Police: Knife-Wielding Man Threatens Unborn Child In Pregnant Woman Attack

[The Straight Story]

Police: Knife-Wielding Man Threatens Unborn Child In Pregnant Woman Attack

POSTED: 12:01 pm EST January 17, 2007

PALM BAY, Fla. -- A 19-year-old man is accused of pulling a three-month pregnant woman to the ground and threatening her unborn baby with a knife, according to a police report.

Ronald Thomas Fowler Jr., of the 1000 block of Bianca Avenue, was charged with aggravated assault on a pregnant person, battery and engaging in a criminal offense with a weapon after Palm Bay police were called Monday night to investigate a disturbance at the residence.

Police reported that Fowler lives with the woman and grabbed her arm during a confrontation, Local 6 News partner Florida Today reported.

According to police reports, Fowler then pulled the woman to the ground, causing her to get cuts and bruises on her right arm.

Police reported that 220-pound tattooed man then picked up a knife, threatening the woman and her unborn child.

http://www.local6.com/news/10773105/detail.html

[rpgamerd00d]

1. Was one count of assault filed or two ?

:popcorn:

[Deep13]

8. Depends on state law.

The gist of the Federal court rulings on the right to choose are not that the fetus is or is not a person, but rather that the pregnant woman has the right to decide.

On the other hand, there is nothing preventing the state from treating a fetus as a person from the perspective of protecting it from assaults by third persons.

In Ohio, homicide and assault statutes typically read Thou shalt not blah blah blah against "another or another's unborn." Apparently the legislature forgot that "unborn" is an adjective, not a noun.

[RB TexLa]

34. Very well put, and true I would think for all states

I doubt there are any that exclude unborn children from various protection of the law. Roe v. Henry Wade is about the woman's right to chose, but the other aspects of the law treat the fetus as a person. They can inherent property before they are born, they can be party to a lawsuit, they are taken into consideration for application of public laws and health codes. And there are criminal penalties for crimes committed against them. None of these change the ruling of Roe v. Henry Wade or the privacy rights granted from it.

[crim son]

2. How tired I am of hearing about men who wield weapons

against the weak.

[BoneDaddy]

15. OH puh-lease

make this into a gender issue.

I am tired of women, mothers in particular, who emasculate men when they are young so they grow up to be angry at women....

Yes, that statement above is as stupid as yours is.

[crim son]

16. Sorry if I hurt your feelings.

And I am raising my sons not to rape, murder or pillage.

[BoneDaddy]

17. Stop with the freaking drama

and own the nonsense you wrote. You took a simple situation and made a global statement about men... grow up.

[crim son]

20. "Freaking drama"?

I am merely speaking the truth. When I read your request that I "grow up" I did some research to see where I went wrong.

I didn't.

[BoneDaddy]

25. Whatever

don't nueter your boys.

[ThomCat]

40. Get some therapy for that irrational fear of women.

:eyes:

[LostinVA]

44. You said it n/t

[iverglas]

21. you might want to stop with the false statements

The statement was that the poster is tired of men who wield weapons against the weak.

You can claim that this is a global statement about men on the same planet as you will be able to claim correctly that when I say "I am tired of stale potato chips" I am making a global statement about potato chips ... my favourite food in the world, just in case you're wondering.

Or maybe the adjectival clause "who wield weapons against the weak" was invisible to you ...

[BoneDaddy]

24. Wasn't invisible to it at all

I am tired of anyone who uses violence against the weak, including women.
Would it be ok then, by your logic, to respond to let's say Andrea Yates, who killed her kids, to say,
" I am so tired of women who kill their kids". By your logic I wouldn't be indicting all women, but it sure sounds like it. Would that be ok in your book?

[iverglas]

27. good for you

Would it be ok then, by your logic, to respond to let's say Andrea Yates, who killed her kids, to say, "I am so tired of women who kill their kids".

If you are that, why would it not be "ok" to say it? I dunno. I might think your feeling is somewhat less than rational, given that both women and men regularly kill their children, but whatever, eh?

By your logic I wouldn't be indicting all women

Got it in one. If it sounds otherwise to you, you might want some remedial grammar lessons.

[BoneDaddy]

31. ah can't come up with a rational answer

so you attack my grammar. Are you the fucking spell check/grammar police too.

[iverglas]

36. it seems I was right

I attacked your grammar??

You make my point. It was your ability to comprehend sentences that I was questioning.

[Jamastiene]

35. Thank you for pointing that out.

Apparently, some people have a problem with any men ever being held accountable for their actions even if their actions are violent in those cases.

[ThomCat]

39. Um, you're the one being overly dramatic.

Crim son is making sense. You are not.

[Jamastiene]

33. How many women could hold a knife to pregnant men?

You seem to have a rather misogynistic streak with that attitude. What'sa matter? Mommy wouldn't let you disrepect her when you were little? What a shitty attitude you have toward women.

[LostinVA]

45. Your subject header made me laugh

Give 'em hell, Jama.

[ThomCat]

38. What makes you think it ISN'T a gender issue?

Where are all these women who supposedly emasculate men? It seems to me that the only guys I ever see make that claim are arrogant guys who don't always get their way. God Forbid that women be treated like full human beings with the right to have their own choices, beliefs and actions!

[gollygee]

3. Could he even tell she was pregnant

or did he know her? I wasn't anywhere close to showing at 3 months anyway.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

5. Both Of Your Questions Are Answered In The OP.

"Police reported that Fowler lives with the woman"

"picked up a knife, threatening the woman and her unborn child."

[gollygee]

9. Damn my short attention span

I figured he must know her, if not be the father even.

Very sad situation.

[Maine-ah]

10. I was.

by 3 months I was in maternity clothing. It all depends on the person. Everone's pregnancy is different.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

4. What A Scumbag. I Hope The Woman And Her Baby Are Ok.

[silverweb]

6. Love the reporting.

The headline sounds like a stranger attack.

Then they slip in that he "lives with the woman" -- though whether as roommate or partner they don't say, or whether it's known if he is the baby's father.

I also like the weight/tattoo description thrown in, as though that's relevant in any way.

The attack should never have happened and the guy sounds like a pretty nasty piece of work, but I think the article is pretty piss-poor reporting.

[atommom]

11. His size might be relevant, to establish how much stronger he might be.

The tattoo? Notsomuch. I know many people with tattoos and none of them ever threatened me (pg or not) with a knife.

ETA: Admittedly, none of the 220-lb people I know have attacked me either, but if they did, it would be a very uneven fight.

[silverweb]

12. Not really.

His size is only relevant in comparison to the size of the person he attacked. Was she also 220 pounds... or 120?

There's no context given, so it's immediately prejudicial.

[atommom]

13. True. I was probably projecting, based on my own wimpy self.

If she were a 220-lb kickboxer, things might have been very different.

[silverweb]

14. Petite is not "wimpy"

Although I've learned to appreciate myself as I am, when I was younger I yearned to be petite and "feminine" -- rather than nicknamed "the giraffe".

:D

[atommom]

18. This is true, but I need some weight training to build up my Olive Oyl arms!

I am a good kicker, though. :)

[silverweb]

19. LOL

Go for it with gusto!

[CBGLuthier]

7. what ever happened to the word

fetus?

It was a perfectly "cromulent" word after all, much less cumbersome than using two words that together sound stupid.

Could it be part of the "conditioning"?

If a woman were a surrogate would it have to say her client's unborn child?

As for the events themselves, this world is too fucked to even be shocked by this shit any more.

[iverglas]

22. glad somebody else said it

It really is important to publicize and deal with attacks on pregnant women, pregnant women being at elevated risk of such assaults (i.e. by their intimate partners), and there being too little awareness of that fact and problem.

The unborn-baybee crap shifts the focus away from the real person being harmed in the situation. It's pretty damned hard to threaten an "unborn baby" with a knife without threatening to cut a nasty great hole in a woman.

[ThomCat]

41. It's sick that the threat to the women

gets minimized, and that the threat to pregnant women in general gets ignored. x(

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

23. Wanna Know What Bothers Me?

That some are so obsessed with the abortion/fetus/life issue that they actually take offense to someone calling it an unborn child.

Hey, newsflash: To a mother already determined to keep it, it is an unborn child.

What's the problem with calling it that? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. The only problem is with people so uncomfortable or insecure with their position on abortion/pregnancy/choice that they feel like their beliefs or whole argument are being violated somehow by some completely unrelated discussion in which the term unborn child is used. That's my take on it anyway, and I think calling out of an article for using the term unborn child is beyond silly. Ask 99% of 3 month pregnant women who are intent on giving birth if what's growing inside them is their unborn child. They'd undoubtedly say yes, and I doubt even the 1% left would proclaim "No, not my unborn child. Just a fetus".

I find the premise to be ridiculous.

[iverglas]

26. that's so sad for you

It must be awful to be so bothered by people who object to the incorrect use of language for the purpose of influencing public opinion in a direction inimical to the exercise of rights.

Hey, newsflash: To a mother already determined to keep it, it is an unborn child.

Give us some more newsflashes: to a racist, what is a person of colour? To a bigot, what is a Muslim? To a misogynist, what is a woman? To you: who cares, and why would anyone?

Words have meanings, and the meanings of words have nothing to do with how things are "to" any individual.

What's even sadder is that you have nothing to say about the fact that a story about A WOMAN being threatened by a knife-wielding man intent on ASSAULTING AND HARMING HER is headlined "Police: Knife-Wielding Man Threatens Unborn Child In Pregnant Woman Attack".

The real problem is that the headline didn't say "Police: Knife-Wielding Man Threatens Pregnant Woman".

(And just for the record: yes, I think her status as pregnant is relevant, because ending her pregnancy was obviously the intent, and had she not been pregnant the specific assault in question would not likely have happened.)

[ThomCat]

42. I agree! Well said.

:applause:

All of your points in that post are right on!

[lukasahero]

29. Can we take offense at the title of the article, then?

Why is it he threatens an unborn baby with a knife? Is there a way to harm an unborn baby without also harming the woman carrying it? It took them 4 paragraphs to include the threat to the woman.

[CBGLuthier]

37. The problem is

"unborn child" is nothing more than code word / talking point term used by those who would deprive women of their rights.

To argue otherwise is the ridiculous premise.

Go back before Roe V. Wade and see if you can find the term "unborn child" anywhere on the face of the planet. I would be highly surprised if you did.

I am not at all uncomfortable with my position. I have three children. Almost grown. I was glad that a legal and safe procedure was available to us if we had needed it. We made the choice not to.


But that is not a choice for us to make for others.

I think I can make critical comments about media manipulation if I choose to.

[spoony]

43. Very well put

Kudos.

[Ilsa]

28. A charge for endangering the fetus may not be necessary. With an

obvious pregnancy, the uterus/womb makes a huge, vascular target. A knife-penetrated uterus can bleed out the woman.

[High Plains]

30. This belongs on the local crime blotter.

[Jamastiene]

32. That just shows that the woman's life is regarded as nothing.

Women are still not even considered human in so many cases. What about her life? Do they think SHE has no feelings. I would imagine she would hurt like hell if he did that as well, but they only care about the unborn children. Typical.

[Skidmore]

46. Who pressed charges? The woman or the fetus?