In a sworn affidavit, Murphy says Nestor told him that the police "would harass me and put me in jail as soon as I come to Shenandoah if I filed a lawsuit or tried to press charges on him," and that if Murphy filed suit, "I wouldn't make it out of the police station's cells next time." The complaint further alleges that "Nestor said I could end up like the Mexican that hung himself, that tapes can be erased or edited." (The Shenandoah police station did not have surveillance cameras at the time of Vega's death.)
"Law & Order" writers could also look at a "suicide" in Coaldale, about 20 miles east of Shenandoah. James Hill, 17, was visiting Greg Altenbach and his parents in January 2004. A corrupt police chief performed only a cursory investigation and decided that Hill committed suicide with a .22 semi-automatic rifle. However, Police Chief Shawn Nihen rejected a coroner's report that concluded Hill couldn't have killed himself. Nihen, who was friends with the family in whose house Hill died, as well as Altenbach's mother, stepfather, and a friend who witnessed the accidental shooting, had tried to cover up evidence. Nihen also had known that Shawn Becker, the stepfather, was forbidden by the courts to have a gun in the house. Nihen and Coaldale police officer Michael Weaver were later convicted of planting evidence in several cases. Altenbach later acknowledged he had fired the gun, and is now in prison after conviction for involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault.
Future stories of "Law and Order" may continue to be "ripped from the headlines," but in northeastern Pennsylvania, they are torn from greed and racial and cultural hatred.
[Walter M. Brasch, an award-winning former newspaper reporter and editor, is a syndicated social issues columnist, author, writer-producer, and professor of journalism at Bloomsburg University. His latest books are Sex and the Single Beer Can, a probing and humorous look at the nation's media; and Sinking the Ship of State: The Presidency of George W. Bush, with a focus upon the shredding of Constitutional protections. Both books are available at amazon.com, and other bookstores. You may contact Dr. Brasch through his website, www.walterbrasch.com.]
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
2
2
1
