Ecoterror Suspect Commits Suicide in Jail

[Abathar]

PHOENIX (AP) -- An Arizona bookstore owner charged in the firebombing of a government wildlife lab in Washington committed suicide in his jail cell Thursday, officials said.

William C. Rodgers, 40, of Prescott, Ariz., suffocated after placing a plastic bag over his head while in a one-person cell in Flagstaff, the Coconino County medical examiner said.

Rodgers was one of six people arrested earlier this month in connection with ecoterror attacks in Oregon and Washington in recent years.

He was accused of setting fire to the Agriculture Department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services facility in Olympia, Wash., in 1998.


Federal court documents last week said Rodgers had been linked to a meeting of Earth Liberation Front members in western Colorado where the firebombing of a Colorado ski resort, one of the costliest ecoterror crimes in the U.S., was planned.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/ECOTERROR_ARREST?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. :^(

[displacedtexan]

2. I didn't know jail cells came with plastic bags.

When did they become standard issue?

[Abathar]

4. I thought the same thing

Was he helped?

[Lerkfish]

9. I find that a bizarre way to commit suicide. its possible, I guess, but..

I'm getting to where I'm paranoid about everything, so :shrug:

[joannc]

6. The plastic bag was issued

When who ever it was placed the bag over his head.

[hobbit709]

12. The only bag

I ever saw in jail was that little paper bag that my peanut butter sandwich came in.

[MercutioATC]

13. Perhaps it was a plastic carry-out bag.

Some jails either don't provide food service or have prisoners booked in after meal times. They frequently order carry-out for them.

[Richard D]

3. Probably a far more correct headline would be:

Ecoterror Suspect GETS Suicided in Jail

[kenny blankenship]

5. he asphyxiated himself with a plastic bag?

ummm... yeah. That reminds me of an amusing scene from Double Indemnity:

Barton Keyes: You know, you, uh, oughta take a look at the statistics on suicide some time. You might learn a little something about the insurance business.

Edward S. Norton: Mister Keyes, I was RAISED in the insurance business.

Barton Keyes: Yeah, in the front office. Come now, you've never read an actuarial table in your life, have you? Why they've got ten volumes on suicide alone. Suicide by race, by color, by occupation, by sex, by seasons of the year, by time of day. Suicide, how committed: by poison, by firearms, by drowning, by leaps. Suicide by poison, subdivided by TYPES of poison, such as corrosive, irritant, systemic, gaseous, narcotic, alkaloid, protein, and so forth. Suicide by leaps, subdivided by leaps from high places, under the wheels of trains, under the wheels of trucks, under the feet of horses, from STEAMBOATS. But, Mr. Norton: Of all the cases on record, there's not one single case of suicide by leap from the rear end of a moving train.

"Plastic bag" wasn't in that list either.

[MercutioATC]

18. Some info for you:

http://www.suicidemethods.net/tables/bag-sui.htm

(I don't vouch for its accuracy, but Amazon DOES carry the book)

The American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology also talks about plastic bag suicides:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11111806&dopt=Abstract

[gardenista]

7. Why did he firebomb an APHIS facility?

I wonder how he got hold of a plastic bag.

[MrSlayer]

8. People commit suicide in jail all the time.

What's the significance of this guy in particular?

[Lerkfish]

10. the label of "ecoterrorist", perhaps?

[MrSlayer]

11. Well if he did what he was charged with then it's correct.

I consider firebombing research centers and the like to be terroristic acts.

[Lerkfish]

15. I was answering your question, not ascertaining guilt or innocence.

I kinda leave that up to a jury, myself.
your question was why is he different than anyone else. I answered.

[MrSlayer]

19. And all I said was the label fit if he did what he was charged with.

I didn't say he was guilty or innocent.

So I'm still not really getting why this is any different or more important than anyone else who commits suicide in jail.

[Loonman]

14. He couldn't do the time?

Can't do the time, don't do the crime.

[OldLeftyTreeHugger]

17. Guilty?

Just because he was jailed does not mean he was guilty going by this country's justice system, or did you forget?

OTOH, *, even though not yet incarcerated.....

A plastic bag, in a jail? You'd think jailers would know better. They wouldn't allow a rope, would they?

[Loonman]

21. You'd be surprised what you can get into jail

Not prison, jail. Plus, nobody said he was guilty, and a night or two in the lockup never harmed anyone. Well, not me at least.

However, innocent folks usually don't kill themselves in jail.

[OldLeftyTreeHugger]

25. Oh, only the guilty?

Wow. Gee. Only guilty people kill themselves. Damn, why didn't I think of that?

Are you saying this guy was guilty?

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[OldLeftyTreeHugger]

28. It's comments like that

That new rules have to be made on DU. Some folks just can't control themselves. But then, you are just being cute, right? Or maybe a bad ass?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

22. Good point

and welcome to DU! :hi:

[Matariki]

20. that's clever. did you make that up yourself?

[Loonman]

23. He was probably a fucking loser, anyway

If he couldn't handle taking the rap for his beliefs. Most people follow through if they believe in something passionately enough, maybe he was just a tag-along loser.

[OldLeftyTreeHugger]

27. Loonman

How easy to sit there and throw such crap. I hope you never get canned for something, you'd be,,, well lets not think about that. Let's think that someone is innocent until found guilty by a jury. Y'know, like what America's Justice system is founded on.

[bigtree]

29. tag along loser

why? Why was he probably a tag along loser? What do you know about him, outside that he took his own life?

Is there a point to your venom, or is it just a natural response?

[dailykoff]

16. Holiday stress no doubt.

Sounds like another man who knew too much.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

24. Welcome to DU!

:hi: