Louisville Poz Inmate Charged With Attempted Murder For Urine

[tednlou2]

I am so mad, after watching the 11pm news.  An HIV positive inmate is being charged with attempted murder, after throwing his urine under the door.  It upsets me this is my city.  But, the terrible reporting makes it worse.  This was the first TV station I worked at, and the reporter will be getting an email from me.  I expected better from him, since he claims to spend all his time reading and learning about new things.  And, I would have thought a gay reporter would be more careful with reporting on HIV.  I know the reporter has at least one poz friend.  The way the reporter says, "That HIV positive urine...." bothered me.

The story is so hard to follow.  The inmate says he threw his urine under the door, so a friend could get extra pay, for cleaning up biohazard spills.  But, the jail says it splashed into an officer's eye.  There is no follow-up how urine put under a door made it all the way into the air, and into his face.  I suppose it must have been thrown with a lot of force, which caused it to fly into the air.  But, we are left to wonder.  I still think it would barely make it to your knees.  But, perhaps not.  Without more follow-up, witnesses, or camera footage, then an officer could have made up urine splashing into his face. 

The reporter never discusses anything about transmission risk with urine.  I am just dumbfounded that the reporter never made transmission risk part of the story.  Every site I've found says not possible.  Well, some have caveats, such as blood in urine, but even those say not documented.  And, the reporter says the jail police say their lives have been put in danger.  I would think this would be where you give statistics about jail personnel being infected, or not.   

And, the reporter never discussed criminalization of HIV, especially an attempted murder charge, when it wasn't intentional.  If you're going to do a jailhouse interview, where you now have to go through this X-ray machine that shows your bones and organs, then go all the way with the story.  The story about the Grammy's requiring more appropriate attire can be bumped.  The story and video can be found at the link.  The inmate was a dumbass for doing this.  He obviously has issues.  But, an attempted murder charge is ridiculous.  They say the officer got treatment.  If he went on PEP for this, I would question the doc. 

http://www.wave3.com/story/21080171/exclusive-hiv-positive-man-talks-about-attempted-mu

[jkinatl2]

Sigh. Ignorance.

Urine is not infectious under any circumstances, even if there is blood in it. HIV is way too fragile to remain infectious under that circumstance. Have at the man, Ted.

It's as bad as the spitting thing. Is it gross? Is it nasty? Is it the sign of a damaged head? Sure. Does it transmit HIV? Steel-belted Radial Fuck no.

[oksikoko]

At the least it's a missed opportunity to educate the folks in Louisville and the entire Indiyucky area about HIV transmission and how it's not done.

It's possible he was being singled out *for* being HIV+ or the guards possibly had it in for him for other reasons and are conveniently able to turn his own body against him legally with this claim.

I'm giving the prisoner more than the benefit of the doubt because the story is so fishy, and the story comes from the officers. I'm from Nowheresville, Kentucky and did my undergrad work 'up North in the big city of' Louisville, so I don't find this surprising. My advice is don't trust any Kentuckian in uniform until they've earned it somehow.

[jd0525]

@tednlou2: Yes, I saw the broadcast on WAVE3 and my stomach just cringed to hear how uneducated so many people are about HIV transmission (I live in Louisville as well). So many of my friends and coworkers, surprisingly, are somewhat naive about how to contract HIV. One friend of mine thought you could get it via a mosquito.  However, that's where we step in and educate those individuals.

@oksikoko: Bitter, party of one? 

[tednlou2]

@tednlou2: Yes, I saw the broadcast on WAVE3 and my stomach just cringed to hear how uneducated so many people are about HIV transmission (I live in Louisville as well). So many of my friends and coworkers, surprisingly, are somewhat naive about how to contract HIV. One friend of mine thought you could get it via a mosquito.  However, that's where we step in and educate those individuals.

While it may sound odd to say, I am glad to see another Louisvillian part of the forums.  I mean, I wish you didn't have to be here.  You know what I mean.  This makes 4 I know of, but one hasn't posted in a long time.  I hope he is doing well. 

We probably know some people in common.  I look forward to hearing more from you. 

[oksikoko]

@oksikoko: Bitter, party of one? 

A joke. Just a joke. Won't happen again.

[Jeff G]

A joke. Just a joke. Won't happen again.

You better keep that sense of humor oksikoko , its one of the things I like about you  .     

[jd0525]

A joke. Just a joke. Won't happen again.

I figured such, hence the wink

[jd0525]

While it may sound odd to say, I am glad to see another Louisvillian part of the forums.  I mean, I wish you didn't have to be here.  You know what I mean.  This makes 4 I know of, but one hasn't posted in a long time.  I hope he is doing well. 

We probably know some people in common.  I look forward to hearing more from you.

I am sure we probably know someone in common--heck, I might know you? Who knows. I know what you mean.

I'm glad I joined these forums. It's been helpful to read comments from everyone and know that I am not alone. Hope to hear from you as well.