Whistleblowing or Pedestrian-Mowing?

That parking-lot thrashing of a Los Alamos whistleblower we were talking about? Here's what the cops say:

The investigation is "leaning toward a fight in the parking lot as a result of Mr. Hook backing into a pedestrian," Johnson said.

Hook still stands by his story. Article here; link via Sploid.

Comments

[ed]

I believe undertipping the strippers could yield the same results. Not that I would know.

[independent worm]

Wow this is well planned out. They managed to beat him to the "blame the victim" gambit.

Now he's not the victim anymore, he's the agressor.

"That asshole tried to run me over with his car! THAT'S the only reason 6 of his beat him half to death. We're all victims here! That crazy Hook guy was gonna run us ALL over if we didn't pull him out of his car and beat his face in.

And now he's gonna call US the bad guys! Well, I never!"

Brilliant!

Lets face it, you don't get that kind of strategic PR-postining from the local firm in New Mexico. That's DC quality spin right there. But with a multi billion dollar budget, you would expect the best. Nice work boys. Cuff 'im, Lou.

[rafuzo]

Given the fact that it's essentially his word v. theirs, it's hard to lend credibility to either side of the story. For all we know, the guy picked a fight outside the bar, got his ass kicked, and made up this story that they told him to 'keep his mouth shut', leveraging the good PR from his Los Alamos affair, to buy himself some sympathy.

Then again, he could be telling the truth and it's all a big coverup. All I know is that given the coverage I've seen of the story (which isn't much), neither side of the 'bar parking lot brawl' has made a convincing case as the aggrieved party.

[Adam]

If they had hauled off a pedestrian with two broken legs in an ambulance, I might be able to accept the "He needed a beatin'" defense.

[phocion]

C'mon, i.w. You gotta admit Hook's story is sinking fast. He said he was there to meet a guy, and yet the owner and girls say he got a lapdance and downed six beers. The cops now know who attacked him; they just gotta figure out whether they were part of a grand conspiracy or a parking lot fight over drunk driving.

Unless of course the police and FBI are in on the conspiracy too, which I guess might not be a minority opinion 'round these parts.

[crimethink]

independent worm,

People have been shot for simply nudging a pedestrian with a car. Chances are, all seven of them (incl Hook) had too much to drink and did things they wouldn't have done if sober.

Much as I'd like to have another anecdote with which to criticize the govt, Hook's story stunk to high heaven from the getgo. Believing his version of events requires belief in a massively powerful, yet ultimately stupid conspiracy.

Looks like my jocular drunk driving response to the first post about this was on to something...

[sshields]

Several of the news stories mentioned that a bouncer from the club rushed out to stop the beating. I'd think that this fellow would know the real deal. Oh, and they say that one of the strippers saw it while on break.

I haven't heard anything more about them - they may be saving their testimony for the police.

[crimethink]

what phocion said... 😉

[crimethink]

sshields,

Well, the question is, did those people see how the incident started, or did they only notice it when it was already in progress. Six guys dragging a guy out of his car and kicking his head is consistent with either version of events.

[Phil]

People have been shot for simply nudging a pedestrian with a car.

Indeed. Last year in Georgetown, some dude who got bumped while walking between cars in bumper-to-bumper traffic on M Street threw his beer on the car. The three occupants proceeded to get out of the car, grab a shotgun from the trunk, and chase the guy into Banana Republic. People go apeshit over stuff sometimes.

[crimethink]

Phil,

Nice to see that gun ban's working! 😉

[kwais]

People go apeshit outside of clubs all the time. When I was stationed in VA, I worked part time as a bouncer. Good work. Anyhow, some dude getting beat up by six guys usually means he was too drunk to realize there were six of them. Or he thought they wouldn't cross the line of initiating violence. Once the violence starts, each one of the six wants to get a shot in. They all want to feel the rush.

I don't know if the guy went to the strip joint to really meet up with someone, but I am guessing his ass beating had nothing to do with the goverment.

I would bet money on it.

[thoreau]

I'm not convinced of anything one way or the other, but the tide does seem to be turning against the guy's claims of a conspiracy. Obviously things could change with more information, but the current trend is against the guy's story.

[Eric the .5b]

Thoreau, you're obviously part of the right-wing corporatist cover-up.

[thoreau]

Eric-

Keep your voice down! You'll blow my cover!

[CAT_Violations]

I don't buy it. The "not related" angle, that is.

Look at his background - he's an accountant/auditor. I don't really think he's going to be at a strip club alone that late on a Saturday night. Maybe with a friend or a group, but not alone. I'd buy him going there alone if it was after work or something, but not that late. Yeah - it's possible. He could have a fixation on a stripper a la Hanson. He could have been trying to bribe one for "special" treatment. But it doesn't seem to fit. If you're going to go get bled financially by a stripper are you going to call your wife's attention to it by leaving late at night saying you have to meet an informant? No - he'd probably go on his lunch hour, ditch work, or go after work and say he was working late. It doesn't sound right.

I hope some investigative reporters, attorneys, and the watchdog groups, etc. do a full background on all of the assailants. Whoever he was blowing the whistle on too. And I'd be suspicious if this is not handled like a normal assault case, with the records public and all of the parties' full names splashed all over the papers.

[Mark Bahner]

"Believing his version of events requires belief in a massively powerful, yet ultimately stupid conspiracy."

You mean sort of like the bizarre systematic abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib? (I sure hope those morons that did the abuse had a jolly good time, because I wouldn't be surprised if their actions eventually led to the deaths of some of their fellow soldiers. Certainly, Joe Iraqi--or Mohammed Iraqi--would be less likely to risk his life providing information on fellow Iraqi bad people, when he saw the perverted, sick behavior of the U.S. guards.)

[Lazlo]

Calling some guy on the phone and then jumping him in the parking lot later that night requires a "massively powerful conspiracy?" I've seen games of mumblety-peg that required more planning and coordination.

Having said that...putting the stomp on some drunk lab rat from up on the hill...hell, that's one of your better options for things to do at 2am in Santa Fe. All the Lotaburgers are closed and the Opera doesn't start its season until July.

[Douglas Fletcher]

Banana Republic

What's that, some kind of slur on the DC goverment?

[Jon H]

I simply can't *believe* the Santa Fe police would stoop to assisting a coverup for one of the area's largest employers.

It's inconceivable.

[crimethink]

Lazlo,

The links from the original post yield the following information:

1. No one at LAL knew that he was going to testify.

2. He was supposed to meet another auditor (whom he knew) at lunch, but he couldn't make it. Hook says that the person who invited him to the bar claimed to be this person.

3. Not that it has anything to do with the assault, but his testimony before Congress has been delayed several times because of cruise plans. (?!) He's been "about to testify before Congress" for months now.

So to believe his version of events, you'd have to believe that someone involved in the nastiness at LAL found out about his secret testimony, found out that he missed his lunch date, and also bribed the Santa Fe cops to cover up the attempt on his life.

[crimethink]

Jon H,

I'm not too familiar with the area, but isn't Los Alamos quite a hike from Santa Fe? And I'd imagine the largest employer in the state capital is the state, not a lab.

[Mark B.]

As someone who grew up in Los Alamos and worked (briefly) at LANL, I can assure everyone on this board that jerkoffs like this accountant proliferate in Lab Administration. Every idiot with an axe to grind knows they'll get a sympathetic audience from the brain-dead lefties in Santa Fe, so they invent all sorts of vast conspiracy theories about the Evil on the Hill. Given what the scientists and technicians themselves have to say about their bosses on their own blog site here, it's highly unlikely that anyone in Lab management cares greatly what some auditor twerp has to reveal.

I do think that a lot of money gets wasted at LANL, but in the old-fashioned ways - on pork-barrel special-interest projects, dumb experiments designed more to promote some scientist's career than actually learn anything useful, and straighforward administrative incompetence.

[R C Dean]

Look at his background - he's an accountant/auditor. I don't really think he's going to be at a strip club alone that late on a Saturday night. Maybe with a friend or a group, but not alone.

You obviously hang out with a different class of accountants than I do. C'mon, everyone knows that nebbishy green eyeshade types never go out to get tawdry sexual thrills by themselves! Accountants are famous for being gregarious and outgoing, after all.

[CAT_Violations]

You obviously hang out with a different class of accountants than I do. C'mon, everyone knows that nebbishy green eyeshade types never go out to get tawdry sexual thrills by themselves! Accountants are famous for being gregarious and outgoing, after all.

I think you would have to be more gregarious and outgoing to go to a strip club alone than to go with a bunch of drunken buddies. I'm not saying he was definitely assaulted because he was a whistleblower, but I'm skeptical of the alternate explanation. Let's hope some other parties (watchdogs, reporters, his attorney) do thorough backgrounds on all of his assailants and the target(s) of his whistleblowing.