Some of you probably recall this. To recap, approximately a year and a half ago I was living in a Los Angeles apartment building when my neighbor strangled me and broke my foot in 3 places. I lost my apartment and mobility, and had to move in with my mom. A kinda quick progress report before I explain why karma is a big fat bitch, the biggest bitch that ever was. Due to a lot of administrative fuck-ups between police, hospital and courts, very few of my rights under Marsy's Law (the California Victim's of Crime Act of 2008) have been honored. I'm out 20K and counting from this assault, and not only have I received very little restitution from the Victim's of Crime Compensation program, but I was denied my rights to court-ordered restitution, the right to attend my assailant's hearings, submit a victim's impact statement, etc. The guy who did it to me was never charged with the felonies he committed, spent less time in jail than I did in a cast, and got a 4 hour seminar that may as well have been titled Strangulation Is Bad, M'kay? for his efforts. The DA refused the case and kicked it to the City Attorney, who slapped him on the wrist with a single misdemeanor assault charge which he pled down to almost nothing. While I scrambled out of the apartment on my own dime for my personal safety, he got to stay in the apartment building where he strangled me. The management refused to evict him. This part's bolded because it's ultimately important. I've tried for the past year and a half to sue for compensation. Sue my assailant, sue the apartment building where the assault happened, sue the cops/hospital DA/CA's offices. No dice. I obtained a lawyer who strung me along for about 6 months, then fired me as a client when he decided my pockets weren't deep enough. Since then, I haven't been able to any lawyer who would touch me with a 10 foot pole. This is sickening because my statute of limitations on all this stuff is running out. I'm simply not worth anything, if you get my drift. After an extremely disappointing court date in May, I decided I had to put all this away for awhile, because it had been eating away at my life to the point where there was nothing left, and for what? I wasn't getting anywhere with it. I resigned myself to never seeing justice in any sense of the word, there was nothing to salvage here and all I could do from here on out was concentrate on rebuilding my life and making it better than it was before all this shit happened. Living well being the best revenge, and all that. I'm not going to lie, the whole thing's been a depressing slog and my worldview is permanently twisted and cynical. What am I getting at with all this? What's the point? Well most of the above is irrelevant, I just felt after that big long thread some of you might want a cliff notes recap of what happened. But it's not all irrelevant. In a very strange twist of fate, Karma said, "Bears, I know you've had a tough time, but I'm going to throw you a bone. Enjoy the dark satisfaction. Tastes like chocolate." Karma did to a bunch of other people what was done to me, and I'm not happy about that, although the sensation I feel is vaguely cocoaish. Yep, the place where I was assaulted, whose management treated me like shit, told my mother I was stupid and deserved what happened to me, whom I was forced to pay rent to for an apartment I was unable to inhabit for safety and disability issues, who pushed me out early when they found another renter, allowed my Favorite Felon to stay after he attacked and seriously injured me and another person, and whom I was completely rendered unable to sue due to lawyer disinterest and fucked up California law... ...caught fire Thursday, then Friday morning, and is likely destroyed from water and structural damage. 100+ people are homeless in a sudden and traumatizing manner (sound familiar), including the management, who lived on the premises. Karma, while I appreciate the gesture, you shouldn't have done this. Really, you shouldn't have. I would have have settled for the relevant parties losing their jobs, not scores of innocent people losing their homes and LA losing a historic and lovely building. C'mon, that ain't doing unto others. It's not cool of you to stir up so many conflicting and unpleasant feelings about this. For the record, I have an alibi. Don't even start. I wrote the local news affiliate and the LAFD to explain why I feel a, uh, wellness check of sorts should be conducted on my Favorite Felon, complete with our colorful history and the wee fact that he's a violent, unstable offender with priors that predate his collision with me. I also pointed out that management allowed him to stay after he proved himself a demonstrable danger to other tenants, and thus he might be worth investigating in all this. I also contacted the relevant division of the LAPD, who in a typical display of incompetence, claimed to have no idea a major structure in their precinct had been destroyed a few days earlier. Figures. I've gotten nowhere fast with them for the past year and a half, why start now? If nothing else, the thought of this guy possibly being harassed and suspected of arson by TPTB gives me warm fuzzies, I'll admit it. The news claim that this is all a confluence of unfortunate coincidences just isn't working for me, you know?
You know, the thing is, I still get frustrated by how your rights were disregarded at every turn, and you were purposely shoved out of the way in favor of a detriment to society and decent people in general. It's almost like the perfect storm of apathy gathered over you and rained down on your life. It's not right, and it's not fair, and my own sense of justice fumes at what happened. I hope those folks find greater fortunes, and your assailant finds himself locked up behind bars where he belongs, and as for yourself, in your efforts to move on with your life, I wish fair winds and following seas. You deserve a nice non-destructive Karma boost, bears. I hope you get it.
With any luck, this will draw attention to the guy, resulting in an investigation that will bring your situation to light. Maybe you'll end up with that piece of property, which you could sell.
Bears, i am sending you lots of positive vibes and {{{squishy hugs}}}. Like CD said, i hope the news station picks up on the story. Just be ready to have your life interrupted by the media if they do. I've been there. It isn't pleasant, but it may be the only way to get some satisfaction for yourself. Good luck honey!!
When I saw the bit in blue, I went "YES!" When karma's on your side, it's really on your side. While I do feel sympathy for the innocent parties, it's overdue for the Felon and the Management to get comeuppance.
Bears I hope things work out better for you. You've been treated like crap (or worse) and you don't deserve it.
I can walk long distances, but running, dancing, skiing, standing on tiptoes, heavy lifting that may strain the foot etc is completely out of the question, as are most shoes that aren't reinforced cross-trainers. My range of motion remains limited, and my toes no longer bend properly to get into dress shoes. I also have permanent bruising and disfiguration on the foot in question. I am mobile again, though, which is great. Lots of physical therapy to get there, but I can get around in my cross trainers with minimal pain at this point, unless I overdo it and walk too far in one stretch.
If I was vindictive person, I would write a letter to the management telling them to 'Live Long and Prosper'. Though I think the sarcasm would be lost.
I feel your pain. My left foot was injured 2.5 years ago when it became infected while in Sicily. I spent 2 years seeing specialists as it healed and today I am stuck with nerve damage preventing use of the foot. I have to wear a brace to walk which restricts the shoes I can wear and limits me pretty much the same as you mentioned. Hopefully you will continue to recover and regain your mobility unlike me.
I was going to (teasingly) bring this up. I'm glad that you can get at least a small bit of satisfaction in what has been, ultimately, a very fucked up situation. Part of me wishes I had a bar license (specifically California one) and could file the claim and help you with the suit. This really isn't something that should have slipped through the cracks, but it fell through both in public law and private law and that's not really fair.
The thought did cross my mind, but seeing as I would appear to have plenty of motive to do something like burn that place down, the last thing I'd want to do is unwittingly implicate myself for arson in the course of theraputic venting at the source of some of my frustrations.
Fortunately, I seem to have no nerve damage, just ligament, and tendon issues that are ongoing. I do have a major calicum deficiency in my foot and calf from months of immobilization over the past 2 1/2 years (I broke the same foot a year and 2 months prior to the assault), which puts me at high risk for a rebreak, thus why I can't do all the fun stuff I used to. Since my lawyer cut me loose, I've been really lost in this whole process. I don't even know what areas of law address things like court malefeasance. For a while I just called lawyer after lawyer, but the continual rejection wore me down to the point I had to stop in May of this year and put it all away for a while. What really frustrates me, is my family was gung-ho to support me emotionally (and financially if neccessary) at the outset of all this, but withdrew a few months into it all. I can't hardly talk to them at all about the last year and a half, and whenever I try to bring not just the subject of frustrated ligitation efforts, but anything related pertaining to the assault, they shut me me right out. I'm getting a lot of family static now telling me to just get over it and live with the frustration anf failure because litigation is 'too hard'. My mom is especially bad on this subject. She pushed me out of her house 2 months after the assault because her boyfriend at the time told her I was a leech and a freeloader for being there, nevermind that I was telecommuting/commuting to LA everyday and writing rent checks to her she would tear up. She doesn't want me to sue anyone because its 'mean', 'too hard' and 'scary', and even got to the point where she began throwing away mail still coming to her house that dealt with anything relating to the assault and the aftermath, which sabotaged a lot of my efforts. I'm barely on speaking terms with her right now as a result. What they don't understand is that everytime I tell myself I'm giving up and moving on, I become near suidically depressed and have to pick it up again. I don't know what's going to happen when the statute of limitations runs out and then there's nothing I can do further, full stop.
No criminal charges were pressed against your Favorite Felon? The whole things sucks and, like you, I feel sympathy for the innocent tenants--but damn glad for mgmt/FF getting a little of what they earned. As for your family ... I don't even want to comment. It wouldn't be anything nice.
great scott! how horrendous! I have no practical advice but you have my deepest sympathies and hopes for an upturn in your life. it sounds like no one in the justice system there is interested in actual justice. wow.
Ouch. Do you know the statute of limitations and when things can't be brought up after? The sad thing is most states are immune from actions brought against them. The only people you really can sue would be the apartment and the asshole who assaulted you. I feel the police and the justice department screwed up too and there might be something that could be done, but I really don't know enough about this subject. Yeah, that's really not fair. I'm really sorry to hear this. Just hold strong the best you can. Know that everyone here on the board is here to support you if you need it.
Huh. The LAFD actually returned my call today and forwarded my info to their arson investigation team. Fascinating.