Marine reservist beat Greek priest; thought he was Arab terrorist

By GottaLaff


Tampa’s Welcome Wagon

UPDATE: Racy sequel here.

Have you heard the one about the priest and the tire iron? The ClusterFoxers would be proud.

TAMPA — A Marine reservist armed with a tire iron beat and chased a man he thought was an Arab terrorist and even called 911 to say he was detaining the man, police said. [...]

That’s why police arrested reservist Jasen D. Bruce on a charge of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

Police said they’re also investigating whether Bruce, 28, committed a hate crime.

The priest was on his way to bless another retired Greek priest, but got lost. He asked Jasen for help, but…

Instead of offering help, Bruce struck the priest on the head with a tire iron, police said.

Isn’t that just like a good citizen? I wonder if he’s a Glenn Beck fan.

He called 911 and told them that an Arabic man tried to rob him, and that– check this out– he was going to take the priest into custody. When the police showed up, Tire Iron Jasen told them the priest was a terrorist.

Then officers went to Bruce’s apartment to speak to the reservist again. But he already had an attorney with him and refused to speak, police said.

Yep, Brucie pre-emptively lawyered himself all up. Isn’t that just like an innocent man?

Moral: Always jump to conclusions. All foreigners are terrorists. And all foreigners should be beaten with tire irons. Hold all questions until later.

It’s the American way.

H/t: Joeyess

  • Brandon

    Wow, did he jump to a conclusion. Asking for directions is obviously the work of terrorists.

  • Anonymous

    * (sorry, should have said the 156 hate crimes were those reported to FBI. And probably the more relevant number to compare it to than 300 million is the number of Muslims in the US. Estimates on that vary widely, from 1 million to 7 million.)

  • Bill

    regarding Florida:

    "Again with Florida.. For many people, if you don't fit whatever mold or idea of what you should be, you are a threat. "

    I grew up in Florida. Not as urban melting pot as my current residence in DC, by a long shot. But not teeming with violent maniacs looking to beat foreigners, either.

  • Anonymous

    Ok, let's take these one at a time:

    "It's the American way."

    No, it's the opposite of the American way, and xenophobia is probably less of a problem here than in a lot of other places. In 2006 there were 156 hate crimes related to Islam in a country of 300 million people. You do the math.

  • Anonymous

    Lack of post-combat mental health care?

  • jazzguyal

    Unfortunately this points out how badly the Marine Corps needs a few good men. I've known a lot of good Marines, and I've known several I wouldn't turn my back on, in this case the Corps should have done better.

  • mellowjohn

    i know a lot of really smart marines from high school, college and grad school, and i mean in no way to disparage any of them, but you don't have to be a genius to join the corps.
    totally OT, but right at this minute i'd like to jump thru my teevee screen and slap tweety silly. he just had david plouffe on and talked over him the whole time. (yes, i know that's typical tweety behavior, but jesus fucking christ it makes me mad!!!!!!) (see, 5 exclamation points!!!!!)

  • Basadd

    Again with Florida.. For many people, if you don't fit whatever mold or idea of what you should be, you are a threat. This can be due to race, gender, orientation, almost anything. I am surprised at how closed-minded and conformist the USA is outside of certain enclaves. Guess I'll just stay in my enclave.

  • GottaLaff

    You got that right.

  • Fernando

    I'm not surprised but so saddened by this post Laffy. People are too good at hating. Not enough love in this world.