Tiger Victim Died Saving Friend- He's a hero

[ecstatic]

And not worthy of the disrespect being thrown at him on DU. RIP.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The San Jose teenager who died in the Christmas Day fatal tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo lured the big cat away from attacking his friend, San Francisco police chief Heather Fong said Thursday.

At a noon news conference, Fong gave an in-depth description of the attack as formulated by her investigators. She said the attack began with the tiger pouncing on one of two brothers who were visiting the zoo with their friend Carlos Sousa Jr.

"At the time of the attack, two of the people who were not attacked, yelled and tried to distract the tiger (from its attack on the third)," Fong said. "The tiger let go of the first victim and started to turn toward one of the other victims. The first victim and the brother saw the tiger grab onto the victim (Sousa) who died"

http://www.ktvu.com/news/14930388/detail.html

[shain from kane]

1. So, a leopard can change its stripes.

[BuyingThyme]

2. Does anybody have any good photo links showing the layout of the scene?

[atre]

7. Just the grotto

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-122607-tigergrotto-g,0,577300.graphic?coll=la-home-center

[BuyingThyme]

9. Perfect. Thank you.

:hi:

[BuyingThyme]

10. Oh, one more thing:

What would make a person think a tiger could not get out of that thing?

[RamboLiberal]

26. A couple more

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?o=1&f=/c/a/2007/12/28/MNSKU5OFE.DTL

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?o=2&f=/c/a/2007/12/28/MNSKU5OFE.DTL

[The Stranger]

3. I heard they also distracted a tiger that was lunging at Benazir Bhutto.

[FredScuttle]

4. A tiger tried to check my receipt as I was leaving Best Buy last week

n/t

[Cronus Protagonist]

6. No, that was a Cougar. (n.t)

[FredScuttle]

15. This cougar

[The Stranger]

11. Probably the same tiger that killed Osama Bin Laden.

[judaspriestess]

5. how do they know for sure if the other two have not

been forthcoming on what happened to police? just asking

"The Dhaliwal brothers have been hostile to police in the current death investigation and were "extremely belligerent" in an earlier encounter with police this year, authorities say."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3117050

[EFerrari]

14. That's disgusting. n/t

[Ian David]

19. Some people have had bad experiences with police.

[Blue Diadem]

31. I was reading and watching video at several SF and SJ news sites

One of them said that the Dr., who treated the two brothers, passed the info to the news and the police that the young man who died had actually saved the older brother's life.

[OzarkDem]

8. Victims injured friends hostile to police

They refused at first to give their own names or even identify their friend who was killed. They have been refusing to answer questions and have had history of problems with the law...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/28/MNQ5U65N5.DTL&tsp=1

"Sources have told The Chronicle that the tiger's rear claws show signs of wear, supporting the theory that Tatiana may have used her rear legs to climb the wall. Authorities have not ruled out the possibility that one of the victims dangled a leg or arm over the enclosure and that Tatiana latched on to the limb to pull herself out.

Evidence collected at the scene indicates someone may have crossed a metal fence that surrounds the tiger grotto. Blood was found between the fence and the moat wall as was a shoeprint on the fence.

Brothers Amritpal "Paul" Dhaliwal, 19, and 23-year-old Kulbir Dhaliwal traveled with Sousa to the zoo on Christmas Day.

The brothers have been hostile to police interviewers, at first refusing to give their own names, identify Sousa or give an account of what occurred.

It isn't the first time authorities have accused the men of being difficult with police.

They were charged earlier this year with misdemeanor public intoxication and resisting a police officer after they were arrested a short distance from their home, according to court documents.

Kulbir Dhaliwal allegedly cursed officers and kicked the security partition between the back and front seats in a police car after being handcuffed in the Sept. 7 incident, the police report said. "

[EFerrari]

16. That changes everything.

:sarcasm:

[LisaL]

32. Maybe, right after the tiger attack, they didn't feel like talking,

considering they had multiple wounds and all.

[Ian David]

12. If everyone at the zoo had pit bulls with them, this wouldn't have happened.

They would have all lived to go eat at The Olive Garden.

[OllieLotte]

17. ...the nice kitty cat would have a fresh dog to snack on. n/t

[book_worm]

13. Nice try

but as you can see from some of the above responses what matters is that a tiger was killed not that a 17 year old who may have tried to help save somebody else died.

[RamboLiberal]

18. No disrespect to the young man who is dead

But the media is very quick to appoint someone a hero these days. Remember Jessica Lynch? I'll wait for the full story to come out. The "facts" in this story have been changing quite a bit!

[Mike03]

20. I'm with you

The report I heard was that the father of one of the kids was saying his son was a "hero", not the police.

I'm waiting patiently before I condemn or extol anyone in this sad drama.

[EFerrari]

21. Unlike Jessica Lynch, our whole government didn't try to frame this.

Really bad comparison.

[RamboLiberal]

23. So you believe the media?

Their reporting on this story has been horrible. Dangling a leg, bloody shoe found. NOT.

[EFerrari]

27. No, of course I don't. But the Pentagon set out to praise Lynch

where the whores here in town set out to smear these people.

[RamboLiberal]

30. The media runs with whatever someone tells them

Whether the pentagon or a source that wasn't even on the scene.

[EFerrari]

35. Well, you know, we know that's not exactly true.

A good case is the NYTs ignoring thousands of reports of malfeasance in OH in 2004. I myself have experience monitoring and objecting to my local fishwrap's smearing of Kevin Shelley.

The zoo got out ahead of the spin in this case and their bs is now finally being corrected. And, shame on the Chronicle for simply printed their cr@p.

[Mike03]

22. Just to be fair, maybe it would be a good juxtaposition

to detail or at least elucidate--what according to the reporters at KGO out of San Francisco are calling--the criminal records of the poor "victims," which I found quite interesting.

If Bhutto had not been assassinated yesterday, I might give a damn about all these ludicrous posts about the poor victims of the tiger.

What we ought to be doing is phasing out zoos entirely.

They are an eighteenth century entertainment that has, like an invasive cancer, spread into the twenty-first century.

[piedmont]

24. I'll wait to judge if he's a hero until it's known whether his actions helped the tiger escape. nt

[maxsolomon]

25. until the brothers talk - its all guesswork on the part of the public

& they'll talk. under threat of punishment, or with the enticement of money.

& i won't believe they're blameless easily. neither will the cops. why those 3? why only when no one else was watching?

the SF zoo might want to think about security cameras, and an active staff presence around all predator animals any time the public has access to the grounds.

there's only 5000 tigers left, and fewer siberians. if taunting led to the tiger's death, and the death of their friend, its a big deal.

in light of the stakes, i'd have lawyered up instantly.

[Mike03]

28. Per a previous poster, if one of these great citizens and patriots

attacked by the tiger was actually trying to help the tiger escape, I'll categorically retract every slight, every derogative statement, all the negative feelings I have for him/her/them.

The evidence, right now, points to them as being certified DUMBSHITS. And I don't accept a father's version of his son's "heroism," especially if the kid has a criminal record the length of Rodney King's.

Horseshit, and waste of bandwidth, especially on a week like this one.

[Beausoir]

29. I hate to be so cynical, but I do agree with you.

It's too bad a tiger killed a kid.

But this level of national frenzy over it, especially this week, is mind boggling.

[LisaL]

33. He didn't have a criminal record.

[AZ Criminal JD]

34. If any of the three of them provoked the tiger

They are not heroes and got what they deserved. The tigers shouldn't have been there in the first place.