Gagged priest ‘playing’ with handcuffs at church gets stuck, calls 911 for help

[cleanhippie]

A gagged priest at Springfield’s St. Aloysius church called 911 late last year and asked them for help because he had been “playing” with handcuffs and he got stuck.

Audio of Father Tom Donovan’s Nov. 28 911 call was published by the Illinois Times on Thursday.

“I’m stuck in a pair of handcuffs and I’m going to need help getting out before it becomes a medical emergency,” Donovan tells the dispatcher in a muffled voice.

“You’re stuck in a pair of handcuffs?” the dispatcher replies.

“Yes,” Donovan admits. “I was playing with them so I need some help getting out.”

When police arrived at the church, they discovered that the priest’s voice had sounded garbled because he was also wearing a gag, according to the Illinois Times.

Although the Diocese of Springfield had been provided with a police report and a audio of the 911 call, they had refused to comment on the incident.

“I wouldn’t be able to tell you where Father Donovan is,” diocese spokesperson Kathie Sass said. “There’s a matter of privacy there.”

Sass told The State Journal-Register that Donovan had been granted a leave of absence in December for “personal reasons.”

Raw Story (http://s.tt/1xYnM)

While there is SOOOOOO much that I would like to say, I'll instead leave that to the rest of you. Enjoy.


On edit: I see that this was posted in GD as well. http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022130461
so let's call this a crosspost.

[CountAllVotes]

1. dupe

Boy going for broke around here today.

[cleanhippie]

2. Didn't see it. Where is that thread?

With thousands of posts being put up everyday, it is quite possible, and likely, that not everyone will see them all.

Relax, its just a post on a message board.

[intaglio]

3. I wonder if he has been sent to serve at Craggy Island?

[Dorian Gray]

9. Fr Ted

is a great show. So inappropriate! (The show. Not your reference to it!)

[dimbear]

4. His young friend is going to hell for this trick, but may calculate that it's worth it.

Strange days, my friends.

[JoeyT]

5. I have to give him credit for coming clean,

rather than trying to come up with a story to explain it.

I can't believe that he couldn't think of anyone that might have access to a hacksaw or bolt cutters. Yeah, he'd have someone laughing at him, but it's better than having everyone laughing at him.

[struggle4progress]

6. This sort of thing happens all the time

Man stuck in handcuffs at Orange adult store freed, no lubricant was needed (map)

Published: Thursday, March 29, 2012

By Brian McCready, Milford Bureau Chief
[e-mail]

ORANGE — A man who became stuck in handcuffs at an adults-only store for close to an hour was finally set free by a police officer who used a bolt cutter, police said Thursday.

Assistant Police Chief Edward Koether said police received a call from an employee at the VIP store who said one of their customers tried on handcuffs there and couldn’t get them off.

VIP employees attempted to use a key to free the man, who was not identified by police, but it did not work, police said. Employees then attempted to use keys from other sets of handcuffs, but again to no avail.

When police responded to the stoore 170 Boston Post Road at 3:07 p.m., officers also tried to free the man by using their handcuff keys, which also was unsuccessful ...

http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2012/03/29/news/doc4f74bdd6c51fd686732118.txt

[cleanhippie]

16. Yeah, sure it does. A priest playing sex games in his church is the same as a customer getting

stuck at the store.

[rug]

7. The religious aspect of this is . . . . ?

[LARED]

8. a mystery?

[cleanhippie]

11. If you pray really, really hard, it will be revealed to you by god!

[LARED]

18. Your mastery of juvenile humor is always appreciated.

[cleanhippie]

22. Anything that helps you understand.

I can bring it down even more if its still above you.

[LARED]

23. No you're doing fine , I sorta miss the days when I had twelve year old kids around the house

[cleanhippie]

28. Was that when you were still able to learn something?

I'll bet you really do miss those days.

[LARED]

30. Not so oddly, twelve years old sometimes can teach adults. That does not seem to be the case here.

The juvenile humor you provide is still pretty good.

[cleanhippie]

31. Yes, some adults willfully refuse to learn anything they don't think they already know.

Good luck with that. Did prayer reveal the answer yet? Prayer works. It really does. Or so I've been told.

[LARED]

44. Yes, that's true. There are only one or two people on this board that come to mind fitting

that description.

[cleanhippie]

10. Hmm, let me see...

Probably about the same, if not more so, than some youtube songs posted in this group recently. One of which you really, really didn't like.

Feel free to alert. Thats your prerogative.

[rug]

12. Ah, so there is none.

[cleanhippie]

13. If you say so, but that would mean that Hosts are posting here contrary to the SoP of the Group.

It seems we would have bigger fish to fry. Are we united in putting a stop to this travesty?

[rug]

14. Nice try but this pathetic story has nothing to do with anything else posted in this group.

Excepting your cartoons of course.

[cleanhippie]

15. Are you telling me that a priest, gagged and handcuffed is his own church, is NOT religion related?

Ok, rug, whatever you say.

But keep kicking this thread. Its getting a lot of exposure!

[rug]

17. That is exactly what I'm saying.

Your six dozen smileys don't make the connection. Post some more.

[cleanhippie]

32. Well, put your opinion to the test.

Alert as being off-topic, let's see what the hosts think.

[rug]

35. Those are your games.

As a rule, I prefer this nonsense to flutter out there for all to see.

[cleanhippie]

36. You object to me posting it at all for being off-topic, yet do not want it locked as off-topic?

Sounds like the only game being played here is yours.

[rug]

37. No I don't.

I don't think Spike TV should be taken off the air either.

[cleanhippie]

38. Your orginal response to this was "The religious aspect of this is...?"

I see the religious aspect, you don't. We disagree. That is not new.

So just what are we talking about?

[rug]

39. You told me to alert. I told you why I didn't.

BTW, your latest violates the four paragraph copyright rule. That is alert-worthy.

[cleanhippie]

40. So alert! Your goal seems to be my silence. Have at it!

I've really, really tried to find a way to communicate with you that does not turn into a snipe fest, and found that doing so is an impossible task due to your unwillingness to cede or recognize any point or POV, no matter how trivial. Have a nice day. Were done.

[rug]

41. I have no interest in silencing you, no matter how absurd the posts.

Copyright violations, however, can create problems.

[Goblinmonger]

19. So posts about religious people doing awesome things

don't belong here either?

[rug]

20. Is the motivation for this religious?

Or is it just because this sad man is a priest?

[Goblinmonger]

21. So absent religion

MLK would just be a worthless tosser? (sorry, I'm in the middle of a Peek Show marathon on Netflix)

[rug]

24. Of course not but it would be foolish to ignore his entire life.

He didn't name it the SCLC by accident.

(I never heard of Peek Show. Google, unsurprisingly, led me elsewhere.)

[Goblinmonger]

25. That was a typo on my part

not that the correct title will avoid the other Google options: Peep Show

[rug]

26. That's ok. It was an interesting sojourn.

[Botany]

27. This priest got into a gag and 'cuffs by himself?

[cleanhippie]

29. His accomplice(s) are strangely absent from the story.

Who knows what was really going on in that church. I'm sure that Jesus would not approve, whatever it was.

[Botany]

33. One of those miracles like the Vicar with the potato up his bum

http://metro.co.uk/2008/10/31/vicar-hospitalised-with-potato-up-his-bum-95117/

[cleanhippie]

34. Too funny! But in these cases, the hypocrisy of these priests is inexcusable.

Yet they are protected by the church and the flock.

[Phillip McCleod]

42. i think that ^^^^ is why this post belongs in 'religion'

[cleanhippie]

43. Interesting how believers of these priests are seemingly blind to that.