I’m guessing it wasn’t dripping with blood, but was dried on - therefore, no texture or consistency to check.
Susan
Actrually, you can’t have a chain saw on an airplane - unless your paperwork is in order and there’s no posibility of there being any gas in it. This is how I know:
A few years ago I was taking a flight from Seattle to Denver on my way home to Indiana. About 30 minutes into the flight, the captain comes on the intercom and says that they need to divert to the closest airport because of some “trouble” in the luggage compartment. He then comes on to say that Helena Mt is coming up, and that we’ll be landing there in 10 minutes. He also tells us that 1)the runway is actually too short for a large commercial jet, so expect a sharp descent and bumpy landing and 2) all the fire trucks and ambulances are merely “routinue” and don’t mean anything. Of course, everyone assumes that something in the hold is on fire.
We land, sit on the ground in Helena for a few minutes, then take off and proceed to Denver. Later we were told that all this happened because there were some chain saws in the hold (owned by fire fighters going to forest fires in New Mexico) that might have had some gas in them. Once the offending saw were removed we could proceed to our destination.
I had the same reaction as WhyNot: when they did a search on this guy, why didn’t it show that he had been arrested for assault charges? At the very least, it should have showed that he had an arrest record with a history of violence. Yes, Adam Yax he may have been out on bail, but it was for a sentencing, i.e. he had already been arrested and convicted of (or plead guilty to) the assault and threat charges and was just waiting to see how long he was going to be put away for. His record certainly should have been red-flagged that he was on bail, and therefore not free to leave the country.
Even if the blood was dried, which I assume it was, I don’t see how it could be confused with rust or paint. And if they weren’t sure, then he should have been detained until they could determine which it was.
Finally, if you can’t find any warrants already out, MAKE ONE! If they can at least figure out if there’s blood on the chainsaw, then they should be able to at least detain him until they figure out what’s going on.
There’s something weird here. That photo makes the guy look like a department store mannequin.
Ummm…you do know that the red in blood is largely due to oxidized iron? You do know that rust is oxidized iron?
It's not unknown in forensics for rust stains to be mistaken for blood. Off the top of my head, I remember that in the Lizzie Borden trial, rust stains on a hatchet were originally thought to be blood.well, first off, the fact that he was awaiting sentencing doesn’t mean he was going to be put away that day. The case could have been adjourned, or he might have got a suspended sentence. You’re also assuming that it’s a condition of his bail that he not leave the country. That’s not necessarily included in all bail orders - sometimes it’s just a requirement to check in regularly with the police. Can you demonstrate that was in fact a condition of his bail, or are you just making it up for the purpose of the argument?
So are you saying that the police can detain anyone with a blood-stained tool, even if they aren’t aware of any crime having been commited? That’s not my understanding of probable cause.
You do know what a warrant is, don’t you? Peace officers can’t just take out a pad of paper and write out a warrant. It’s issued by a judge or magistrate, upon the peace officer providing a sworn statement that they have reason to believe X has commited an offence, giving details of the alleged offence. That’s the point that the rep for the Border Patrol makes in the article - they had no reason to believe he had commited an offence. Or are you suggesting that the Border Patrol should have made up a false affadavit and presented it to judge? That’s well on the way to a police state.
Uhhhh … uhhhh … man, what kind of stores do you shop at?
You might be interested to see this thread in the Pit.
The “Chet Atkins of Minto” is gone. All we can do is carry on, or at least try to.
Oh, for Og’s sake! Guy claimed to be a sniper when Customs officials questioned him about the chainsaw.
Maybe it’s different for me because I’m pretty familiar with dried blood, various paints, and rust, but I think I could make a pretty good guess. Acrylic, oil or latex paints wouldn’t dissolve in water. ‘Poster’ paints, like tempera would dissolve and most have a texture and scent that is a dead giveaway. You could possibly mistake dried blood for classic egg tempera, especially in small amounts, but there’s the whole smell difference. Rust on metal, at least that I’ve seen, is much lighter/more orange than blood and the texture is all wrong. It’s rough, granular, like sandpaper, where tempera paint is generally more chalky, and blood quite smooth. On fabric, I wouldn’t be anywhere near as sure though.
I’m faaaar from a legal expert and I don’t know if most lawmen or women would be so, em, aware of the differences between rust, blood, or paint, but I would think they might. Is a good hunch, based upon experience, enough to hold a person till further tests could be done? For some reason I want to trust that they did the best they could in a bad situation. Just call me Pollyanna.