Good Ole' Fashioned Pinkie Removal
Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 4:16 am
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 9I64J.DTL
(09-04) 04:00 PDT Los Angeles --
Authorities are searching for a health care-reform activist who they said bit off part of a 65-year-old man's pinky during a scuffle at a MoveOn.org rally in Thousand Oaks, a city northwest of downtown Los Angeles.
"It all started with their difference in philosophy over health care reform," said Senior Deputy Eric Buschow of the Ventura County Sheriff's Department.
The incident occurred about 7 p.m. Wednesday at a demonstration organized by affiliates of the activist group MoveOn.org, which drew about 100 supporters of President Obama's health care plan, Buschow said. The rally also attracted about 25 counterprotesters, he said.
During the rally, two men got into a heated argument and began fighting.
"At which point, one man bit off the left pinkie of the other," Buschow said.
The injured demonstrator, William Rice, then drove himself to a hospital, he said.
"We're still trying to figure out who was the aggressor," Buschow said.
Rice said doctors did not reattach the bitten-off part of his left pinky after he got in the middle of the rally Wednesday night that he said was "very scary."
"I didn't go out to demonstrate my beliefs, I happened to be driving by and I stopped to ask people what their purpose was," Rice said in a telephone interview Thursday. "I had no signs, I was not part of the demonstration."
Rice declined to say Thursday which side of the debate he falls on.
Ilyse Hogue, director of political advocacy and communications for MoveOn.org, called the incident "a regrettable act of violence" in a statement released Thursday morning.
"While we do not have any more facts about what happened than what we saw in press accounts, MoveOn condemns violence in all forms," Hogue said. "We support the Ventura County sheriff's investigation into the situation. It is in our firm hope that this event does not detract from the tens of thousands who were out peacefully making their voices heard for health care reform and a public option."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... z0Q8ipP1AH
(09-04) 04:00 PDT Los Angeles --
Authorities are searching for a health care-reform activist who they said bit off part of a 65-year-old man's pinky during a scuffle at a MoveOn.org rally in Thousand Oaks, a city northwest of downtown Los Angeles.
"It all started with their difference in philosophy over health care reform," said Senior Deputy Eric Buschow of the Ventura County Sheriff's Department.
The incident occurred about 7 p.m. Wednesday at a demonstration organized by affiliates of the activist group MoveOn.org, which drew about 100 supporters of President Obama's health care plan, Buschow said. The rally also attracted about 25 counterprotesters, he said.
During the rally, two men got into a heated argument and began fighting.
"At which point, one man bit off the left pinkie of the other," Buschow said.
The injured demonstrator, William Rice, then drove himself to a hospital, he said.
"We're still trying to figure out who was the aggressor," Buschow said.
Rice said doctors did not reattach the bitten-off part of his left pinky after he got in the middle of the rally Wednesday night that he said was "very scary."
"I didn't go out to demonstrate my beliefs, I happened to be driving by and I stopped to ask people what their purpose was," Rice said in a telephone interview Thursday. "I had no signs, I was not part of the demonstration."
Rice declined to say Thursday which side of the debate he falls on.
Ilyse Hogue, director of political advocacy and communications for MoveOn.org, called the incident "a regrettable act of violence" in a statement released Thursday morning.
"While we do not have any more facts about what happened than what we saw in press accounts, MoveOn condemns violence in all forms," Hogue said. "We support the Ventura County sheriff's investigation into the situation. It is in our firm hope that this event does not detract from the tens of thousands who were out peacefully making their voices heard for health care reform and a public option."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... z0Q8ipP1AH
