April 24, 2013

"Man who died in blast lived in foil-wrapped home, filmed neighbors."

"... About 5:45 p.m. Sunday, Costa Mesa police were called to Harris’ home for a report of a man down. When they got there, Harris got up and went back inside. He told police he was fine, and he was wearing a hat that said in effect, 'I don’t need any help,' said Sgt. Jerry Hildeman."

33 comments:

Larry J said...

Crazy is as crazy does.

traditionalguy said...

Our right wing brand of paranoia is sort of funny and almost harmless.

I blame Reynolds and Alcoa for selling aluminum foil without background checks.

Anonymous said...

I wonder if he was a follower of Alex Jones too, like Tamerlan Tsnarnaev. Kooks with conspiracy theories and access to multi media, dangerous combo.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

Zillow.com is probably going to want to move that $539,893 Zestimate® down a little bit.

Anonymous said...

*Tzarnaev*

ErnieG said...

The report didn't say whether the aluminum foil was applied shiny side out or shiny side in. I understand that if you get that wrong, bad things can happen.

KCFleming said...

But there's the human impulse to want to try to understand the — maybe something that's impossible to understand.

jacksonjay said...


Dale Gribble!

traditionalguy said...

OK, so we need to add a ten thousand rolls of aluminum foil to our survivalist stache. There will be no room left for the explosives.

edutcher said...

You read about the type, but...

Inga said...

I wonder if he was a follower of Alex Jones too, like Tamerlan Tsnarnaev. Kooks with conspiracy theories and access to multi media, dangerous combo.

They exist more in Lefty minds than anywhere.

Crimso said...

That's what the hat said "in effect." I'd like to know exactly what it said. Just curious, as I've never seen a hat that I would characterize thusly.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Do we know for a fact that Tamerlan was an Alex Jones aficionado?
9/11 troofers are not just products of Jones' crazy anti-government theories.
Plenty of radical Islamists, who rejoiced after 9/11 - subscribe to powerful cognitive dissonance of "yes we like 9/11 but it was all fake."

Freeman Hunt said...

Poor guy. Sounds like he was mentally ill and pretty miserable.

TerriW said...

Crimso: the comment about the hat raises more questions than it answers. What the heck *did* it say? I was hoping it'd be explained in the link, but nope.

Crimso said...

Since that was the text that linked, I assumed Althouse was trying to get us to focus on the hat.

Doesn't having your house wrapped in foil say, in effect, "I need help?"

Ann Althouse said...

I assumed the hat said something the cop didn't want to quote verbatim, like "Fuck Off."

Crimso said...

But they cite the hat as at least one reason why they didn't intervene. As though it really did indicate the person was not a danger to himself or others. "Fuck Off," while it does have a certain appealing vibe, isn't really that vibe. I just can't think of anything the cop wouldn't quote verbatim that could be used as a reason not to do anything with the guy.

Do the cops really consider what's on your hat when determining whether they need to intervene? I would think not, but they seem to be saying they did just that.

Strelnikov said...

Well, at least he wasn't crazy.

Crimso said...

"Mystery Clouds Deadly Hat in Costa Mesa"

virgil xenophon said...

In England he would have been classified as "mildly eccentric."

KCFleming said...

The only hat that says in effect, 'I don’t need any help'

virgil xenophon said...

Look, these sorts of people are always all around us. In New Orleans the French Quarter was inhabited for years until her death by a homeless, feisty alcoholic named "Ruthie the Duck Lady" because she had a pet duck which followed her everywhere. Ruthie even became a subject of tourist lore over time. Louisville had a similar guy and his wife(?)/girl-friend who wore a "patriotic" hat festooned with American flags and patriotic buttons of all kinds--wore same hat and clothes 24/7/365--EVERY city has 'em.

KCFleming said...

Maybe it was the Veep.

"I have the hat to this day. I have the hat."

Astro said...

House wrapped in aluminum foil? Man, the cell phone reception inside must have really sucked.

I wonder if people still cover their houses with aluminum siding?

virgil xenophon said...

Do you have to remind us of how big of a prick Kerry was/is, POGO? For God's sake, give us some slack, man..

KCFleming said...

I am a bad, bad man.

TerriW said...

Perhaps the hat said "F--- the Police" ?

gadfly said...

The answer is simple - this guy was afraid of Costa Mesa's overpaid municipal employees threatening to bankrupt yet another California city. Costa Mesa wants to dismiss a couple hundred employees who are building up large pensions in favor of outsourcing - but the state courts will not permit such sound fiscal policy.

SteveR said...

I'm cookoo for Cocoa Puffs

James Pawlak said...

Everyone knows the helm foil must be lead and not any other metal. I helps to have a V-shaped TV antenna on it.

I am wearing one now and the "voices" (Telling me to vote for Democrats) have been blocked!

David-2 said...

Reminded me of poor Jerry Fletcher. In this clip he enters his apartment at 1:30, and accesses his fridge at 2:45. His apartment also ended in a conflagration - carefully planned! - which he survived, unlike this California joker. Also, unlike this California joker, Jerry Fletcher was a character in a movie.

Rusty said...

What do you expect? It's Costa Mesa fer crisakes!

I was told by the Costa Mesa police not to park by the city park in Costa Mesa, which is right across the street from the police station, because my car might get robbed.

modgudur said...

He sounds lonely. When one is that alone, all sorts of ideas come into his mind. Speaking of lonely people, I know about an elderly man that was treated poorly by the local judge. I have great examples of this "system" where a local judge is abusing his power of position to marginalize an elderly man in a nursing home. A court appointed female lawyer telling this court the lies the court wants to hear to keep this 93 year old in sub-standard care albeit still within the "letter of the law" This is a "cover-up" in the Grand good ole boy system of lawyers and judges, starting at the top with the Governor of Minnesota.