Crazed War Vet
Question: When is a crazed war veteran engaged in an armed standoff with a gun not identified in the lede as a crazed war veteran?
Answer: When he’s an Obama supporter! AP:
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — A man in a ski mask waved an American flag and a handgun on a freeway overpass for about three hours Monday morning, forcing a massive traffic shutdown before he surrendered.
Police say crisis negotiators coaxed Edward Van Tassel, 28, to give up west of downtown Santa Barbara on Highway 101, a major route along the California coast. Traffic was jammed at least three miles in each direction.
After dropping his weapon, Van Tassel asked for a Barack Obama campaign sign, which authorities delivered to him using a bomb squad robot, police said. The man attached the sign and the flag to the overpass and later walked backward to officers, who took him into custody.
…
Van Tassel, an Iraq veteran from Santa Barbara, was taken into custody without incident, said police Sgt. Lorenzo Duarte. The sergeant said Van Tassel had been in the Army but he did not have any details of his Iraq service.
As for the man’s motive, Duarte said, “The reason appears to be anti-war, but I don’t know the specifics.”
Hey, I thought journalistic convention called for Iraq vets, like Vietnam vets, to be identified as such in the lede any time they do something crazy with guns. What’s with the sudden sensitivity? Meanwhile, I’m pretty sure Mr. Van Tassel’s political preference, which appears to have been a central feature of the incident, would have played higher if, you know …
The fact that he was hauled off for mental evaluation also got buried. That’s OK, they can’t be blamed for not wanting to associate Obama support with mental illness.
Fortunately no one was hurt. I hope Mr. Van Tassel gets the help he needs. I also hope the AP moves a photo of the robot with the Obama sign.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:19 pm on Monday, November 3, 2008
One Response to “Crazed War Vet”
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November 4th, 2008 at 11:28 am
“I also hope the AP moves a photo of the robot with the Obama sign.”
Mitt Romney endorsed Barack Obama in California? Buried lede.