The Brawler is not going to say Redprairie CEO and noted Milwaukee basher John Jazwiec is lying when he says he was the victim of a home invasion. It's an infinite universe and his odd story may, in fact, be true.
But the Brawler will say he won't be surprised if the final record shows significant deviation from Jazwiec's description of events.
For instance, in an interview with Charlie Sykes -- and what could be more logical than calling Charlie from London to talk about a home invasion? -- Jazwiec offers a variety of explanations as to why he started threatening the mayor with the "deannexation" of his posh neighborhood before he saw fit to call the cops.
He was in shock, he tells Chuck. He's just a kid from the Chicago suburbs -- what does he know about filing a police report? The fact that every year hundreds of kids call 911 and Jazwiec, a technology company exec, couldn't figure that out is, um, troubling.
(Despite his shock, though, he gave the invader an AmEx card and waited before cancelling it so he could track where invader made purchases...getting clues, you know.)
But for the Brawler, the really troubling part of the story comes down to the beers. See John Jazwiec kinda felt some sympathy for the distressed, armed, 45 year old, 6' 5" African American man -- a member of the "working middle class" -- who was down on his luck and needed $500.
(Did I mention that the Jazwiecs had lost their debit cards?)
And the most logical thing to do when you have you have an armed, distressed man in your house?
Give him some beer to calm him down.
Thing is, it's unclear how much beer Jazwiec pushed on the invader.
From the Journal Sentinel story:
Jazwiec said he talked to the man at length to try to calm him and at one point gave him a beer.
Yet Jazwiec told Sykes he gave the guy two or three beers.
"Brawler, what's the difference between one, a couple, two three beers? Everybody makes mistakes, right?"
The Brawler will tell ya. Back in the 1980s the Brawler was jumped by some guys, one of whom had a knife. The Brawler can recall every feature of their faces and every action of the struggle. Indeed, the Brawler can remember what young Brawler said upon seeing the knife: "Hey man, be cool!" Hilarious!
The point: The human mind has a remarkable ability to focus, sharply, when confronted with violence or the threat of violence.
So the Brawler can't help but think that if Jazwiec did ply the invader with beer (did the invader let him leave his sight, thereby risking Jazwiec might bolt or make a phone call?) he would still feel the can or bottle in his hand. He likely would still hear the hissing of air has he flipped the tab or bottle cap. He surely would remember how many he gave the invader.
But again, the Brawler recognizes it's an infinite universe and concedes Jazwiec's tale could be true. But seriously, he ought to learn about this whole 911 thing.
Thanks to Punditnation for reminding us about this one.
Guy like that is probably used to having "his people" work the phones. Or, maybe he found the "9" key, but couldn't find the "11" on his phone. I know, it's an old joke.
Posted by: Iam Laughing | October 12, 2007 at 07:32 PM
And here's a thought: count the empty cans.
But mebbe you missed that J. Jazz said he did it to get the guy's DNA. If so, test results oughta be in by now, huh?
Posted by: yukkles | October 13, 2007 at 11:44 PM
Two things about this situation that don't add up in my mind:
#1: When Channel 4 interviewed the wife & she had her little meltdown, the interview was conducted on her outside steps. I would have thought that the news crew would have wanted to do some kind of "reenactment" - you know, going from the foyer to the kitchen, etc.
#2: If they had called 911 right away, wouldn't the police have wanted to go right into the home to investigate?
So, maybe there are 30-40 cats in the house or something? Just wondering, many years ago I was in a job that required going into the homes of "at-risk" elderly, and sometimes we were not allowed access because of cats, excess clutter, or substandard housing issues.
Posted by: Iam Laughing | October 15, 2007 at 12:25 PM