To believe Ashley Todd's story, you have to believe....

1. That a 20-year-old, who's been in an unfamiliar city for less than two weeks, would drive from a relatively safe suburban Pittsburgh borough (Green Tree) that has MANY ATMs nearly 12 miles to a downtown Pittsburgh neighborhood that she was unfamiliar with in order to find a Bank of America so she could save a $1.50 ATM fee... and then ended up choosing a Citizen's Bank anyway and paying the fee.
   
   
2. That on a well-lighted street corner that is near many businesses and restaurants that were open at the time, an assailant would not be satisfied with just getting her money, but would risk getting caught by taking the time to mutilate her just because she has a McCain sticker on her car.
   
   
3. That on a 38-degree night in Pittsburgh, an assailant would approach her wearing "dark pants and a tank top". A TANK TOP? in 38-degree weather?
   
   
4. That the assailant would knock her to the ground, and then carve a "B" on her face with a 5-inch knife... without breaking the skin.... while situated above her head (making the B backwards)... while she lay perfectly still so he could make a perfect rounded B with no mistakes....even though he wasn't holding her down (since he was above her head). Either that, or the assailant was a dyslexic left-hander.
   
   
5. That in less than 24 hours, the swelling to her eye would have gone down and that the color would already be black (a medical unlikelihood) and that there would be NO bloodshot in her eye.
   
   
6. That she waited 45 minutes to call the police... and then when they came, she didn't mention the McCain bumper sticker on her car and she refused to go to a hospital to be checked... even though West Penn Hospital was less than 3 blocks away.
   
   
7. That a black man would commit these acts in a heavily italian neighborhood to a white girl while three restaurants and a sporting goods store are nearby in which people might be coming and going at any moment.
   

If you believe all those things, then you can believe Ashley Todd's story.

But they are pretty stupid.

:shrug:

How do you know she waited that long?

No one gets "maimed" and waits for nearly an hour to call the cops.

there might be some problems with that if she gets busted for filing a false report and bringing "race" into an accusation where the city is trying to keep the streets safe.

unstable to practice law.

So her time as a law student is obviously a waste of time.

Hawkeye-X

The thing is, she better call the "emotionally disturbed" card before she admits guilt.

Because if you can believe that, you can believe Shrubbie or McCain or Palin or Cheney or any of the Republican bullshit of the last 38 years.

have gotten.

If she was so lost why did she drive to a friend's house nearby? Doesn't Todd know ATM's have video cameras?

Anyone with a brain who can picture the scene or get an idea of the area is going to think this was a fake. But these idiots like to believe in the unbelievable...well in anything to keep them going.

I wonder where Obama was when this mysterious masked man put his mark on her!

about what she's creating.

you would have to believe that the assailant calls Obama, Barack and that is why he/she chose to make a "B" and not and "O" (an "O" being much easier to make).

According to Charlie Smith, National Chair of College Repugs, this is what Todd told him:
Initially, she was robbed, ran away after the robbery, and the robber followed her to her car. At that point, he became enraged at the bumper sticker and began beating her and scratched the ‘B’ into her face.
http://hotair.com/archives/2008/10/23/mccain-supporter-maimed-for-her-politics-by-robber/

This is what she told police:
Todd told police she handed the man $60 she had in her pocket and stepped away from him. The man then noticed the bumper sticker on her car, which was parked in front of the ATM, and became angry, she told police.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_594939.html

I know I'm parsing words here but "stepping away" and "running away" are two different things IMO. Plus if you look at the photos of the area where she was allegedly robbed, the "mugger" would have had to walk away to see the bumper sticker and then come back to her in order to "assault" her.

Point by point:

1. She's a McCain supporter. Nobody has accused her of being exceptionally skilled with understanding finance, or economics.

2. "Open" street crime happens all the time in cities.

3. Any number of drugs result in people wearing inappropriate clothes.

4. If she was knocked hard (I've been "fag bashed" by skinheads before), there's a certain amount of recovery time needed before all the neurons are functioning again.

5. If the injuries were mostly to subsurface cheek tissue, in 38 degrees, she was basically "insta-icepacked" by her environment. That would knock the swelling down fast, and explain the lack of redness.

6. If you've ever been jumped and assaulted, you'd know that there's mental recovery time needed to gather one's wits. Sometimes folks take 12-24 hours. Also if, for whatever reason, she had also had a couple of shots minutes before being jumped, she would have a legitimate fear of that information leaking out, and discrediting her, even though it's not relevant to a crime being committed.

7. I don't even know how to respond to this. Do "italian neighborhoods" have a magical anti-crime shield? Do sporting goods stores? I'm not getting the point, here.

I guess the best way to say this is that Italian neighborhoods, the stereotype anyway, aren't always welcome to the AA criminal element. If you believe the stereotypes, Italian neighborhoods tend to have a mob element that keeps certain petty street crime at bay. This is all based on stereotypes though.

A "dark skinned" man, in a tank top, in an italian neighborhood, roughing up a woman...

What was that about stereotypes, again?

surrounding that. There are all kinds of stereotypes in this story, I didn't want to tackle them all.

I live in Pittsburgh. I worked just a bit over a mile down Liberty Avenue from this location for a long time. I know Bloomfield well. African Americans are very common in Bloomfield. Some live there and Bloomfield is surrounded by Lawrenceville, Hill District, Garfield, East Liberty which have a very high population of African Americans.

Stickups have happened to people in Bloomfield and Shady Side. Convenience Stores have been robbed in the area. Not uncommon.

The neighborhood has a lot of restaurants and bars, high pedestrian and street traffic which is why I doubt her story if it happened on Liberty and not a side street.

Except for convenience stores, other stores like the sporting goods store would've been closed. Stores in the neighborhoods of Pittsburgh usually close early and don't stay open evenings.

So while I think someone at an ATM could've been robbed at night and someone might even be punched, I find it hard to believe the robber would stick around to do a carving. And if he had a knife, she'd have had a cut and needed stitches.

And there's no way she just lay there still while he gently scratched that B into her face. And the B is backward, which is easily explained by someone self inflicting in the mirror. Injuries still swell in freezing temperatures. And eyes don't get black right away, regardless of temperature. Your devil's advocacy just doesn't work. It's far more easily explained by self infliction.

And they told her she is lying, and to prove it, they offered her the polygraph.

And if she keeps playing her game, they'll bring out the evidence of the banks video.

after being hit on the "back of" her head.

That bank surveilance cameras would capture nothing.

real pathetic if not.

not even to get something. Always wondered where they ended up. Law school and the Republican party.

Tawana Brawley from over 20 years ago.

Or her god. Or bush. Or something. I think this is her idea of being an "activist". With a little street theater thrown in.