More Fiction in the Arizona Desert?

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist


It's a wonder that anyone still comes to Arizona.  The left is blanketing the state with an economic boycott in retaliation for the Arizona's openly racist laws and policies, and the right is constantly trying to inflame public opinion against immigrants with stories of drug runners, human smugglers, rampant kidnappings, and headless bodies lying around the desert.

This week the Associated Press ran a story regarding one small piece of the mural that Jan Brewer and her right-wing graffiti artists are peddling.  It involves Deputy Louie Puroll of Pinal County who said that he was out by himself in the desert south of Phoenix on April 30th of this year.   Puroll said that he was following a group of smugglers who were transporting bales of marijuana when he was attacked by men carrying AK-47 rifles.  Fortunately, according to the deputy, he was able to escape the ambush with only a flesh wound on his back.

Sheriff Paul Babeu of Pinal County reviewed the evidence before closing the criminal investigation and concluded that it had occurred as reported by his deputy.  But a reporter with the Associated Press wasn't satisfied with the conclusion, feeling that the incident might have been timed to inflame the racial hatred that has consumed portions of Arizona for the past several months.

When the sheriff's office released photos of the wound, the Associated Press forwarded the photos on to two nationally known forensic pathologists:  Dr. Michael Baden of New York and Dr. Werner Spitz of suburban Detroit.  Both of these well-respected experts examined the photos of the wound, and each came to the same conclusion - that the bullet was fired just inches from the victim - and not at a long distance as reported by the deputy.

The sheriff's office rebutted the report stating that the deputy's shirt did not have the right type of burn marks for a close shot, but the experts declared that it did.  Inexplicably, Sheriff Babeu did not turn over the shirt to the state crime lab for a proper forensic examination.

So, it boils down to this:  Are their brown desperadoes roaming the deserts of southern Arizona running drugs, smuggling people, kidnapping, beheading those who get in their way, and shooting high-powered rifles at lone deputies who are out patrolling on their own - or is it just lies and really bad theatre - or is it a mix of truth and fiction?  Tourists should stay away from Arizona until this mud at least starts to clarify.