miraculously survived the fall and was pulled from the water by police within 10 minutes and ambulance officers spent the next 50 minutes resuscitating her on the bank on the side of the Yarra River.

She was then airlifted by helicopter to the nearby Royal Children’s Hospital in a critical condition and treated for the next four hours.

I truly hope you're misinformed, but that's merely wishful thinking. 190 feet is quite a drop!

pnorman

[ogneopasno]

9. It says later in the story that the girl is dead and her father charged with murder.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[HERVEPA]

5. Extremely unfunny and callous

[ogneopasno]

7. Not funny.

[RaleighNCDUer]

21. As others have replied - Not funny -

but that was my first thought, too.

[LostinVA]

39. For shame -- ask to ahve your appalling reply deleted

I love dark humor, but this is shameful and not the elast bit funny.

[ogneopasno]

6. That poor girl -- and her poor brothers! What a monster.

[AngryAmish]

10. I would rather be on a Bridge to Nowhere than on the Bridge to Death

Honestly, why even get on the bridge?

[kwassa]

16. similar to ......

Police: Man Throws 4 Kids Off Bridge
Wednesday, January 09, 2008

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,321249,00.html

BAYOU LA BATRE, Ala. — A man angered after a dispute with his wife confessed to tossing his four young children off a bridge, authorities said Wednesday as they searched murky waters for the bodies.

Lam Luong, 37, who is charged with four counts of capital murder, told authorities Tuesday night that he drove to the Dauphin Island bridge and dropped the children from a span that reaches 80 feet in places, said Detective Scott Rivera.

Luong came to coastal Alabama from Vietnam in 1984 and worked in the commercial fishing industry as a shrimper, Police Chief John Joyner and a relative said. He had argued with his wife, Ngoc Phan, before taking the children, he said.

.................................

The family initially feared the children had been traded to support a drug habit, Phengsisomboun said. Luong had a crack cocaine habit and had spent an insurance settlement from an automobile accident rapidly, he said, and authorities confirmed Luong had a history of drug offenses.

[undeterred]

30. And how exactly, does police brutality ever help anything?

What an ignorant comment.

[daggahead]

34. The world has gone nuts. n/t

[Tab]

35. That is one f*cked up story

and it's sad for everyone - the little girl, the father who was past the breaking point, and certainly the mother and the 7 year old.

Holy sh*t.

[FedUpWithIt All]

38. She was on her way to her first day of school.

:-(

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article5612286.ece

[Clear Blue Sky]

41. Horrible story.