Small-town Police Chief Accused of Denying CPR to Gay Heart Attack Victim

The cop denies it, and I've been fooled before, so a jury will have to sort it all out.  But, if true, damn:

The lawsuit accuses [Welch, WV police chief Bobby] Bowman of pulling off [heart attack victim Claude] Green's friend Billy Snead as Snead was performing chest compressions on the man. Snead was a passenger in Green's pickup truck when Green collapsed; Snead had managed to pull over the vehicle.

Snead said in an interview that he didn't realize at first it was Bowman giving the order and continued working on his friend. Bowman repeated his command to get away, saying that Green was HIV positive, then grabbed Snead by the shoulders and told him to sit on the curb, Snead said.

"He was a police officer so I got out the way. [sic] I assumed he would help. I didn't want to be a hindrance," Snead said. "He also told the ambulance drivers that he was HIV positive and to be careful."

Green was pronounced dead at the hospital after about 30 minutes of attempts to revive him.

Emphasis added and my edits in brackets.

It has the ring of truth to me for several reasons: it's just too bizarre to make up, Snead has no apparent motive to lie, if Snead were lying then he'd be unlikely to claim Bowman also told the ambulance people Green had HIV, and knowing the ACLU's litigation budget (hint: it has a punchline), I doubt they'd take this on unless they were fairly sure they'd win.  And this is telling:

Police Chief Bobby Bowman called the allegations "a boldface lie." He said that he called an ambulance and that Green was taken to the hospital in "no more than nine minutes."

"No one refused him CPR as his sister and mom are saying. They can do what they want, but if they're saying I refused him CPR, that is no way true," Bowman said.

...

When asked if he knew if Green was gay, Bowman would not answer and referred questions to McDowell County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Danny Barie, who also represents the City of Welch.

Meaning, Bowman knew Green was gay, and Bowman knows some reason it's not a good fact for him, so he gets all shy even after calling the central factual allegation a lie.  Bowman's got something to hide.

We'll see.

(Thanks to That Black Lesbian Jew.)

Comments

[TBLJ]

Thanks for the link

[acm]

probably a small enough town that everybody knows everybody, by face and name, at least...

ugh.