The Other White Meat plays family court judge
A knock on the door in the middle of the night, and two Sagamore Hills Township police officers stood before Somier McLaughlin. They wanted to talk about her refusal to let her ex-husband -- a Summit County sheriff's lieutenant -- leave the country with their daughter.McLaughlin had set conditions for the trip: The only way the 8-year-old could go to the Dominican Republic for her father's wedding was if both mother and daughter had passports. The girl now had hers; McLaughlin, who wanted a way to reach her child in case of emergency, did not.
So McLaughlin held her ground in the face of authority as a third officer arrived. She cursed the officers and ordered them to go. Leave they did -- with McLaughlin handcuffed in the back of a police car.
I suppose we should be thankful that they knocked at 1 AM instead of breaking down the door with a SWAT team. Let's look at the facts:
1. McLaughlin was the custodial parent.
2. The police admitted they did not have a court order, a warrant or any document from Domestic Relations Court mandating that Smith take the child when they arrived that morning.
3. "The midnight knock" is totally inappropriate when discussing child custody issues.
4. Since in fact the police had no legal business in a non-criminal's home at 1 AM, they should have left when requested.
5. Even though Sagamore police are an independent unit, I doubt they would have done this had the father and stepmother-to-be not been police officers.
6. Per the story, at the time of arrest McLaughlin had done nothing more than verbally abuse police. If abusing police is an arrestable offense in the land of free speech, I fully expect to be removed from my office today on account of this post. The alleged kick to the groin (are there independent witnesses? Medical evidence?) occurred after the arrest.
I don't know what or if the grand jury was thinking, but had I been on it, even if I had found probable cause, I would have been trying to charge the police as well.
Comments
Posted by: melodee
Posted on: August 25, 2007 12:26 PM
This is quite an intellectual commentary. No name calling or false accusations. I heard on a radio talk show 2 weeks ago, that Somier McLaughlin is the Director of the Cleveland Eye Bank. Because this story interests me tremendously, for personal reasons, I have followed it more than usual. I googled SOMIER MCLAUGHLIN, and was amazed and impressed with all of her accomplishments. She holds one of the most special positions I can imagine. Giving people sight. She is also a marathon runner and a bicyclist, competing in many races with outstanding results. It's not hard to find people that know her personally. She is not some crack addict that street fights with cops. She is a single mother of two children, that is highly educated, highly productive. She has lived in the same community her entire life and has many friends and family in Sagamore Hills. She has no history of any arrests or involvement with the police. Professionally, she deals with Doctors and Coroners and cornea recipients. She also has a son. This son was not with her the night of the police assualt. But, this son is also the son of the ex husband Lt. Doug Smith of Summit County. I know this child because he goes to my church. Why did the father not want to kidnap his son to take him to his wedding? Because the son was spending the night with his grandparents, highly respected people in the community, and the cops knew they could not intimidate them. They chose the ungodly hour of 1:00 a.m. to strong arm and taunt a woman alone with her daughter. There were 5 cops that morning. Three Sagamore Hills cops, and the ex husband and his fiance. All are cops. A friend of mine who lives close to Somier McLaughlin, said that there was also an ambulance there. What terror she must have felt to be surrounded by 5 cops and an ambulance. What fear she must have experienced to be thrown on her couch, kneed in the back, then handcuffed and shoved into a police car while her daughter was left alone in her home. Who among us can say they have ever experienced being surrounded by 5 cops and having your child whisked away and taken out of the country? Ironically, the traveling wedding party consisted of mainly cops. The issue of the passport is important. It has been reported and rumoured that Ms. McLaughlin was using that as an excuse to not allow her daughter to go. Some have even called her a jealous vindictive ex wife that wanted to "spoil" the wedding. It can be proved that Ms. McLaughlin applied for a passport for her daughter, son and to renew her own passport in early March 2007. She not only applied, but, she paid for the passports. She was willing to allow her daugher and son to go to Dominican Republic for the wedding, as long as she had her passport as well. She wanted to be able to reach her children if something happened. The ex husband intercepted his daughter's passport, somehow, expediting it. He did not do so for his ex wife or his son. His intentions, obviously, were to take the daughter only. His intentions were to have the daughter taken by force and to have his ex wife arrested. Why did it take, as reported, over an hour for the cops to leave? How many times does a person have to say no? The psychological damage done to the daughter and the son can not be calculated. The damage done to Ms. McLaughlin emotionally, physically and financially cannot be calculated either. There are so many facts in this case that cannot be disputed. The ex husband cop and his cop wife to be, did not catch their flight until Friday morning around 6:00 a.m. They did not go straight to the airport after taking the child. They did however, take a suitcase of clothes that Ms. McLaughlin had packed for the trip. The suitcase had been packed, waiting to go on the only condition that a passport had arrived. It seems to me, that taking a suitcase of clothes out of Ms. McLaughlin's home is stealing. And what about trespassing? Is an ex husband and his wife to be allowed to take whatever they want? How long were the cops in her home, going through her things, while she was in jail? If this is the case, every divorced parent, male and female, should be very scared. No child should feel safe when asleep at night. Every child should be afraid that Nazi Germany is happening in America.
Thank you to Lt. Doug Smith of Summit County and to his new wife. Both have caused a renewed interest in cops and ex spouses using the law illegally. Such a deadly combination. Cops and exes.
Posted by: melodee
Posted on: August 27, 2007 02:08 PM
Thank you for allowing me to post my comments. I would not insult you or any of your readers by posting untruths. So many articles and blog comments about this story/situation have been absolute lies, plain and simple. As this plays out in court, there will be many more falsehoods shattered. There will also be many more truths uncovered. This has been quite a topic of conversation in this area; particularly with the indictments of the 13 Summit Co. Deputy Sheriffs in the death of an inmate. The death happened on Lt. Smith's watch. And Lt. Smith is friends with Sgt. Podgorski. They have worked together and Sgt. Podgorski did some training under Lt. Smith. How frightening is that? The women of Sagamore Hills are scared. How many more will be scarred?