Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

UK: Deaf woman slept through 5-hour gun siege
This Is London (UK) ^ | 7/21/07 | n/a

Posted on 07/21/2007 10:01:03 AM PDT by kiriath_jearim

After laying siege to a house for five hours, police gave a final warning before storming the house where a gunman had been reported inside.

A police dog rushed upstairs and, finding a woman in bed, proceeded to sink its teeth into her arms.

But as armed officers surrounded a terrified Sonia Pellow, they realised two things. First, she wasn't a gunman.

Second, she was deaf and had been sleeping throughout the entire stand-off.

Yesterday Miss Pellow, 36, was still too afraid to return to her home in Hayle, Cornwall, after the ordeal, which followed a hoax call to police that a gunman was inside.

"I don't know what happened - I was asleep but then this dog was all over me," she said. "I got bitten on both of my arms. I was terrified."

Her father Esmond, 67, added: "Sonia is hard of hearing and is also very difficult to wake up once she is asleep. It looks like she was attacked by a crocodile, not a dog."

Miss Pellow was arrested on suspicion of unlawfully possessing a firearm but released without charge.

A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police said the matter would be investigated if she made a complaint.

He added: "Police negotiators had been at the scene trying to make contact with anyone inside the house for several hours."


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: ada; banglist; deaf; donutwatch; hardofhearing; hoh
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-31 next last

1 posted on 07/21/2007 10:01:05 AM PDT by kiriath_jearim
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: kiriath_jearim
I'm deaf too. But they'd probably assume I'm dead before they realize I can't hear.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

2 posted on 07/21/2007 10:02:33 AM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: kiriath_jearim

Stupid police. No one owns a gun in Britain. How could they be so easily taken in. /sarc/


3 posted on 07/21/2007 10:03:22 AM PDT by saganite (Billions and billions and billions----and that's just the NASA budget!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: saganite
It was a hoax bomb call. But I wouldn't expect an apology from the police for the false arrest of an innocent citizen.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

4 posted on 07/21/2007 10:06:00 AM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: kiriath_jearim
Miss Pellow was arrested on suspicion of unlawfully possessing a firearm but released without charge.

Unreal.

5 posted on 07/21/2007 10:06:50 AM PDT by NittanyLion
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NittanyLion

If she doesn’t sue they will forget about the gun.


6 posted on 07/21/2007 10:10:06 AM PDT by SWAMPSNIPER (THE SECOND AMENDMENT IS A MATTER OF FACT, NOT A MATTER OF OPINION)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: kiriath_jearim

“a hoax call to police that a gunman was inside.”

What the hell is it with these coppers where someone can make an crank call and get them up in arms breaking into ones home?
Oh yeah, and either shooting ya or loosing the dogs on your butt.


7 posted on 07/21/2007 10:14:51 AM PDT by Joe Boucher (An enemy of Islam)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Joe Boucher

Britain in its paroxysms of both ultra-tolerance and intolerance of basic human rights such as self-defense; is turned itself into a dangerous hellhole.


8 posted on 07/21/2007 10:28:35 AM PDT by Weeedley
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: kiriath_jearim
A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police said the matter would be investigated if she made a complaint.

So they won't investigate this totally incompetent blunder unless she complains.

9 posted on 07/21/2007 10:29:58 AM PDT by calex59
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: kiriath_jearim
A police dog rushed upstairs and, finding a woman in bed, proceeded to sink its teeth into her arms.

That's really bizarre. What sort of training do UK police dogs get that they bite people who are asleep? I find it hard to imagine that the dog could have perceived any kind of a threat from her.

10 posted on 07/21/2007 10:36:51 AM PDT by Bob
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: kiriath_jearim
Yesterday Miss Pellow, 36, was still too afraid to return to her home in Hayle, Cornwall, after the ordeal, which followed a hoax call to police that a gunman was inside.

So we now have paramilitary raids on civilians in Britain based on an anonymous phone call? Fascism is rearing it's ugly head, FRiends.

11 posted on 07/21/2007 10:46:30 AM PDT by lesser_satan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: kiriath_jearim
So basically terrorism works. The UK is so on edge with their paramilitary SWAT teams to raid a residence on a “tip” that the otherwise lawful citizens have become prisoners in their own country. Make no mistake, this is the result of years of dealing with the IRA and middle eastern jihadists. The UK now lives in a state of terror.
12 posted on 07/21/2007 10:48:15 AM PDT by SpaceBar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SWAMPSNIPER
If she doesn’t sue they will forget about the gun.

Apparently, there was no gun in the first place. But she is in a dispute with her landlord.

WOMAN IN POLICE STAND-OFF RELEASED

13 posted on 07/21/2007 11:03:30 AM PDT by HAL9000
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Joe Boucher

I am a USMC combat veteran and generally a law & order type of guy. But, I get really angry about these SWAT type police teams behaving like idiots.

Hello! Nobody home!

You have not been trained & paid to “break things & kill people”, as we used to say, jokingly, about our role. You are paid to PROTECT to public. Sometimes that involves smashing doors and doing the macho “GO, GO, GO” bit. But you are also trained and paid to THINK.

Don’t give me the excuse that “this is dangerous business, requiring split second decisions”. Not in this case.


14 posted on 07/21/2007 11:09:20 AM PDT by BwanaNdege (Actions have consequences. Truth ALWAYS matters.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Weeedley

“Britain in its paroxysms of both ultra-tolerance and intolerance of basic human rights such as self-defense; is turned itself into a dangerous hellhole.”

I was thinking something like this, but you put it better than I could have. It’s extremely odd.


15 posted on 07/21/2007 11:12:37 AM PDT by edweena
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: edweena

It verifies the righteousness of the Revolutionary War.

Sheeeche we could have turned our like Canada.


16 posted on 07/21/2007 11:15:42 AM PDT by Weeedley
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: SpaceBar

More like a state of self induced stupidity.


17 posted on 07/21/2007 11:16:50 AM PDT by Weeedley
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Bob

It’s the dog’s fault?

ROFL


18 posted on 07/21/2007 11:16:52 AM PDT by gcruse (Let's strike Iran while it's hot.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: kiriath_jearim

The headline makes it sound like there was a gun battle, but after reading the article it sounds more like the cops just got tired of standing around with nothing to do (except talk into their bullhorn) and barged in on a sleeping woman.


19 posted on 07/21/2007 11:26:17 AM PDT by Disambiguator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Disambiguator

Plus they just released the dog to do the dirty work for them. If you just let a dog go off on it’s own, who knows what will happen. It can attack an innocent person as in this case or get itself killed.


20 posted on 07/21/2007 11:45:05 AM PDT by Kirkwood
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-31 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson