A new low for Sheriff Joe

Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona’s Maricopa County, the self-proclaimed “America’s Toughest Sheriff”, is the incarnation of all of the problems with today’s police forces in one: bigoted, stupid and vile, and with an ego the size of two Mount Everests (and a sense of entitlement and superiority to match). He is well-known for his brutality towards Latinos in the U.S.; he reportedly arrests over 600 of them each year, whilst less than half of those are actually there illegally. The outrages he causes are innumerable and short in between.

However, this new one might just be his most outrageous atrocity yet. Claiming that she was an illegal immigrant, Joe brutally detained a 9-months pregnant woman, who subsequently went into labor whilst under arrest. The chilling details of how she was treated, below.

The most recent atrocity committed by the self-proclaimed "America's Toughest Sheriff" involves a woman who was detained while 9-months pregnant. Alma Minerva Chacon's case has been receiving media attention due to the brutality with which she was treated. The very same night of her arrest, Chacon went into labor and found herself afraid and alone, being rushed to a local hospital with her hands and legs chained in shackles.

Once she reached the hospital, nurses repeatedly begged the Sheriff's staff to allow them to unchain the mother, but they refused and Chacon was forced to give birth while still shackled to the bed. At one point, the nurse asked for them to release her so that she could be escorted to the bathroom for a urinalysis, but even that request was denied. But the worst came once Chacon gave birth to her baby girl.

Still chained to the bed, Arpaio's police staff refused to allow Chacon to hold her newborn baby and then warned her that if no one came to pick up the child within 72 hours, she would be turned over into state custody.

Disgusting. Just loathsome. If there was one asshole who ever deserved both to be kicked off the air and have his ass thrown behind bars for a good long time, Sheriff Joe would be a prime candidate.

There is also a video of an interview with Chacon by Telemundo 52 (Spanish only) where she tells her side of the brutal story. Also, be sure to sign this petition to Attorney General Eric Holder to demand a formal investigation be launched into the the Sheriff’s countless civil and humane rights violations. (It’s an other American-only petition so I couldn’t sign, sadly.) Indeed: Sheriff Joe Must Go.

(via The Agitator)
Technorati tags: Joe Arpaio · Sheriff Joe · police · Latinos · cruelty · Alma Minerva Chacon · petitions