Anti-Abortion demonstrator injured.

[Invictus ChiKen]

I am so tempted to say pwned...

But really I don't know what to think. While an ass he is old... however he was being an ass and I am sure he was breaking the law.

[Metatwaddle]

This is some of the most unintentionally hilarious writing I've ever seen. "Pre-born" is grating and horrible and should be banned, but "angrily shouted" combined with an exclamation point is sublimely redundant. The comma splices would make my (Catholic, pro-life) high school English teacher throw a fit. And it's fun the way they're trying to set this up like an article, but their language - "vicious attack" and the like - make it sound like a blog post.

And the best part? From what I can tell, the so-called "assailant" didn't even touch Snell. Sure, he was out of line, but it seems like he tried to jump up to the platform Snell had erected above his car, and the platform tipped and Snell went flying.

[SCRawl]

So far, we have exactly one side of the story, so I'll reserve judgement until we've heard a little more than that. You can see how one-sided this story is by this line:

As Ed stood on his platform that morning, a man and woman exited a car in the parking lot and proceeded towards that door of the abortion mill.

[Surlethe]

The propagandistic euphemisms blind me every time I try to read it. Can someone tell me what the story is about?

[Metatwaddle]

The propagandistic euphemisms blind me every time I try to read it. Can someone tell me what the story is about?

Some anti-abortion activist in Harrisburg named Ed Snell erected a wooden platform above his car to stand on while he protested at a clinic, because the clinic had put up a 7-foot-high privacy wall. One guy and his girlfriend (fiancee, wife, whatever) were walking into the clinic and this Snell dude was yelling at them ("counsel", said the article). The boyfriend got angry, climbed over the fence and tried to jump onto the car. From what I can gather, he pushed Snell off the platform (so my previous statement was wrong, after a rereading of the article). Snell was badly injured, with internal bleeding adjacent to his brain and some fractured ribs. Snell's friend found the police response too slow for his taste (I weep for him, really), but the police did eventually arrest the boyfriend, and I assume they'll charge him with assault and battery.

[Silver Jedi]

In short: Abortion clinic erects privacy fence, old man puts plywood platform on roof of his car to yell over fence, man escorting patient into clinic "leaped on the vehicle", old man falls off platform and hits his head.

No arrests were made, and there was no media coverage other than this newsletter/blog post. I love how they try to imply that it is some big deal that there is no media coverage of htis at all.

[Gil Hamilton]

Translating the story:

"Ed Snell was part of a group of protestors who stands by the doors of abortion clinics and harrasses women and workers there who are entering or leaving the building. Said clinic had a fence built to enforce the legally defined distance that such protestors must stand from the doors and to afford some privacy. Some of the protests brought ladders and built a rickety ass wooden platform to stand so they could see and shout over the fence to continue harrassing the women and people entering.

Ed Snell, in this case, very likely yelled some shit and the man who was with the woman he was yelling at took offense. The makeshift platform they built turned out to be not so stable and Ed Snell fell off and cracked his head on the pavement. The protestors are calling this assault and want the guy involved arrested as a propaganda victory for them, to make it sound like one of theres was brutally assaulted in the Line of Duty, rather than falling off the platform that they themselves made."

[Illuminatus Primus]

I forgot about the right to go around forcing your beliefs down other people's throats and harrassing them regarding their own life choices.

[Darth Wong]

If I were in charge, I'd charge those asshats with violating building codes by constructing that platform without a building permit or approved design, on property they did not own.

I don't see why the guy should be charged with assault. If the platform had been built properly, he could have done the exact same thing without the same consequences.

[SCRawl]

If I were in charge, I'd charge those asshats with violating building codes by constructing that platform without a building permit or approved design, on property they did not own.

I don't see why the guy should be charged with assault. If the platform had been built properly, he could have done the exact same thing without the same consequences.

He built the platform on his car, according to the article. I'm not quite sure what it looks like, but it sounds more like an issue for the DMV than the city's engineers.

Mr. Snell, age 69, preferred to stand on a more solid foundation, so he constructed a plywood platform on the roof of his car to elevate him above the fence.

Not the wisest move, building something like that on his car, and I suppose you could assert that he assumes a certain amount of risk just by standing on it.

[LadyTevar]

Not to mention the old guy built the platform to stand On The Roof Of His Car, so he could climb up on top of his car and see over the fence.

I do love the word "counsel". I wonder what exactly Mr Snelling was 'counseling' the woman to do. Does he has a degree or other training to be a counseler, or if he was just standing up there and yelling that she was a whore and a slut and if she didn't want the baby she shouldn't have had sex.

[Darth Wong]

Yeah, "counsel". Sort of like the "counsel" that I once received from a racist about "staying with your own kind".

[Aaron]

Enjoy your skull fracture shitpump, you earned it. I love this:

Agitated, the man replied: “I did not assault him, I just pushed him,” with an aggressiveness that made Mr. McTernan fearful for his own safety.

I guess their tough when they can call woman whores but when someone defends their partner suddenly they have no balls.

[Surlethe]

The propagandistic euphemisms blind me every time I try to read it. Can someone tell me what the story is about?

Some anti-abortion activist in Harrisburg named Ed Snell erected a wooden platform above his car to stand on while he protested at a clinic, because the clinic had put up a 7-foot-high privacy wall. One guy and his girlfriend (fiancee, wife, whatever) were walking into the clinic and this Snell dude was yelling at them ("counsel", said the article). The boyfriend got angry, climbed over the fence and tried to jump onto the car. From what I can gather, he pushed Snell off the platform (so my previous statement was wrong, after a rereading of the article). Snell was badly injured, with internal bleeding adjacent to his brain and some fractured ribs. Snell's friend found the police response too slow for his taste (I weep for him, really), but the police did eventually arrest the boyfriend, and I assume they'll charge him with assault and battery.

Sorry; I should have added a smiley to make the sarcasm a little more obvious. The point (as I'm sure you got) was about the disgusting use of euphemisms -- "counsel", "line of duty", "abortion mill", "pre-born", etc.

[His Divine Shadow]

So far, we have exactly one side of the story, so I'll reserve judgement until we've heard a little more than that. You can see how one-sided this story is by this line:

As Ed stood on his platform that morning, a man and woman exited a car in the parking lot and proceeded towards that door of the abortion mill.

I love that name. We should call them that from now on.

[Rye]

It's a shame he didn't fall on a coathanger that borrowed itself into his ass or abdomen. That would've been ace.

[Aaron]

It's a shame he didn't fall on a coathanger that borrowed itself into his ass or abdomen. That would've been ace.

True but he'll get a catheder in the hospital, hopefully they dry rammed it up there.

[Tanasinn]

Is there a non-Jesus-freak version of this story anywhere?

Things like this bother me solely because they make the assaulted look like martyrs.

[Metatwaddle]

The propagandistic euphemisms blind me every time I try to read it. Can someone tell me what the story is about?

Some anti-abortion activist in Harrisburg named Ed Snell erected a wooden platform above his car to stand on while he protested at a clinic, because the clinic had put up a 7-foot-high privacy wall. One guy and his girlfriend (fiancee, wife, whatever) were walking into the clinic and this Snell dude was yelling at them ("counsel", said the article). The boyfriend got angry, climbed over the fence and tried to jump onto the car. From what I can gather, he pushed Snell off the platform (so my previous statement was wrong, after a rereading of the article). Snell was badly injured, with internal bleeding adjacent to his brain and some fractured ribs. Snell's friend found the police response too slow for his taste (I weep for him, really), but the police did eventually arrest the boyfriend, and I assume they'll charge him with assault and battery.

Sorry; I should have added a smiley to make the sarcasm a little more obvious. The point (as I'm sure you got) was about the disgusting use of euphemisms -- "counsel", "line of duty", "abortion mill", "pre-born", etc.

I thought maybe you had read the euphemisms in the first few sentences and decided to pass on the rest of the article. I do that all the time. So I gave you the Spark Notes.

[Kamakazie Sith]

I wonder if the words he used to counsel the two people could be considered fighting words, and that's why nothing was done at the time?

[Broomstick]

Let's see the injuries (so lovingly detailed):

His medical report outlines the extent of his injuries: “multiple trauma, right subarachnoid hemorrhage (bleeding in the area between the brain and the tissues that cover the brain), compression fractures of four vertebrae (T3, T4, T5 and T10), right scapula fracture and fracture of the fourth and fifth ribs.” Before doctors were able to stop the bleeding in his head, they even feared Mr. Snell would die.

The bleeding on the brain truly was life-threatening, although obviously they got that quickly under control. The right shoulder blade and a couple of ribs - painful, hurts to breathe, yeah... but the vertebrae fractures -- those could have left him in a wheelchair easily.

Yeah, I'm a bad person for imaging an anti-abortion nutjob strapped into a wheelchair, frothing at the mouth and screaming at the people going in and out. I suppose he'd have to build a wheelchair-accessible ramp up to that shaky-ass platform on the roof of his car in that case. I don't care. I think those people are evil.

[Oskuro]

I can't help but wonder why on earth would an aging man climb up such a contraption and expose himself to a dangerous fall, seeing how just tripping at ground level can have dire consequences for the elderly.


Luckily, he's alive, but, had he died... I would have proposed him for a Darwin Award.

[SCRawl]

I can't help but wonder why on earth would an aging man climb up such a contraption and expose himself to a dangerous fall, seeing how just tripping at ground level can have dire consequences for the elderly.

To prevent murders of the pre-born by counselling their confused mothers. Duh.

Luckily, he's alive, but, had he died... I would have proposed him for a Darwin Award.

Yeah, but at his age I'd say that he's (a) probably already reproduced, and (b) is unlikely to do so again.

[Executor32]

I found a real news source for the story, which doesn't leave out the fact that Snell is one of the "hurr, let's go show everyone picturs of dead fetuses and yell at them, hurr" breed of anti-abortion nut.

Alleged assault of protester irks group
Penbrook man hurt outside abortion clinic
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
BY MATTHEW KEMENY
Of The Patriot-News

In 20 years of protesting at abortion clinics in central Pennsylvania, Ed Snell has had his share of confrontations.

People have screamed at him, spit in his face and knocked his cap off. About 10 years ago, Snell said, a man grabbed him by the throat and choked him outside a now-closed clinic in downtown Harrisburg.

In the past, he's brushed off the confrontations. But after a recent incident in which he cracked his head on the pavement and was hospitalized, Snell, 69, of Penbrook, said he's rethinking his approach.

Harrisburg police have accused a Perry County man of assaulting Snell during a confrontation on Dec. 22, while Snell was protesting in a parking lot adjacent to the Hillcrest Women's Medical Center in the 2700 block of North Front Street.

The incident has caught the attention of several anti-abortion organizations, who say attacks against anti-abortion protesters are increasing nationwide. They also criticized police for not arresting the Perry County man at the scene.

"I've been choked, bounced around a few times and threatened, but I've never been hurt like this," Snell said Monday afternoon while recovering at home. "This was beyond the pale, over the limit. This was real dangerous."

Police said Snell was standing on a platform attached to the roof of his car -- allowing him to see over an 8-foot-high fence the clinic erected -- when he began speaking to a man and woman entering the clinic around 7 a.m.

The man, Nathan Richardson, 23, of Port Royal, scaled the fence and pushed Snell off his car, causing him to hit his head on the pavement, police said. Snell was taken to Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, where he was treated for head trauma before being released a few days later, police said.

When asked why Richardson was not arrested at the scene, Harrisburg Police Chief Charles Kellar said officers did not at first realize how serious Snell's injuries were. Officers had planned to charge Richardson with simple assault, a misdemeanor that is often handled through a mail summons.

After learning the extent of Snell's injuries, police charged Richardson with aggravated assault, a felony, along with reckless endangerment and simple assault, Kellar said. Richardson turned himself in at police headquarters and was released without bail on his promise to appear for court proceedings.

A phone message left for Richardson at his home was not returned Monday.

Cheryl Sullenger, a senior policy adviser for Operation Rescue, a national anti-abortion group based in Wichita, Kan., said she was troubled by how police handled the incident.

"We need to know that when we go on the street that we're going to get the same protection under the law," Sullenger said.

"It discourages a lot of people out on the street," she said. "They think, 'If I go out there and get attacked, the police aren't going to protect me.'"

A woman who answered the door Monday at the clinic refused to give her name but said she was a manager and would not comment on the incident.

Melissa Plotkin, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Central Pennsylvania, said the organization would have no comment.

Snell is no stranger to controversy. He's been criticized for putting graphic pictures of just-aborted fetuses on the front lawn of his Walnut Street home.

He's been arrested more than a dozen times and once spent three days in a Vermont prison while protesting with Lambs of Christ and Operation Rescue, organizations known for physically disrupting abortion clinics. Snell also has been arrested in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey.

Since the incident, Snell said his family has urged him to reconsider his approach to protesting at clinics. While it's not going to stop him in his fight to end abortion, Snell said, it's caused him to contemplate changing his tactics.

"I have to think about how I'm going to do this in the future," he said. "I'm not sure I'm going to get on a car again."

MATTHEW KEMENY: 255-8271 or mkemeny@patriot-news.com

I feel real sorry for the guy now.

[Oskuro]

"I have to think about how I'm going to do this in the future," he said. "I'm not sure I'm going to get on a car again."

Holy crap! It learns!