Beyond Belief

Sometimes you read a news story that is so hard to believe that you have to re-read it just to be sure you understand what's going on. That happened to me recently when I read about the story of Dymond Milburn of Galveston, Texas.

Here is a brief glimpse at what happened to this twelve year old girl:

It was a little before 8 at night when the breaker went out at Emily Milburn's home in Galveston. She was busy preparing her children for school the next day, so she asked her 12-year-old daughter, Dymond, to pop outside and turn the switch back on.

As Dymond headed toward the breaker, a blue van drove up and three men jumped out rushing toward her. One of them grabbed her saying, "You're a prostitute. You're coming with me."

Dymond grabbed onto a tree and started screaming, "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy." One of the men covered her mouth. Two of the men beat her about the face and throat.

As it turned out, the three men were plain-clothed Galveston police officers who had been called to the area regarding three white prostitutes soliciting a white man and a black drug dealer.

The story goes on and gets worse.

Dymond (who is black) ended up in the hospital for a few days with bruises on her throat, black eyes, and a punctured ear drum. Three weeks after that the police showed up at her school (remember she is 12) and arrested her (they arrested her dad as well) for assaulting an officer of the Peace.

This all went to trail and the judge threw declared a mistrial on the very first day. This happened two years ago and according to reports Dymond still suffers nightmares from this episode. The officers have been cleared of all wrong doing and were said to have been following proper procedures.

You can read the full article from the Houston Press.

I wonder what would have happened if the father had come out with his shotgun a blazing in efforts to protect his daughter from being taken by three unidentified men? Texas has some of the most liberal self-defense statutes in the nation, but it's clear in this case it was a really good thing the dad didn't come out with his shotgun. If he had I am sure both he and Dymond would be dead or even accused of murder.

It's hard for me to believe this has been allowed to be unresovled for more than two years. The injustice of it is really disturbing.