Danielle Stephanie Warriner is a martyr for the idiocy, authoritarianism and brutality that often accompanied the COVID-19 lockdowns. .Warriner is the woman who was forcibly thrown to the ground after which she died from a brain injury "due to restraint asphyxia following struggle and exertion.” .The manner of her death resembles that of George Floyd, the black man who was also restrained with a knee on his neck until he couldn’t breathe. The police officers in that incident had to face murder charges. The incident received global publicity and ignited mass protests across the United States. .Yet few people even knew about Warriner’s fate because of a publication ban that preceded the anticipated May 2023 trial that will not happen now. There was no such publication ban before the trial of those eventually found guilty in the death of George Floyd. .So Warriner’s family has been forced to use other means in the pursuit of justice and are resorting to a civil lawsuit. It must have been a difficult decision to make but probably the only course of action they could take.That’s what the families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman had to do when a jury infamously acquitted O.J. Simpson of homicide. .An Ontario judge threw out criminal charges against the two security guards who “restrained” Warriner at the Toronto General Hospital because she wasn’t wearing a mask, or wasn’t wearing it appropriately. The family is suing the guards and the University Health Network. .In a story first reported by CBC News, the family is continuing to insist the guards be held accountable for their reckless and “inappropriate behavior,” that obviously resulted in Warriner’s death. That death was not even reported to the family until 11 days after the altercation. How's that for cold-blooded bureaucracy?CBC even posted the video of the death scene. Bravo. I applaud this moment of honesty from the state media..The family filed the lawsuit at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. It names all those involved in Warriner’s death, including Toronto General security guards Amanda Rojas-Silva and Shane Hutley, the University Health Network, the guards' shift supervisor, the guard who handcuffed Warriner while she was helpless on the ground and the one who documented this atrocity on film. .“There's been no accountability and there's a gaping hole in my heart," said Warriner's sister Denise. .Yes, I’ll bet there is. There’s a hopelessness that accompanies the realization that justice isn’t coming to you; that you can wait forever and no one is going to listen to your story, to care or to take effective action. .That’s how the Warriner family must feel. .But justice in this case should also accompany the realization that COVID-19 lockdowns and mandates were often recklessly and painfully applied in the absence of scientific justification, but in the presence of political control. Whether it was police forcibly removing people from Calgary ice or arresting people at private house parties in Quebec; whether it was pastors being thrown in jail for conducting church services or people losing jobs and reputations because they refused to take a COVID-19 vaccine, the excesses of the lockdowns were unnecessary and outrageous and must not be allowed to occur again. .A woman who did not even have the COVID-19 virus should not have been held to the ground until she died. A hospital emergency room should be the safest place in the world. You go there if you think your sickness or injury is so grave that it requires immediate attention. .But for Warriner it was far from a life-saving haven; it was an internment cell of death. .A civil suit is not going to heal the injustice of the pandemic police who often rode roughshod over basic human rights. But it will further educate the public about that injustice and serve as a warning of why this must never happen again.
Danielle Stephanie Warriner is a martyr for the idiocy, authoritarianism and brutality that often accompanied the COVID-19 lockdowns. .Warriner is the woman who was forcibly thrown to the ground after which she died from a brain injury "due to restraint asphyxia following struggle and exertion.” .The manner of her death resembles that of George Floyd, the black man who was also restrained with a knee on his neck until he couldn’t breathe. The police officers in that incident had to face murder charges. The incident received global publicity and ignited mass protests across the United States. .Yet few people even knew about Warriner’s fate because of a publication ban that preceded the anticipated May 2023 trial that will not happen now. There was no such publication ban before the trial of those eventually found guilty in the death of George Floyd. .So Warriner’s family has been forced to use other means in the pursuit of justice and are resorting to a civil lawsuit. It must have been a difficult decision to make but probably the only course of action they could take.That’s what the families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman had to do when a jury infamously acquitted O.J. Simpson of homicide. .An Ontario judge threw out criminal charges against the two security guards who “restrained” Warriner at the Toronto General Hospital because she wasn’t wearing a mask, or wasn’t wearing it appropriately. The family is suing the guards and the University Health Network. .In a story first reported by CBC News, the family is continuing to insist the guards be held accountable for their reckless and “inappropriate behavior,” that obviously resulted in Warriner’s death. That death was not even reported to the family until 11 days after the altercation. How's that for cold-blooded bureaucracy?CBC even posted the video of the death scene. Bravo. I applaud this moment of honesty from the state media..The family filed the lawsuit at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. It names all those involved in Warriner’s death, including Toronto General security guards Amanda Rojas-Silva and Shane Hutley, the University Health Network, the guards' shift supervisor, the guard who handcuffed Warriner while she was helpless on the ground and the one who documented this atrocity on film. .“There's been no accountability and there's a gaping hole in my heart," said Warriner's sister Denise. .Yes, I’ll bet there is. There’s a hopelessness that accompanies the realization that justice isn’t coming to you; that you can wait forever and no one is going to listen to your story, to care or to take effective action. .That’s how the Warriner family must feel. .But justice in this case should also accompany the realization that COVID-19 lockdowns and mandates were often recklessly and painfully applied in the absence of scientific justification, but in the presence of political control. Whether it was police forcibly removing people from Calgary ice or arresting people at private house parties in Quebec; whether it was pastors being thrown in jail for conducting church services or people losing jobs and reputations because they refused to take a COVID-19 vaccine, the excesses of the lockdowns were unnecessary and outrageous and must not be allowed to occur again. .A woman who did not even have the COVID-19 virus should not have been held to the ground until she died. A hospital emergency room should be the safest place in the world. You go there if you think your sickness or injury is so grave that it requires immediate attention. .But for Warriner it was far from a life-saving haven; it was an internment cell of death. .A civil suit is not going to heal the injustice of the pandemic police who often rode roughshod over basic human rights. But it will further educate the public about that injustice and serve as a warning of why this must never happen again.
