Free Thought Project – by Matt Agorist
Fremont, CA — Calling 911 in the land of the free is a dangerous decision. Time after time, those in need of help call 911 and instead of help they get baton blows, fists, tasers, and bullets. Jolynn McCabe, a 115 pound grandmother learned about the crap shoot that is calling 911 in September. She was attempting to get help, but got beaten and kidnapped instead.
McCabe is an admitted alcoholic and has struggled with her addiction for 16 years. On September 13 of this year, the Fremont grandmother relapsed and realized that she needed help. So, she asked her husband to call 911 and ask for paramedics to pick her up and help get her detoxed in a rehab facility.
Unfortunately for McCabe, however, police would show up instead of paramedics. Because their main tool is the escalation of force, police were not equipped to help McCabe and used violence instead.
Police hogtied the 56-year-old grandmother who was half their weight, before kidnapping her and bringing her to the Santa Rita jail. While at the jail, McCabe’s abuse continued and her violent confrontation with deputies left her unrecognizable.
McCabe never committed a crime and was never charged with one.
“I wanted help,” McCabe said in a recent interview with KTVU. “We called for help. This was not the kind of help we wanted.”
According to KTVU, in their report, Fremont police described her as “combative,” “assaultive,” “hostile” and “uncooperative.” When she got to jail, she was listed as a “priority booking” inmate.
McCabe admits that she talked back to police when they showed up but says that was only because she didn’t want police there at all. She called for paramedics — not cops.
“Why am I in the back of a cop car when I called for help?” she remembers thinking.
When McCabe got to the jail, things got even worse. Because she had not committed a crime, McCabe did not want to be put in a jail cell, so police escalated force, threw her to the ground, and smashed in her face.
“I was pleading with them to not shut the door yet,” she said. “I was just saying, ‘Give me some time.’ There were like five deputies and I was pleading with them not to shut it because I was really scared and it was really small.”
“I had already convinced myself that I was going to get help that night and I was going to get sober that night and now I’m battered in jail,” she said.
McCabe was so badly injured that she had to be brought to the hospital. Once treated at the hospital, McCabe took a taxi home, startling her husband when she walked in at 3 a.m. with a swollen purple and yellow face.
The photos of her injuries are shocking.
“It looked like someone just beat the heck out of her,” Jolynn’s husband, Keith McCabe said.
Keith said that “when she’s drinking she might not be the most cooperative person, but she didn’t deserve what she got.”
Keith told KTVU that he specifically asked for an ambulance that night but police responded instead. He said the reason for requesting an ambulance is that last time he tried to drive his wife to the rehab hospital, she jumped out of the car.
The next day, McCabe would check herself into a rehabilitation facility where she spent the next month. She no longer drinks but says the injuries to her face have left her with nerve damage, blurred vision, and chronic headaches.
McCabe told KTVU that she doesn’t know what’s in her future, however, she knows one thing is certain — she’s never calling 911 again.
“I’m never going to call 911 for help again,” she said. “I don’t trust them any more for them to give me the help I need.”