Errol Louis of the New York Daily News has a very good point about the scandal surrounding New York Gov. David Paterson. Namely, that the focus of this case should not be on Paterson. Rather, says Louis, it should be about the person at the center of the controversy — no, not aide David Johnson, though Johnson’s actions should be neither forgiven nor forgotten. But rather on Johnson’s victim, the woman who he abused, a woman who was failed every step of the way:
Johnson’s ex-girlfriend told the NYPD and a Family Court referee that she was injured, afraid and subject to intimidation.
“He’s like a government official, and I have problems with even calling the police because the state troopers kept calling and harassing me to drop the charges, and I wouldn’t,” she told the referee in November.
After which, it appears, nobody lifted a finger to help the accuser. City cops, tasked with serving an order of protection on Johnson, proved unable to do so, even though the towering 6-foot-7 aide was by the governor’s side at every public appearance.
The governor’s schedule is public information. Anybody could have served the papers.
The judge does not appear to have passed along the report that men with guns from a state agency were supposedly harassing a victim who appeared in her court.
The state police appear to have acted more like a private intimidation force than a professional law enforcement agency. And members of Paterson’s immediate political staff – and, perhaps, the governor – may have known all of what was going on, but tried to spin or dissolve the complaint rather than face it head-on.
Bad business all around.
In a city where attacks between family members or intimate partners are an epidemic – the NYPD responds to some 650 domestic violence calls every day – it chills the blood to read about how one high-profile encounter was botched.
It does, and not just because this one woman was failed. It chills the blood because it begs the question, how many more victims of domestic violence are being failed?
Obviously, most victims of domestic abuse are not going to be harassed by the Governor of their state. But the other failures — the lack of follow-through, the judge who was silent, the general nonchalance about serving papers — these are failures that are systemic, and general. If city police can’t be bothered to serve papers on a man traveling with the Governor, whose schedule is public, how many other abusers is the NYPD failing to serve?
Moreover, this case is precisely why so many victims of domestic violence choose not to come forward. No, most women who are abused are not going to be visited by state troopers. But many will be pressured by family and friends who are eager to minimize the deeds of the abuser, and eager to get all the unpleasantness behind them. While this is a case of that writ large, Paterson’s actions in this are simply the actions of someone with power trying to get all the unpleasantness swept away, so that his friend can move on with his life — because hey, the guy just made a mistake. Why wreck his life, right?
MRA types are fond of saying that orders of protection are given freely and capriciously. And no doubt, cases can be found where that is true. But this case shows the reality of orders of protection — the fact that victims all too often struggle just to get that piece of paper that maybe, maybe, will help them avoid further abuse. Questionable orders of protection can be quashed. Abuse cannot be so easily undone. And so I’d much rather a system that makes a mistake that can be remedied than one that refuses to take domestic violence seriously. Unfortunately, the latter appears to be the system in place in New York.
Attempting to guard against the potential of abuse of power by the State by limiting the State’s power is, it seems to me, a cornerstone of conservative thought. But only anarchists would hold that the State should not have a police power, so this is beyond politics. All involved should be held accountable for their actions.
Well, regardless of their claims, consider that the reason for not serving this man was likely because of his power, not because of not being able to find him. I’d think that the NYPD would be much more likely to serve the average person than this guy.
One is too many.
Most abusers are not aides to the governor of the state. The police probably figured (correctly, as it turns out) that the governor would interfere in the case, so that’s why they were probably hesitant to serve the man papers.
Agree with all but this:
It would be a significant error to assume that all legal mistakes can realistically be remedied (either in theory or in practice.) Failures of the system, like this one, are bad. Other failures of the system are not so hot either.
There’s a saying “bad cases make bad law.” Outliers like this serve as poor choices for the evaluation or design of a legal system, even though they are publicly discussed.
With Sailorman on this one espcially since even a remedy for a legal mistake (assuming you actually get a remedy) can’t completely undo the damage the mistake caused (which I guess would lead one to question if it can be called a remedy). But I presume this was meant as a “lesser of two evils” approach rather than a “this is the one solution” approach.
I am pleased to have stumbled across your blog on this subject. Like many of my female friends, I am a registered Democrate. Unlike them, once I had verified the initial rumours about Gov. Patterson’s intervention on the side of the batterer in this case, I decided that I would rather not vote in the Gov. election coming, than vote for Patterson should he be the nominee. The next day he pulled out of the race. Speaking of race, this – this issue is not about race, feminism or politics. It is about protecting and supporting this woman, who needs to be able to confront her abuser in court, to obtain an order of protection, and to be able to live with out fear of her batterer, the NY State Police, or those supporters of Patterson who want to see him fill out his term. The man is not functioning as we New Yorkers need our gov. to function.