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| Geragos hired by Dahliwal bros in Tiger Attack case - |
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Heli
 Posted:
Tue Jan 01, 2008 8:47 pm |
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Geragos hired by Dahliwal bros in Tiger Attack case
By MARCUS BARAM
Jan. 1, 2008
The brothers who survived the vicious tiger attacks at San Francisco Zoo last week have hired legal pit bull Mark Geragos in anticipation of filing a lawsuit against the zoo.
Geragos, who is known for his roster of high-profile clients from Michael Jackson and Winona Ryder to Scott Peterson and Susan McDougal, is already making claims about what he says is the zoo's "utter disregard for safety." His new clients, brothers Paul and Kulbir Dhaliwal, were released from San Francisco General Hospital Saturday and are recovering from injuries sustained in the attack that killed their friend, Carlos Sousa Jr.
"There are some very disturbing facts yet to come out about what happened," Geragos told ABCNews.com. "One of the brothers had absolutely no reason to be attacked. After Carlos was attacked, this brother ran to the zoo café and they would not let him in. The same guys who sold him nachos wouldn't let him back in. They locked the doors. Thirty minutes later, he was attacked by the tiger."
An employee barricaded in the zoo's Terrace Café reportedly made the first 911 calls, saying that one of the brothers was screaming outside. According to police logs obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle, officers were initially skeptical of claims of an attack: "Zoo personnel dispatch now say there are two males whom the zoo thinks are 800 [mentally unstable] and making something up. But one is in fact bleeding from the back of the head."
According to those logs, firefighters and police officers were forced to wait outside for as long as six minutes by zoo security guards enforcing an emergency lockdown.
Geragos also claims that the zoo's security staff was missing in action. "Has anybody even talked to this woman who was in the security golf cart? She was motoring around in between the first and second attacks. What was she doing?"
In addition, Geragos cited the recent revelation that Tatiana, the 350-pound Siberian tiger, escaped her enclosure because the 12-foot, 5-inch wall was nearly 4 feet below industry recommendations.
Geragos cited a previous incident in which zookeeper Lori Komejan had the flesh chewed off her arm while she was feeding Tatiana in December 2006 as indicative of the zoo's negligence. Komejan filed her own suit against the zoo after that incident, and the zoo spent $250,000 on safety upgrades. The zoo is a partnership between the city and the nonprofit San Francisco Zoological Society.
**http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=4072527&page=1
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Transcription Goddess
Joined: 23 Mar 2006
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Location: Puffed Up DimWit
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| Heli
Posted:
Tue Jan 01, 2008 8:51 pm |
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TIGER BROTHERS HAD SLINGSHOTS
By EMMETT BERG, New York Times
January 1, 2008 -- SAN FRANCISCO - Two brothers who were injured when a tiger attacked them at the San Francisco Zoo had slingshots on them at the time, a source said.
An empty vodka bottle was also found in a car used by Amritpal Dhaliwal, 19, and his brother, Kulbir, 23, on the day of the mauling, which left 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr. dead, according to the source.
The discoveries could be an indication that the brothers may have taunted the 350-pound Siberian tiger before it leapt from its grotto.
San Francisco cops have said since the Christmas Day incident that there was no indication the tiger was provoked.
The brothers have not commented since they left a hospital Saturday.
When the zoo opens tomorrow, the tigers will not be on display, as officials work to ensure that their enclosure is safe.
Meanwhile, an unidentified couple was allowed to hold their wedding at the zoo last night under tight security. Guests had to clear special checkpoints.
http://tinyurl.com/375cw2
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Transcription Goddess
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| padpradasha
Posted:
Wed Jan 02, 2008 5:41 pm |
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Post not Times
| Quote: | TIGER BROTHERS HAD SLINGSHOTS
By EMMETT BERG, New York Times |
Thanks Heli. That report is actually from the NY Post and NOT the NY Times.
Huge difference.
The NY Post article has been out for several days and nothing from the AP or any reputable news source has confirmed this urban legend.
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** Banned **
Joined: 11 May 2007
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| smartlap
Posted:
Wed Jan 02, 2008 6:10 pm |
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"There are some very disturbing facts yet to come out about what happened," Geragos told ABCNews.com. "One of the brothers had absolutely no reason to be attacked. After Carlos was attacked, this brother ran to the zoo café and they would not let him in. The same guys who sold him nachos wouldn't let him back in. They locked the doors. Thirty minutes later, he was attacked by the tiger."
Does this mean the other brother was attacked for a reason???
Thirty minutes later...did the tiger hunt him down...if so perhaps he did agitate the tiger in some fashion
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| Heli
Posted:
Wed Jan 02, 2008 10:06 pm |
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They wouldn't let them in because it was after 5 pm and the zoo closed
at 5 pm; the doors to the cafe were locked.
I don't believe the tiger escaped at 4:30 because at that time
there would have been people in the zoo still and no doubt, more than
the threesome would have been attacked.
I'm waiting to know how the shoe print on the top of the fence turned
out forensically. I do hope the medics drew blood for toxicology on
those 2. Sousa would have had a tox screen as part of the post mortem
examination.
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| kalekona
Posted:
Thu Jan 03, 2008 1:19 am |
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There is a new report of a witness.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/02/MN9TU8AGC.DTL&tsp=1
| Quote: | Jennifer Miller, who was at the zoo with her husband and two children that ill-fated Christmas afternoon, said she saw four young men at the big-cat grottos - and three of them were teasing the lions a short time before the tiger's bloody rampage that killed 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr.
"The boys, especially the older one, were roaring at them. He was taunting them," the San Francisco woman said. "They were trying to get that lion's attention. ... The lion was bristling, so I just said, 'Come on, let's get out of here' because my kids were disturbed by it."
She said Sousa - whom she later recognized from his photo in the newspaper - was not heckling. The Chronicle contacted Miller after learning that she and her family had seen the young men at the zoo Christmas Day. |
There is no way I believe the tiger was out at 4:30 and no other zoo goer saw it or heard the screams.
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Supreme Queen Bitch of the Universe
Joined: 23 Mar 2006
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| padpradasha
Posted:
Thu Jan 03, 2008 2:18 am |
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Geragos accuses zoo rep of disinformation and misinformation
LA Times
Attorney denies tiger was provoked
S.F. Zoo officials dispute his assertion that employees didn't want to aid his clients during the assault.
By Steve Chawkins, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
January 3, 2008
SAN FRANCISCO -- A high-profile attorney hired by the two brothers injured in a Christmas Day tiger attack at the zoo here said Wednesday that neither his clients nor the young man who died had provoked the 300-pound Siberian tiger to vault from her enclosure.
Mark Geragos, who represents brothers Paul Dhaliwal, 19, and Kulbir Dhaliwal, 23, said that neither they nor their 20-year-old friend Carlos Sousa Jr., who was killed in the incident, had taunted Tatiana before she escaped from the outdoor enclosure.
Authorities have not yet determined conclusively how the animal escaped, but she may have crossed a dry moat and either leaped or scaled a wall that separated the enclosure from visitors.
Geragos has denied contentions that the three victims fired objects at the tiger with slingshots. He said such rumors were being spread by zoo representatives as part of a "campaign of disinformation and misinformation."
At a news conference Wednesday, the zoo's director, Manuel Mollinedo, would not respond directly to Geragos' assertions, saying that whatever triggered the 4-year-old tiger's attack would be uncovered by the police investigation.
"All I know is that something prompted our tiger to jump out of her enclosure," said Mollinedo, who left the Los Angeles Zoo in 2004.
Mollinedo also declined to comment on Geragos' charge that zoo employees failed to act when his clients -- bloody from the attack -- told them that a tiger was loose.
A zoo security guard "was completely disinterested in helping," Geragos contended in a telephone interview.
He said the brothers were refused shelter in the zoo's Terrace Cafe by employees.
With the zoo set to reopen today, officials tried to reassure the public that visitors would be safe. The 12 1/2 -foot wall around the tigers' enclosure will be raised to 19 feet, mostly with glass panels, Mollinedo said. The barrier around the 1940s-vintage grotto was more than 3 feet below the height recommended by a national zoological group.
The lions and tigers will be off-limits to the public until the expected completion of the fence in 30 days.
In addition, a public-address system will be activated throughout the zoo to alert visitors to emergencies. Mollinedo said such a system was in place until about 15 years ago, but was removed for unknown reasons.
Finally, signs will be posted reminding visitors that they are "guests" in the animals' home and should behave accordingly. The signs will warn against tapping on glass walls, throwing things at animals, making loud noises and calling out to them. "Please remember they are sensitive and have feelings," the signs will say.
Asked whether the three young men, all from San Jose, behaved improperly on Christmas Day, Mollinedo said he would have no conclusion until police completed their investigation. A department spokesman said Wednesday that he did not know when that would be.
Though the zoo has not yet been sued in the attack, Geragos said he was "exploring any and all action."
A Los Angeles lawyer whose clients have included pop star Michael Jackson and convicted killer Scott Peterson, Geragos said that at least 35 minutes passed between the tiger's initial attack and the first call to 911 at 5:07 p.m.
Police, who released 17 pages of dispatch notes on the incident last week, said they did not know exactly how much time elapsed between the initial attack and the first 911 call.
Geragos insisted that the tiger attack was unprovoked. The three men had "bought food at the cafe, gone to see the tigers, and Carlos and Paul were talking," Geragos said. "The next thing you know, the tiger is mauling Paul."
When Sousa tried to intercede, the animal attacked him and then turned on both brothers when they tried to help, Geragos said.
They ran in terror to the cafe about 300 yards away, but were not allowed in, according to Geragos. The tiger followed, mauling the older brother outside the cafe, where it was finally shot by police.
A zoo representative disputed Geragos' description of events.
"Nothing could be further from the truth," said Sam Singer, a zoo public relations consultant who specializes in crisis management. Zoo employees exerted a "heroic effort" in trying to aid the men, he said.
As for Geragos' charges of "disinformation," Singer said the word of a criminal defense attorney should be taken "not just with a grain of salt but with a ton."
Investigators have declined to comment on specific assertions until their investigation is completed.
When visitors arrive today, they will be able to leave mementos at two shrines -- one for Sousa, the other for Tatiana.
Despite a rainstorm in the forecast, a large crowd was predicted.
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