Viet dubious claim to fame in the Theo Lacy case
May 6th, 2008Just noticed that one of the two OC Sheriff deputies fired during the investigation into the Theo Lacy jail case is named Duy X. Tran.
That’s an unmistakable Vietnamese name. Read the Reg’s story by Tony Saavedra here. The two rookie deputies on duty at the scandal-plagued Theo Lacy jail were fired following investigation into claims that deputies used a Taser to shoot and kill a cat.
The story mentioned that former deputy Tran could not be located for comment. Yeah, good luck finding one Tran among thousands in this county!
Not sure it’s a desirable way to be famous for, though. Even though this does reflect the growth in the Vietnamese population, and that the population is diversifying, living in more places than just Southern California, and going into more kinds of career than just engineering and medicine and manicure.
That’s why anything that’s happening in the U.S. now – from the September 11 terrorist attacks, the Oklahoma City bombing (see here), the war in Iraq (see here) – there’s some Vietnamese-American involved.
That, friends, is assimilation.
A footnote for gentle readers who may not have been following the Theo Lacy case:
Theo Lacy is the name of a jail run by the Orange County Sheriff Department. A “jail” is a place holding suspects who have not been convicted of any crime yet. Theo Lacy came under scrutiny when one inmate was beaten to death while guards were watching TV. As summarized by Saavedra in the above-linked Register story:
“Sheriff’s officials have adopted a zero-tolerance policy for misconduct in response to the Oct. 5, 2006, slaying of inmate John Derek Chamberlain at Theo Lacy jail while a deputy watched television 68 feet away. An investigation by The Orange County Register also found that the deputy and two others altered jail records to show that Chamberlain had been offered the chance earlier that day to move to another barracks, but declined.
“Last month, a special grand jury formed to look at the Chamberlain killing found an atmosphere of laziness among Theo Lacy deputies, who slept at their posts, played video games, watched DVDs and faked log entries showing that they walked their rounds. Deputies also recruited jailhouse bullies to discipline other inmates, sometimes watching as inmates got beaten.”
Tags: Viet scandalous
