Il Medico
11th November 2009, 14:15
Here is a brief summary.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - A marine reservist has been charged with attacking a Greek Orthodox Priest he mistook for an Arab terrorist.
Tampa Police say Jasen D. Bruce hit 29-year-old Alexios Marakis over the head with a tire iron and chased him for three blocks Monday evening.
Marakis was taken to an area hospital where he was treated and released.
The Greek Orthodox Priest was visiting from Crete but got lost after performing a blessing of another priest.
Police say Marakis tried asking Bruce for help but instead was attacked. Bruce allegedly called 911 and told an operator an Arabic man was trying to rob him. When officers arrived, Bruce told them the man was a terrorist.
I read the article which went into more detail in the paper, so I will expand on this. Basically, Marakis was visiting Tampa to bless retired priest. He accidentally got off I-275 and stopped to ask for directions. He approached Bruce (the Marine), who was taking dry cleaning out of his trunk, and tapped on his shoulder. With a heavy Greek accent and broken English he tried to ask for directions back to the interstate. The marine responded by striking Marakis in the head with a tire iron three times. He then ran after the fleeing priest and tackled him calling the police to arrest the man that he had just beaten. Bruce used many verbal slurs for people of middle eastern decent and call him a terrorist claiming that he said "Allah Akbar" (God is great) and said to the 911 dispatcher "that's what they say right before they blow you up". Bruce continued to change his story by adding that Marakis sexually assaulted him by "grabbing his genitals". According to Bruce's attorney "he cried when he was told that the man was not Arabic".
This attack I think is the first (in the local area at least)of many that will result from the inflammatory coverage and accusations of the Fort Hood shooting.(Friday's New York Post headline was "Mosque of Evil: Hasan's connection to the 9/11 attacks") This event (Fort Hood) will surely bring a new wave of anti-muslim attack. I hope I am wrong, but I've seen how distgusting and vile the stance the American public takes when they feel a certian group is responible for the deaths of "true Americans".
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - A marine reservist has been charged with attacking a Greek Orthodox Priest he mistook for an Arab terrorist.
Tampa Police say Jasen D. Bruce hit 29-year-old Alexios Marakis over the head with a tire iron and chased him for three blocks Monday evening.
Marakis was taken to an area hospital where he was treated and released.
The Greek Orthodox Priest was visiting from Crete but got lost after performing a blessing of another priest.
Police say Marakis tried asking Bruce for help but instead was attacked. Bruce allegedly called 911 and told an operator an Arabic man was trying to rob him. When officers arrived, Bruce told them the man was a terrorist.
I read the article which went into more detail in the paper, so I will expand on this. Basically, Marakis was visiting Tampa to bless retired priest. He accidentally got off I-275 and stopped to ask for directions. He approached Bruce (the Marine), who was taking dry cleaning out of his trunk, and tapped on his shoulder. With a heavy Greek accent and broken English he tried to ask for directions back to the interstate. The marine responded by striking Marakis in the head with a tire iron three times. He then ran after the fleeing priest and tackled him calling the police to arrest the man that he had just beaten. Bruce used many verbal slurs for people of middle eastern decent and call him a terrorist claiming that he said "Allah Akbar" (God is great) and said to the 911 dispatcher "that's what they say right before they blow you up". Bruce continued to change his story by adding that Marakis sexually assaulted him by "grabbing his genitals". According to Bruce's attorney "he cried when he was told that the man was not Arabic".
This attack I think is the first (in the local area at least)of many that will result from the inflammatory coverage and accusations of the Fort Hood shooting.(Friday's New York Post headline was "Mosque of Evil: Hasan's connection to the 9/11 attacks") This event (Fort Hood) will surely bring a new wave of anti-muslim attack. I hope I am wrong, but I've seen how distgusting and vile the stance the American public takes when they feel a certian group is responible for the deaths of "true Americans".