Since Eric Rudolf has pleaded guilty, I thought it an appropriate time to take a detailed look at the aftermath of his crime.
Back in 2001, I had the opportunity to hear Emily Lyons--the nurse who was standing next to the Birmingham police officer murdered by Eric Rudolf—-speak about being the victim of a “pro-life” bomber.
Here are some excerpts and a link to the entire speech:
(Mods, I know I've exceeded the general "fair use" number of paragraphs to post, but since I sit on the board of this organization--FFRF--I decided it was ok. If there's a problem, feel free to delete as necessary.)
“January 29, 1998, was the turning point in my life. At 7:33 a.m. a bomb exploded outside the clinic where I worked. A Birmingham police officer was killed, and my body was seriously injured.
On that fateful day I went to work like any other, didn't think anything about it. I woke up and two weeks of my life had passed away that I knew nothing about. As I began to come out of that long sleep I realized something was very wrong. I couldn't talk because there was a tube in my throat to keep me breathing. I wasn't eating either; they had a tube in my nose for that. My eyes wouldn't open. Everything from head to toe was in tremendous pain. My extremities felt like large dead weights that wouldn't move, unless someone moved them for me.
Once I was able to comprehend, they told me a pipe bomb had been placed outside the clinic where I worked. It exploded about 12 feet from where I was standing. This device contained dynamite and nails, and if any of you believe the person accused of this crime did not intend to hurt anyone, think again. After all it was aimed at the front door.
The force of the blast was so strong I was blown out of my shoes and it shredded my clothing. The fireball from a bomb reaches 3000 degrees Centigrade--that's over 5400 degrees Fahrenheit. So I had first, second and third degree burns over most of the front of my body.
The bomb was packed with one and one half inch roofing nails. The FBI drove a crowbar into the ground where the bomb was placed and they tied bright pink strings to every nail that was stuck into the brick of the building. All these strings form a cone. But just to the left of the center of the cone, the missing strings form the outline of a person because that's where I was standing that day and the nails went into me instead of the building.
I have many of those nails and fragments left in my body. They say they can't remove them because it would cause too much damage.
Officer Sanderson was bent over the bomb when it exploded, so his body was literally torn apart. But because he was to the side of the bomb, his body only had a couple of nails in it. The bomb was aimed at the front door, where most of the nails went. This device was not meant to close the clinic or to cause property damage. It was intended to murder.
Now to make sure the bomber killed someone, he stood across the street and he watched us. And when he decided that the two of us were as good as any to kill that day, he pushed the button. He detonated the bomb by remote control and then he walked away.
According to a Discovery Channel show on bombs, the force usually kills people within 15 feet. Shrapnel kills for several feet beyond that. I was 12 feet from the bomb that day and in the direct line of shrapnel. People heard and felt the explosion for miles around. It's amazing I can hear at all. My left eardrum ruptured eventually, which caused one of my 18 operations that I have had in the first two years.
The first thing the surgeon told my husband that day was that I had a hole the size of your fist in my lower right abdomen. Both my large and small intestines had to be resectioned because there were so many areas that couldn't be repaired.
My right hand was mangled. It was about four times the size it is now. So I will never be able to play the piano or write like I used to, because somebody took that part of my life away from me.
The force of the blast tore the flesh and muscles off the front of my legs.
My right eye orbit and facial bones were broken. The sheer force of the blast was so strong it tore my eyelids off. They had to be sewn back on and my tear ducts reconstructed. They were afraid those tear ducts would never work again, but I proved them wrong on that one. My left eye was torn apart by a one and one-half inch piece of wire that was spinning when it went in. So it just tore everything into pieces. They had to take out what was left, so I have a nice piece of plastic. My right eye was badly damaged, but I've had some great surgeons, so I do have limited vision in that eye now.
People frequently ask me, "Why do you do what you do? You were almost killed. Why speak up and risk being hurt worse?" Part of the answer is real easy: I'm stubborn. The bigger answer is to let the suspect know that he failed. He didn't shut the clinic down, he didn't silence me, he didn't create the silence that he had longed for, he didn't instill the fear in me or the other workers that he had hoped for. If we allow fear to control us, then the opposing groups win. Instead of killing me, he made me a mentally stronger person, capable of reaching and educating more people than I could have ever imagined.
If there's one thing I would like to get across to everyone, it's that violence did not work. What the violence did do was to make Officer Sanderson's wife a widow. She has to raise her two children alone. It has cost Worker's Comp over $1 million to put my body back together. In the latest statistics, $20 million has been spent in search for the person accused of this crime. So violence has not only failed, it is very expensive and it is paid by taxpayers.”
http://www.ffrf.org/fttoday/2001/dec01/lyons.html
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
