Assault victim Kristoffer Larsgard gets seven years jail for running over a woman’s toes in America
by Anorak | 27th, April 2012
KRISTOFFER Larsgard, 33, is another victim of the lunatic American police force and judiciary. For hurting a woman’s toes in his rented car, the Norwegian holidaymaker is now serving a seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence for assaulting six Americans with a deadly weapon.
We go back in time. It is September 24, 2011. Larsgard is in a rented car with his mother Liv. They are driving in Winslow, Arizona, en route to Chicago. Larsgard makes a wrong turn. He is heading the wrong way up a one-way street. A music festival is in full cry. He cannot turn the vehicle. He is hemmed in. Upset by Larsgard’s actions, Michael Mendoza reaches into the car and punches Larsgard, breaking his nose.
Larsgard wants to get away. He continues to drive. He drives over a woman’s toes. Another woman is grazed.
In a panic, he has reversed onto the kerb and by a makeshift hot-dog stand. By it are a woman and a child. He does not hit them. But witnesses says his actions were threatening and potentially lethal.
Police come. Larsgard and his mum are arrested. They spend seven months in jail awaiting trial. They are often in solitary confinement. He writes from his cell:
“The treatment I receive here in prison is based on what I have been arrested for, not what I am convicted of. The conditions here are pretty bad for me right now. I can get out of my cell three times per week, one hour each time, to take me a shower and maybe read the documents. Otherwise, I’m inside the cell, which has a toilet, a sink and a mat to sleep on.”
In court, Larsgard’s hands and legs are manacled.
Says Larsgard to the court in Hoolbrok, Arizona:
“In my view, the police and prosecutors have overreacted in this case…I panicked. I had to get away from there. I’m very sorry that people think I was trying to go after them. If somebody had called the police and told them I’d driven irresponsibly, I would definitely have stopped. But suddenly I was pushed and punched in the face. There were people everywhere and it was difficult for me to see what was happening.”
George Olander, Norway’s honorary consul in Phoenix since 2005, calls the sentence “completely crazy”:
“The whole case is shameful for the United States. He should have received a fine or something similar for careless driving…There’s no proof; nor is it even probable that Larsgard tried to injure or kill anybody in Winslow. The case is completely crazy. Having attended parts of the court case, I’m shocked that he has been convicted.”
America. Land of the free.
YouTube link. Click ‘CC’ for subtitles. John Kristoffer Larsgard’s trial.
Previously:
BULLIED: In December 2001, John Christopher John Kristoffer Larsgard awarded 30,000 kroner in criminal injuries compensation because he was attacked by bullies at a school in Oslo. After that his mother was present in the VG and talked about what she characterized as a ‘bully hell’ that her son had been exposed. Bullying was so bad that his son moved to the United States.THROWN OUT: in September the same year, the bioengineering student was accused of being a potential terrorist and thrown out of studies at the University of South Alabama.22-year-old John Kristoffer Larsgard later sued the university, so he could continue his studies at another U.S. university.
Posted: 27th, April 2012 | In: Reviews Comments (2) | TrackBack | Permalink
