Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Boston Bombing Suspect?

During the Boston Bombing incident, Police observed a "Saudi national... who is here on a student visa... moving quickly out of the crowd and as they're watching him, he seem[ed] to be moving very deliberately away, which could  be a very natural thing after a bombing." They continue to state that "they stopped him because he's covered with blood and all kinds of gore from the explosion. They think he may be injured, but it turns out that most of that is from other people." They then "engage him, they start asking questions. There [were] things about his responses that made them uncomfortable, so they arrange to get him to the hospital."

Although so far this is a normal story about people helping those in need during the bombing, the story continues. "FBI agents searched the man's apartment in the Boston suburb of Revere overnight, and investigators were seen leaving with brown paper bags, plastic trash bags and a duffel bag." "Authorities had stressed from the beginning that the man was not a suspect, but was being questioned as part of the overall investigation." 

With the article titled "Injured Saudi man not a suspect in Boston attacks," there seems to be very evident prejudice against the Saudi man who is "here on a student visa." Although police deem the man a victim, they proceed to search his house, collecting evidence and questioning the man." What are your opinions on such prejudice and pre-judgement of investigators? Do you guys think that it insures greater safety to the citizens or is simply wrong as it violates others' personal equipment?

4 comments:

Marvin Yang said...

The things that concerns me with this "investigation" is that there seems to be no warrant issued for the search of the Saudi's apartment. This is definitely an example of racial profiling by the authorities, who only questioned the man based on his nationality and behavior after the bombing. Racial profiling is discrimination, but it has saved lives in the past. While this does not justify the police action taken on the Saudi man, it is just a measure taken to hopefully apprehend a suspect. Perhaps authorities are rushing to conclusions at this time of turmoil... but all in all, the victim's rights have been violated, as the police seem to have performed an illegal search.

Grace Chan said...

I do agree with Marvin that there seems to be racial discrimination on behalf of the police. I think it is wrong to have this judgement on people because of their race. It seems like the man was chosen out of the crowd just because he was Saudi; his actions seem like the actions of any person when a bomb goes off. In this case, it seems like people judged too quickly based on his race, which can cause a lot of trouble for the man, if wrongly accused. Though there have obviously been past events where Middle Eastern people were the cause, it still violates a person's rights to search their house and take evidence, if there was no warrant involved. If the Patriot Act was invoked, then it wouldn't be as wrong, except that it seems he was picked out of the crowd just because of his race.

Unknown said...

I agree with the opinions previously stated. Especially because there is no known motive for the bombing yet, it is really disgraceful to assume that it was the result of international terrorism. Firstly, they claim that he was moving "deliberately away" from the crowd. I don't know about you, but I think that's a pretty acceptable reaction after to explosive were detonated. Secondly, the authorities are maintaining that this man is not a suspect (just a victim), but did the FBI search every victim's home? It's just so blatantly obvious that there is some fishy business going on in the investigation of the bombing. The FBI seems to be racially profiling and then giving false details of the case to the public.
I actually did a little research. Of the immigrants living in Boston, "...significant numbers arrive from the Middle East..." At least one of these immigrants was bound to be at the marathon. Why that makes him guilty of the bombing, I have no idea.

Eavan Huth said...

Wow. I'm appalled to think that a victim (and a student, at that) is being treated like a criminal. It seems like in the case of white passersby, it is "innocent until proven guilty," but for anyone else, it is "guilty (or at least suspicious) until proven innocent," and this is simply unjust. And while I agree that the police and FBI must do everything in their power to apprehend the individual or individuals responsible for this terrible crime, this search and questioning seem entirely unwarranted and unhelpful to the investigation at large.