Grabbing at straws she is.
There was a time when not getting shot coming over the fence was enough for the idiots to be thankful to the guards.

Almost can guarantee that she deliberately jumped the fence to see if she could get some sort of golden ticket with which to harass the servicemen through the courts. She was probably hoping to have been beaten or strong-armed or have her rights violated in some fashion. All she could manage was the perennial criminal's gripe, "the cuffs were too tight." They're supposed to be tight. I say that they ought to have guaranteed jail time for criminal trespassing for people who attempt this sort of stunt. I'm sure all it would take is for one of these anti-military activists to land a 2 year stretch in prison for all the rest of them to think better of this tactic.

seriously, I think they should put the land mines back around military installations. that'd learn 'em.

Considering I remember a serviceman who was nearly shot on our base in Germany trying to get past gate guards, the woman should really look to getting past her butthurt for not getting to hop the fence for a photo op.

She DID get her moment in the sun, and she got some free press out of it. Just not the kind she wanted--and if she'd been true activist, she'd have used the incident as a platform to talk about the issues she's supposed to be upset about--as opposed to using her time to discuss how the mean guards did the job that she knew that they'd do, and how British officers watched to make sure that she didn't get killed for her effort.

That is one thing that people tend to forget in this post Cold War atmosphere--that you could get your ass shot for hopping fences like this. The woman is certainly old enough to remember this.

"Third Air Force officials declined to be interviewed for this story, but they did release an e-mail statement."

Official Statement: Facepalm

I wonder if this withered hag herself could be prosecuted for tresspass. There still is the common law in the UK, debased as it is.

Next time, they should use attack dogs.

Don't whizz on the electric fence.

Wow this lady needs to DIAF immediately.

Huh, she may be a Brit, but that certainly is the "American Way" (Sue somebody if the criminal charges don't stick, sue somebody even if they do, sue somebody if you are in a bad mood, sue somebody just for the hell of it...)

Lets just hope British courts are smarter than ares.
But dont count on it.

If he had just shot her as she climbed over the fence, none of this nonsense would be going on. She was trespassing - shoot her - case closed.

greasybastard: Huh, she may be a Brit, but that certainly is the "American Way" (Sue somebody if the criminal charges don't stick, sue somebody even if they do, sue somebody if you are in a bad mood, sue somebody just for the hell of it...)

The American legal system is based on the British system.

Isn't a military base technically sovereign US territory and therefore subject to US law?

/really, I don't know

I've worked with SPs. The woman was wrong for jumping the fence, but SPs can be complete and total douchebags sometimes and I say there is >50% likelihood that her claims of being physically mistreated are true. Just because you are a cop doesn't mean you get to abuse a suspect once they are actually mollified.

TMBGfreak: Isn't a military base technically sovereign US territory and therefore subject to US law?

/really, I don't know

No, it's not. Various agreements (Status of Forces Agreements, etc) may affect the applicability of host nation law to a servicemember, dependent, etc., but it's not sovereign U.S. territory.

TMBGfreak: Isn't a military base technically sovereign US territory and therefore subject to US law?

Not in the UK. We're there as guests of the Queen (and her government). Every RAF base the US occupies over there has a responsible Station Warden, an RAF officer, presumably to make sure that things remain cricket.

thinking she is lucky she didnt get shot as a terrorist.

stupid leftists

That lady is a pretty strong contender of the "asshat of the year" award and it's only March.

Now being utterly unfamiliar with the base layout I will allow that I could be WAY off, but lets assume she tried to climb some moderately remote fence, where someone intent on getting onto a military base in clandestine fashion might try.

If they would just have shot her, by what right could her family have filed the same lawsuit? That she was just violating a restricted area "a little bit" or that she "didn't intend to do any harm"?

I can only assume it was no where near aircraft or ordinance because at that point I'm guessing the orders would be to shoot first...

Is everyone missing the blatantly funny part about this? A 65 year old woman "CLIMBED" an air force fence. Hell I'm 23 and I still make my way up a 6" chain link fence. How did she do this? haha

Having been stationed in Crought and Lakenheath I can tell you that those protesters really are as antagonistic as they sound.


Their only saving grace is that they are generally "peaceful". But they really do jump the fence just to get arrested. It sounds like in this case the Airmen did everything they were supposed to do.... which is why the only complaint the woman has is "the handcuffs were too tight"


Her claim is (For those that DRTFA)

has filed a £1,000 claim against Senior Airman Frank McDonald, whom she alleges caused superficial cuts, swelling and pain to wrists from handcuffs being too tight and other injuries when he detained her at Croughton in February 2006. McDonald is now a staff sergeant at Croughton.

Sounds like she jumped a fence, and then in full view of all her other protesters (because they do it for "solidarity" and the many other police officers alert to the group) got stopped, possibly pressed against the ground or the fence, and led away.


Nothing more, nothing less. With a 60+ year old woman, with that much media attention, with a group that pulls a stunt on that base about every 2 months, there was no "Excess Force" needed, surprised, or probably used.

These are the same wacko's that swear weather radar buildings less than a stone's throw from the gate are where we keep all our nuclear weapons.

Fizpez: I can only assume it was no where near aircraft or ordinance because at that point I'm guessing the orders would be to shoot first...

Unless it has changed significantly in the last decade or two, neither of these apply.
No aircraft, no munitions...just a (major)comm base.

Nope, no change.

Unless this is posted, it is illegal to shoot trespassers that are unarmed.

There is a nice base in Cuba we could send her too.

Lemme get this straight. A 65 year old woman climbed what was probably a 10-12 foot tall fence, probably topped with barbed or razor wire... and she claims she was injured by handcuffs?

Who made those cuffs? Torquemada Ltd.?

Reyito: Having been stationed in Crought and Lakenheath I can tell you that those protesters really are as antagonistic as they sound.


Their only saving grace is that they are generally "peaceful". But they really do jump the fence just to get arrested. It sounds like in this case the Airmen did everything they were supposed to do.... which is why the only complaint the woman has is "the handcuffs were too tight"


Her claim is (For those that DRTFA)

has filed a £1,000 claim against Senior Airman Frank McDonald, whom she alleges caused superficial cuts, swelling and pain to wrists from handcuffs being too tight and other injuries when he detained her at Croughton in February 2006. McDonald is now a staff sergeant at Croughton.

Sounds like she jumped a fence, and then in full view of all her other protesters (because they do it for "solidarity" and the many other police officers alert to the group) got stopped, possibly pressed against the ground or the fence, and led away.


Nothing more, nothing less. With a 60+ year old woman, with that much media attention, with a group that pulls a stunt on that base about every 2 months, there was no "Excess Force" needed, surprised, or probably used.

These are the same wacko's that swear weather radar buildings less than a stone's throw from the gate are where we keep all our nuclear weapons.

I'll take the Japanese protesters any day of the week over that. They're quiet, polite, and not endangering anyone. The only complaint I have about them is that they need to move up and down the area during their different protests so they don't kill the grass. Or we need to pave an area for them with benches and the like, maybe put up a food stand.

"...Senior Airman Frank McDonald, whom she alleges caused superficial cuts, swelling and pain to wrists from handcuffs being too tight and other injuries when he detained her at Croughton in February 2006. McDonald is now a staff sergeant at Croughton."

Sounds like he got exactly what he deserved.

stuffy: Lets just hope British courts are smarter than ares.
But dont count on it.

Why are you comparing the British courts to the Greek God of War?

This is why protestors should disappear once they're in custody and out of view of cameras or others of thier ilk.

My friend worked at one of those bases in England. He won't talk about what he did, but it involved calibration. Every morning they would have to measure the force of gravity under the room and re-calibrate the calibration instruments. That impressed me greatly, that we can measure gravity so precisely. That's almost as cool as our weapons.

you'll generally find this sign at almost every US Airbase-


They mean it also. She's lucky she wasnt shot. There are things in those bases that civilians need not be or need not see.

Pathetic hippy throwback. People like her disgust me. When something goes down and the miitary is needed they biatch about us not being there already and doing something about it. Once the fighting is done and the war is over they biatch about us coming home. Fark her in the ARSE with a rose bush.

To think I used to support idiots like these, and thank god I finally grew a brain.
They really are just a bunch of bigoted attention whores who want to simplify complex and ambiguous situations into good guys and bad guys. And the USA is the bad guy.

/Went on many a protest march in the 1980s in the company of knee jerk feminist bigots.
//Until I noticed that they only ever protested against the NATO, never the Warsaw Pact.

ViperTomcat: you'll generally find this sign at almost every US Airbase-

Yeah but this is officially an RAF base, albeit one used by US air force.

ethics-gradient: ViperTomcat: you'll generally find this sign at almost every US Airbase-

Yeah but this is officially an RAF base, albeit one used by US air force.

I'd be willing to bet good money that its there as well.

ViperTomcat: you'll generally find this sign at almost every US Airbase-

Yeah but this is officially an RAF base, albeit one used by US air force.

ViperTomcat:I'd be willing to bet good money that its there as well.

Think about the (British) political ramifications if that sign was on display. Think about the effect on British public opinion if a British citizen is shot by an armed American serviceman at an RAF base. In Britain.
It would be the end for US forces on British soil.

ziplocrts: Is everyone missing the blatantly funny part about this? A 65 year old woman "CLIMBED" an air force fence. Hell I'm 23 and I still make my way up a 6" chain link fence. How did she do this? haha

For the sake of OpSec, I won't say much, but from my own personal experience at other installations you'd be surprised how insecure some of the Bases abroad can be. I worked in base security for a while, and I was one of the very few patrolmen in our department that actually cared to do extensive perimeter surveys. When I trained new guys, it took me the better part of 3-4 hours to show them all the ways in which our perimeter could be easily breached, many of them would have required no particular climbing at all, and many were well hidden from view. I used to spend a lot om my time on patrol thinking up all the ways that I would exploit the security holes and weaknesses if I were a terrorist or a saboteur; thinking of all the things that could be smuggled through, and how much time could such an agent operate with impunity before risking being detected by the base security. At one site I was convinced that an infiltrator could have almost complete confidence that, with only the slightest bit of discretion and employing lookouts, they would be able to move in and out of the base and operate in one corner of it undetected during all hours of the night. I came up with various plans that anyone who recon'ed the base could formulate and how the base security might have to react. My favorite one involved smuggling backpacks full of some high explosive in through that area, and burying them in the humongous flower pots that surrounded the courtyard of the school, then setting them off while school was in session the next day. hundreds of casualties, check. Mostly innocent children, check. Hurting the military specifically but in a terrorizing kind of way, check.

Of course, since nobody really wanted to do it, nobody attacked our base. We did have some brief flirting with protesters, but they're generally harmless. As much as it would be in some way a good lesson to others to apply deadly force to them to help them along their learning curve, there really isn't anything at risk that merits taking a life. If they jump the fence with the clear intention of doing it in view of the base security, only to get detained, then its just annoying. The base shouldn't have to protect itself against those kind of idiots, the courts should provide the legal protections of prosecuting those who trespass, and ensuring that the servicemen are protected against frivolous lawsuits.

holiday_inn_in_cambodia: I've worked with SPs. The woman was wrong for jumping the fence, but SPs can be complete and total douchebags sometimes and I say there is >50% likelihood that her claims of being physically mistreated are true. Just because you are a cop doesn't mean you get to abuse a suspect once they are actually mollified.

from the tone of article it sounds like they didn't use excessive force at all. she's just nitpicking trying to get a lil money and media attention out of it anyway she can. also its a restricted area... if you climb over the fence expect to get treated as any other tresspasser. obey the law and this won't happen. simple as that. the lady is looking for attention. and money.

also just cause there is a fence to a restricted area doesn't mean you should jump it cause you never know you might just get shot for tresspassing on a military base. that is not the wisest of things to do.

Mogani: holiday_inn_in_cambodia: I've worked with SPs. The woman was wrong for jumping the fence, but SPs can be complete and total douchebags sometimes and I say there is >50% likelihood that her claims of being physically mistreated are true. Just because you are a cop doesn't mean you get to abuse a suspect once they are actually mollified.

from the tone of article it sounds like they didn't use excessive force at all. she's just nitpicking trying to get a lil money and media attention out of it anyway she can. also its a restricted area... if you climb over the fence expect to get treated as any other tresspasser. obey the law and this won't happen. simple as that. the lady is looking for attention. and money.

also just cause there is a fence to a restricted area doesn't mean you should jump it cause you never know you might just get shot for tresspassing on a military base. that is not the wisest of things to do.

Gee, ya think DiNozzo

TMBGfreak: Isn't a military base technically sovereign US territory and therefore subject to US law?

/really, I don't know

No, most "U.S. bases" in Europe are technically NATO bases. Which is why you have "Ramstein Air Base" in Germany, but "Andrews Air Force Base" in Maryland.

I believe the US bases in the UK are still Royal Air Force bases, which is why they're referrred to as "RAF Mildenhall." The US forces are considered a tenant unit, even if the "host" is just one British officer in one building, surrounded by 4,000 Americans.

ViperTomcat: ethics-gradient: ViperTomcat: you'll generally find this sign at almost every US Airbase-

Yeah but this is officially an RAF base, albeit one used by US air force.

I'd be willing to bet good money that its there as well.

I wont bet. I will tell you its not there. There are very few installations that have that sign.

Shedding some light on this one....

All law enforcement officers, whether civillian or military, are taught the rules and laws of use of force. Every single time handcuffs are applied to a subject they must be checked for propper fit and double locked. This concept is drilled in constantly through the academy. They do this because the claim of damages from handcuffs is one of the most prevalent cases brought against law enforcement. Since the airman used handcuffs he will have to fill out a use of force documentation sheet. In that document he will record whether the cuffs were checked for fit and double locked. If the use of force was followed correctly, the only way this women could have sustained any injury is through HER OWN NON-COMLIANCE AND RESISTING.

Lindis Percy, co-coordinator for the group Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases,

Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases = Bored Old Lesbians with time on their hands

holiday_inn_in_cambodia: I've worked with SPs. The woman was wrong for jumping the fence, but SPs can be complete and total douchebags sometimes and I say there is >50% likelihood that her claims of being physically mistreated are true. Just because you are a cop doesn't mean you get to abuse a suspect once they are actually mollified.

I'd be willing to "guess" that you have a greater then 99% likelihood that you not only deserve to be ignored, but also deserve to be pancaked by anyone in the immediate vicinity.

But that's just my opinion, and I don't deem you worthy of taking to court.

I'm an excellent driver: Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases = Bored Old Lesbians with time on their hands

In other words, the old Stalinist coonts of Greenham Commons.

ArmyWarVet: "Pathetic hippy throwback. People like her disgust me. When something goes down and the miitary is needed they biatch about us not being there already and doing something about it."

She is a well known Quaker pacifist. I don't think you would ever hear her demand that the military go somewhere and do something.

Now, you may not like that, or agree with that ... but perhaps you might like to reflect on what sort of country it would be if shooting or interning her for expressing these views, as some posters have suggested, were acceptable. Would it really be a country for which you'd be proud to fight?

^^^There is a big difference between picketing and/or protesting on public property or in front of the base and JUMPING THE FENCE INTO A RESTRICTED AREA.

This stupid biatch has every right to stand in front of the gates with a sign, but she does NOT have the right to trespass on someone else's property.

holiday_inn_in_cambodia: I've worked with SPs. The woman was wrong for jumping the fence, but SPs can be complete and total douchebags sometimes and I say there is >50% likelihood that her claims of being physically mistreated are true. Just because you are a cop doesn't mean you get to abuse a suspect once they are actually mollified.


Plus, this was an airbase, so I rather doubt there were any Shore Patrol present.

Percy, 67

latest in a line of long and dim English aristocrats?