Lilpup Member Username: Lilpup
Post Number: 1337 Registered: 06-2004
| Posted on Monday, September 18, 2006 - 12:42 am: | |
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09 /18/us/18album.html “White people kill themselves. Black people kill each other. Chinese people don’t die.” (LOL, but I think the guy's underpaid) |
Jimaz Member Username: Jimaz
Post Number: 638 Registered: 12-2005
| Posted on Monday, September 18, 2006 - 12:52 am: | |
Well worth reading. |
Naturalsister Member Username: Naturalsister
Post Number: 816 Registered: 11-2004
| Posted on Monday, September 18, 2006 - 1:34 am: | |
Yep, good read. Another story from the big city. Very interesting. later - naturalsister |
Motorcitymayor2026 Member Username: Motorcitymayor2026
Post Number: 1320 Registered: 10-2005
| Posted on Monday, September 18, 2006 - 2:02 am: | |
i suggest watching the viedo as well...interesting to say the least |
Fnemecek
Member Username: Fnemecek
Post Number: 1965 Registered: 12-2004
| Posted on Monday, September 18, 2006 - 10:33 am: | |
The ad for "Little Miss Sunshine" right before the video interview with Mr. Death makes the whole seem so surreal. |
Wmuchris Member Username: Wmuchris
Post Number: 430 Registered: 06-2005
| Posted on Monday, September 18, 2006 - 10:41 am: | |
No joke, I hung out with this guy at the Bar on Saturday night. He was a real character. I thought that he was full of it when he told me about his job. Funny how this thread popped up today. Kind of reminded me of Flava Flave. |
Supersport Member Username: Supersport
Post Number: 10617 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Monday, September 18, 2006 - 12:40 pm: | |
I like how they included beer a few times. |
Gannon
Member Username: Gannon
Post Number: 6801 Registered: 12-2003
| Posted on Monday, September 18, 2006 - 1:09 pm: | |
I did this with a friend of my mother's from high school for a very short while in eighth grade. Somehow she thought it excellent experience for me for a first job. It got old quick. Must've been the first job I ever quit. |
Scofield Member Username: Scofield
Post Number: 38 Registered: 07-2006
| Posted on Monday, September 18, 2006 - 1:47 pm: | |
yeesh... ya think someone would give him a contract as a rapper. call him the grim reaper. |
Frenchman_in_the_d Member Username: Frenchman_in_the_d
Post Number: 36 Registered: 08-2006
| Posted on Monday, September 18, 2006 - 2:15 pm: | |
the article perfectly reflected the atmosphere in Detroit's hoods. Hows sad... Now, a little clarification: all he does is collect the bodies and take them to the morgue right? Would he be empoyed by the city? A hospital? DPD? |
Pffft Member Username: Pffft
Post Number: 1093 Registered: 12-2003
| Posted on Monday, September 18, 2006 - 2:21 pm: | |
Oh good grief. Charlie McDuff is a hack to trot out the tired old "dying Detroit" metaphor. We've been hearing that Detroit is dying since, what, the '67 riots? Making it the longest, most drawn out civic death ever. The only thing worse than Charlie McDuff writing about Detroit is another Micheline Maynard chop job on the American auto industry. |
Lilpup Member Username: Lilpup
Post Number: 1339 Registered: 06-2004
| Posted on Monday, September 18, 2006 - 2:26 pm: | |
my guess is probably employed by the County Coroner's Office or as an independent contractor |
Frenchman_in_the_d Member Username: Frenchman_in_the_d
Post Number: 37 Registered: 08-2006
| Posted on Monday, September 18, 2006 - 2:40 pm: | |
just asking because of some worries. I wanted to know how the whole thing works... you know, in case someone tampers with a body before the autopsy... |
Gannon
Member Username: Gannon
Post Number: 6803 Registered: 12-2003
| Posted on Monday, September 18, 2006 - 2:47 pm: | |
what are you planning to do? |
Frenchman_in_the_d Member Username: Frenchman_in_the_d
Post Number: 39 Registered: 08-2006
| Posted on Monday, September 18, 2006 - 2:54 pm: | |
well... I'm not trying to do anything. In fact, a friend of mine... LOL No, I was actually worried that people like Mr. Thomas were too free walking around with bodies e.g. after gang shootings or random killings perpetrators buying the bodies from Mr. Thomas to hinder the investigations. Is he supervised during his work? Or is he pretty much free? Worried because the article states than more than 10.000 homicides have been unsolved since the 70's!!! Of course, I'm not doubting about Mr. Thomas, but about the whole mechanism. It seems odd that one guy picks up the body and delivers it to the morgue... or maybe it IS that simple... |
Monahan568
Member Username: Monahan568
Post Number: 146 Registered: 04-2004
| Posted on Monday, September 18, 2006 - 2:56 pm: | |
“You see,” he begins, “80 percent of people die naked and 70 percent die in the toilet. That means most people die naked in the toilet." um...thats disturbing.... |
Gannon
Member Username: Gannon
Post Number: 6806 Registered: 12-2003
| Posted on Monday, September 18, 2006 - 3:01 pm: | |
Just hold it, Monahan, and you'll live forever. Odds are, that is. |
Supersport Member Username: Supersport
Post Number: 10619 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Monday, September 18, 2006 - 3:07 pm: | |
quote:“I seen an old lady standing dead at her stove, her purse hanging on her elbow.
I guess the question remains, who finished cooking her husband his dinner? |
Bvos Member Username: Bvos
Post Number: 1999 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Monday, September 18, 2006 - 10:44 pm: | |
bump |
Jimaz Member Username: Jimaz
Post Number: 644 Registered: 12-2005
| Posted on Monday, September 18, 2006 - 11:02 pm: | |
I recently had a discussion with a fellow in Florida that does this. He agreed that "You have to perform the most undignified tasks in the most dignified way possible." when describing unfolding a body that died while hunched over watching TV. Creepy. |
Dougw Member Username: Dougw
Post Number: 1336 Registered: 11-2003
| Posted on Tuesday, September 19, 2006 - 1:46 pm: | |
An interesting and well-written article, but I agree with Pffft that all of the "Dying Detroit" comments were gratuitous and not really accurate. Detroit as a dying city may have been an interesting angle 20-40 years ago, but not so much now. |
Thnk2mch Member Username: Thnk2mch
Post Number: 374 Registered: 02-2006
| Posted on Wednesday, September 20, 2006 - 1:17 pm: | |
Detroit body snatcher suspended September 20, 2006 Detroit’s self-proclaimed bag man is on suspension for talking his mouth off. In a New York Times article that ran on Sunday, Mike Thomas waxed about the rigors of his job as a body retrievalist in one of the most dangerous cities in America. The interview, and accompanying video, might cost him his job. http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs .dll/article?AID=/20060920/NEW S99/60920016 |
Gannon
Member Username: Gannon
Post Number: 6835 Registered: 12-2003
| Posted on Wednesday, September 20, 2006 - 1:33 pm: | |
Let's boycott. Everybody LIVE! |
Karl Member Username: Karl
Post Number: 4083 Registered: 09-2005
| Posted on Wednesday, September 20, 2006 - 2:46 pm: | |
To clarify: If someone has been under the care of a doctor and has been declared dead by the doctor, this guy can move him. If they've not been under a doctor's care, the coroner has been there and checked things out before he's allowed to move the body. This does NOT work the same as when you call to have a dead animal picked up - which he does also. Someone in an official capacity for Wayne County has been there to check for foul play, etc. One wonders why the NYT's didn't bother to report on their own PU guys, who are probably unionized and making $70K/year? Why they run a story about a city hundreds of miles away, reporting in a rather dismal manner, instead of running the same story that is happening daily (and with much more regularity) right in NYC - as well as any city/county in the world. I'm sure there are several dozen folks who've already had this article waved in their faces as someone shouts at them, "Now see how good you have it??" All at the expense of the COD. An unfortunate lesson on why entities like Wayne County shouldn't do things on the cheap. |
Mikem Member Username: Mikem
Post Number: 2880 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Wednesday, September 20, 2006 - 4:07 pm: | |
quote:Why they run a story about a city hundreds of miles away, reporting in a rather dismal manner, instead of running the same story that is happening daily (and with much more regularity) right in NYC - as well as any city/county in the world.
because it's part of... "American Album" A Series By CHARLIE LeDUFF In a feature appearing every other Monday, portraits of offbeat Americans by Charlie LeDuff, with videos on nytimes.com"
quote:An unfortunate lesson on why entities like Wayne County shouldn't do things on the cheap.
So you believe outsourcing this work was a poor decision? |
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard
Post Number: 1460 Registered: 10-2004
| Posted on Wednesday, September 20, 2006 - 4:19 pm: | |
This guy was suspended at least as far back as this morning. He worked for some contractor. Check with Beckmann at WJR, who has been on the air with his supervisor, telling him to keep him. |
Bvos Member Username: Bvos
Post Number: 2002 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Wednesday, September 20, 2006 - 9:58 pm: | |
Doug & Pfft said that Dying Detroit is an overused and possibly inaccurate metaphor. Well, virtually all numbers say that Detroit is still dying, yes even 50+ years after it started. Sorry to say it, but that's the truth. Sure there are some positive things happening around the city, but overall things have a long way to go before the majority of the city is on an upward trajectory. |
Kathleen Member Username: Kathleen
Post Number: 1586 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Thursday, September 21, 2006 - 7:05 am: | |
The News reports that Mr. Thomas has been suspended from his job for talking to the media about his job. "A county corpse collector has been suspended after being interviewed about his oddly fascinating occupation in one of the world's most widely read newspapers. Mike Thomas, 34, of Detroit, a body technician who transports corpses for the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office, was the focus of a lengthy piece that offered a glimpse inside an often sheltered business. It was published Monday in the New York Times; the story ran in The Detroit News' Metro section Wednesday. ..." http://www.detnews.com/apps/pb cs.dll/article?AID=/20060921/M ETRO/609210410/1003 |
Itsjeff
Member Username: Itsjeff
Post Number: 6899 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Thursday, September 21, 2006 - 7:49 am: | |
(presents a bunch of posies) I'd collect your body any ol' time, Miss Kathleen. (kicks the dirt) |
Amy_p
Member Username: Amy_p
Post Number: 711 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Thursday, September 21, 2006 - 9:18 am: | |
Heard this morning that he's been fired. And that there's interest in him for two reality shows (though seems he'd need the job for that...). |