Boy Blinded, Eyes Bitten By Father

[WriteDown]

Source: WCTV

A California man is accused of possibly blinding his four year old son in gruesome fashion.

Police say 34-year-old Angelo Mendoza bit an eyeball out of his four year old son's face and ate it.

The boy had numerous bites to his hands and his eyes were swollen shut.

Doctors said the boy's left eye and muscle were missing; his other eye is mutilated beyond repair.

The police report said Mendoza appeared to be on PCP.

Mendoza was arrested on charges of aggravated mayhem, torture, and cruelty to a child. Police say the toddler is now in the custody of child protective services.

Mendoza is due in court Wednesday.

His bail is set at one million dollars.


Read more: http://www.wctv.tv/home/headlines/45212872.html

---

Lets legalize all drugs! :eyes:

Proving again why a blanket policy is foolish. MJ fine. PCP, not fine.

[Mythsaje]

1. And, yet, the fact that it's illegal doesn't prevent such things from happening, now does it?

They get their stuff from gawd knows where, laced with who knows what, and no one with any authority knows shit about it. Great plan.

[WriteDown]

5. So pure PCP is better?

Hahahaha.

[Mythsaje]

11. Not really, but I know people prefer their LSD untainted by PCP...

We don't even know if this guy INTENDED to take PCP.

[WriteDown]

13. No...

But you can look back at the history of people who've sought to take PCP and the results. One of the posters downthread spoke about it.

[Mythsaje]

15. Yet, still, prohibition does not prevent.

No matter what we do this sort of thing will happen, awful as it is.

[WriteDown]

17. It does not prevent murder either. nt.

[Mythsaje]

20. Oh, please. I was debating this crap with RWers years ago...

Same ol' same ol'.

I don't really suggest that legalizing PCP, as such, is a good idea (though there might be something to the notion of forcing people to come to a dispensary with nice padded cells if they want to ingest it), but obviously our current methods don't prevent things like this from happening. We can run around in circles yelling "PCP is BAD, PCP is BAD," which is a NO SHIT statement, or we can try to come up with realistic ways to prevent these things from happening in the first place.

[slay]

64. I know I do

Good point Mythsaje. I had some LSD laced with PCP back when I was younger - NOT a good time. Drugs need to be legal, regulated, and people educated about possible negative outcomes of using the drug. I think once people understood what each drug did, we would see almost no consumtion of PCP, Meth, etc. Most people get involved with that stuff because they are not well educated as to the likely negative effects of using those drugs verses something like marijuana. We are either free, or we are not.

[snort]

67. You use this to make a point?

And a weak one at that? Sick.

[eShirl]

2. delete: dupe

[JuniperLea]

3. Lock him up forever! Idiot!

This makes me sick.

Blanket policy is the straw-man used to keep MJ illegal... just like box turtles are the straw-man used to deny gay marriage.

This makes me sick too.

[gblady]

4. Holy....

Mother of God....
some things are just unfathomable.

(((Innocent child)))

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. Poor, poor baby!!!

:cry:

[fascisthunter]

7. PCP is some Really Bad Stuff

A childhood friend of mine was severly abused while both his parents were on PCP. Some of the shit that was done to him... well, read this and use your imagination. Messed his head up for life.

[mike_c]

8. um-- PCP is already illegal....

Clearly, criminalization and prohibition are working just fine, wouldn't you say?

Oh wait....

[superconnected]

30. Yeah but right now some people have access, if they legalized it everyone would have

access. Batshit crazy housewives who wouldn't have sought it otherwise, etc.

[Mythsaje]

47. Uh...why?

It escapes me why anyone would WANT to take the stuff in the first place. But, if they do, maybe tell them they can come down to such and such medical facility, be locked in a secure area with big foam toys, and monitored carefully.

Prohibition certainly isn't doing anyone any good.

[rcrush]

60. Personally I believe its around because the natural drugs were made illegal.

Its easy for poorer people to mix cleaning chemicals together because the ingredients are legal. I think its a good possibility that if drugs were legalized the homemade cleaning chemical crap will fade away.

[marshall]

46. It's worked so well with PCP, let's try it with guns

As you point out, people are going to get their hands on it one way or another.

[AngryAmish]

9. Many years ago they had the story about a mom baking her baby while on LSD

Total urban legend.

Everything in my soul makes me want to think this is an urban legend. Such a thing cannot be true.

Yet it is.

[E-Z-B]

10. .....

:cry:

[krispos42]

12. That is unbelievable.

That is unfathomable. That is...


Words fail me. :cry:

[Bette Noir]

14. Poor little kid.

Let's remember this, when the right wing (coughSantorumcough) says that all children should be raised by their biological fathers.

[Rebubula]

22. Uhhh...

What?

[Arctic Dave]

16. PCP?

"The police report said Mendoza appeared to be on PCP."

How does one appear to be on PCP?

I didn't know it was even available. Sure it wasn't Afghani heroin and meth mixed together?

[Faygo Kid]

18. Do we need this here at DU?

I could personally kill this guy, but I don't need this here. I stay at DU for other reasons, and I don't need this, frankly.

[drgonzosghost]

21. 500% Agreement....

This is a political site, and this story will only be used as fodder for the wingnuts because the scumbag father has a Hispanic name. That and hearing about children getting mutilated by their parents is too much for me to stomach and completely off topic.

Go ahead and flame me for this...I'm ready.

[Faygo Kid]

26. No flame here. You are right. Get it off DU.

This has nothing to add. Just an exploitation. And awful. This is not why I contribute.

[LostinVA]

58. DU isn 't a political site, it's a site with a Democratic POV

There's a hell of a lot more to this site than LBN, GD, and GDP.

I don't liek animal-torture threads, so I hide the thread. Hide the thread, so you don't sully Your Beautiful Mind.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

19. while thats awful, your little antidrug stance is funny in this context

it's not like the guy got PCP from the pharmacy, if he had your argument in this particular situation would have some validity

as is you are just politicizing a horror

[WriteDown]

24. No...

My response was concerning the "legalize all drugs" posters that lurk around here sometimes. Some drugs are just too horrible to be legalized and this is an excellent example.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

25. but it has NO bearing to this particular case, since the drugs were bought illegally

[WriteDown]

27. And PCP should remain illegal..

No benefit will be obtained from making drugs like PCP legal.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

29. yes, because this case CLEARLY demonstrates how efficient keeping it illegal is

i dont want to legalize PCP but i am not going to have a dishonest argument, in a completely irrelevant thread about it.

[superconnected]

You are having a dishonest argument. Just because it happened illegally does not mean that this

wouldn't happen on a much bigger scale if it was made legal.

Assuming that it wouldn't happen at all because drugs are illegal is a fallacy. That isn't the argument any anti-drug person put up. It's that it would happen less. I've never heard someone say that making something illegal would stop everyone from doing it - oh wait unless they're some gun nut projecting that argument on the other side and strutting around acting like it's wrong. It is, but so is the only dipshit using it - the gun nut. Or in this case - the person who wants all drugs legalized.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

35. no, i am not trying to use an extreme example unrelated to legality of drugs

since person scored it illegaly to go on my antidrug tirade.

its a tragic incident that happened to a 4 year old whose parent got illegal drugs and was probably psychotic to begin with

[Mythsaje]

48. What I can't wrap my mind around is WHY people think

more folks would rush out and buy PCP if it were legal. Most folks understand how fucked up it is--and those who don't are the ones already doing it. If they created a facility to dispense the stuff under controlled (very controlled) conditions, it would be a hell of a lot safer than this.

[Irreverend IX]

51. This little horror is a drop in the bucket...

Compared to the abuse and violence facilitated by alcohol, but we're not about to ban booze. As anyone who's studied drugs and neurophysiology knows, the effects of a given drug stem largely from the set and setting in which the drug is used. There is nothing uniquely "evil" about PCP, and any number of other legal and illegal drugs could have pushed a mentally unstable person over the edge. And I wouldn't trust the police quote about PCP until this suspect actually gets a medical examination; cops aren't the best source of drug knowledge.

[Mythsaje]

53. Right...

Actually the only drug stated to have a specific causal relationship to crime is alcohol. According to the FBI.

[whatchamacallit]

23. Nothing fucks me up more than people hurting children, especially parents or guardians

I'll probably get flamed for this but when this poor kid's idiot father comes down and realizes what he's done, I hope he hangs himself in his cell.

[Dogtown]

28. "The police report said Mendoza appeared to be on PCP."

Nonsense.

If a suspect is psychotic that suspect could "appear" to be "on" anything an inventive officer decides to add to the report.

Police "training" in the effects of drugs is ludicrous and his observation isn't evidence unless he's an "expert witness". No true expert would diagnose a subject based on "appearance".

His supervisor should have edited out that comment, at the very least it's prejudicial.

You've cherry-picked this article to elicit a reaction. I have no objection to folks picking an article to post based on their interests, but this is sensationalistic flame-bait of no use to this community.

[Mythsaje]

49. I had that thought as well...

But it DID create the opportunity to point out that prohibition in no way prevents this sort of thing.

[Dogtown]

52. I agree completely

Prohibition *always* creates more problems than it solves.

[superconnected]

31. Poor child! Thank God he's out of that guys custody now.

I hope that kid gets the very best family to help him heal and deal with this.

[burning rain]

32. Christ, what a horror.

I think it's overhasty and in very bad taste to exploit this atrocity by jumping up on a Drug War hobby horse (on either side).

I trust that wasn't your intent but that's how it looks.

Poor little blighter, the four-year-old. Hope he gets decent care.

[Name removed]

33. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

34. who do you think should be appointed to carry out this sentence?

and how do you think we should train this person?

[BigD_95]

36. Im sure you could get a doctor to do it.

I believe medical school already trained them.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

37. they should conveniently disregard the "do no harm" part of their vows?

[BigD_95]

40. yea.

would that be a big deal? They have doctors there when they use Lethal injection or the electric chair. Do you live under a rock or something?

[La Lioness Priyanka]

41. those are not considered torture.

[Doremus]

54. Doctors are often NOT present - or involved in any way - in executions.

Why not, then, include well-trained medical personnel in the procedure? The American Medical Association's ethics code explicitly forbids physicians to prescribe the drugs to be used in execution, to select intravenous sites, to administer the drugs, and to pronounce death. As Liptak reports, the code is not legally binding, and anonymous participation by doctors is not uncommon. Collusion by doctors in earlier stage of the process is also a well-known fact, from the various experts who spoke in favor of the guillotine in the 1790s to the Oklahoma state medical examiner's oversight of the recipe for lethal injection in the 1970s.

http://www.jehsmith.com/1/2006/04/doctors_and_let.html

Now, what was that about a rock?

[Critters2]

45. And this would solve what problem?

I mean, besides satisfying your bloodlust?

[backscatter712]

38. When a drug causes people to do things out of Silence of the Lambs, that's a problem...

I'm absolutely for legalizing marijuana, but I do draw the line at PCP and meth - those drugs do make people completely psycho.

[Mythsaje]

50. Plenty of people have done meth without going psycho...

Yet plenty have definitely gone around the bend too. I think a sane approach would be to dispense the stuff to addicts (I'm not sure it's possible to become addicted to PCP, but I'm not sure why anyone would take it in the first place) in a controlled environment. The problem with meth is that some folks tend to over-use and reach the point of a psychotic break because of lack of sleep. The drug itself may cause major health problems, but it doesn't itself cause psychosis. And, as the FBI report suggests, of any drug, only alcohol has a specific causal relationship to crime.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

39. cries out for parenting licenses more so than drug laws

Plenty of crazy people who aren't that way due to drugs...popping out kids like a gumball machine.

Just my opinion, if you ask me...

which you didn't, but I weighed in anyway.

The "divine right" to procreate is bullshit. Having and raising children should be a privilege that must be earned.

[knixphan]

63. strong point, in light of recent events.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

66. thanks, yes I think so...surprised I didn't get flamed.

Questioning people's biological imperative tends to really burn asses and make enemies!

[RedCloud]

42. Where does the drug versus eye retorts scoreboard stand?

More than just asking,

[Libertyfirst]

43. You mean this didn't happen in Florida?

[Critters2]

44. That poor child!! Imagine having to live with not just blindness,

but the memory, or at least the knowledge, of a parent doing such an awful thing. Words escape me. :cry:

[La Lioness Priyanka]

56. indeed. most horrifying.

:hug:

[chatnoir]

55. Him and the mother both had priors involving PCP

Why was that poor child still in the home??

After two neighbors found the injured child in the apartment he shared with his father, witnesses told authorities that a man in a wheelchair who turned out to be Mendoza was in the backyard of a nearby vacant home hacking his own legs with an ax, police said. Mendoza was arrested a week later.

.....

The case has raised questions about whether the child was being adequately monitored by Kern County's Child Protective Services department. Mendoza and the child's 23-year-old mother were charged with being under the influence of PCP in 2006 and pleaded no contest to child cruelty charges in that case, court records show.

Police said the mother, Desirae Marie Bermudez, was not present when the child's eyes were injured. There is a $15,000 warrant for her arrest for failing to complete a drug treatment program last year, according to court documents.

Mendoza has a criminal record going back to 1997 that includes convictions for selling alcohol to a minor, battery and check forgery.

Officials with Child Protective Services declined to comment on the case.

More http://cbs5.com/local/dad.eats.eyes.2.1013251.html

[OhioChick]

57. Poor kid.....

His father should never "see" the light of day ever again.

[LisaL]

59. What a horrible story.

Poor little kid.

[JVS]

61. PCP doesn't bite people's eyes out, people bite people's eyes out.

People have to learn to be more responsible if they're going to be tripping balls like that.

[proteus_lives]

62. God, poor kid.

I agree, weed is harmless. But drugs like coke, PCP and meth? Destroy the labs/dealers/cartels. They do nothing but harm people.

[Solly Mack]

65. I won't type what I'm thinking

[BreweryYardRat]

68. There are no words.

:puke: :cry: