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Killing David Rosenbaum

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from: Timothy Noah

Posted Thursday, June 22, 2006, at 7:44 AM ET

On Jan. 6, David E. Rosenbaum, a 63-year-old New York Times reporter and editor in Washington newly retired after nearly 40 years at the paper, put on a pair of headphones and went for an after-dinner stroll. Within minutes, somebody dealt a severe blow to his head and took his wallet. Two days later, Rosenbaum was dead.

There doesn't appear to be any great mystery as to who committed the crime. Within minutes of the deed, a 23-year-old man named Michael Hamlin was photographed by a security camera using Rosenbaum's credit card at a CVS pharmacy. Police turned the footage over to the press, which broadcast Hamlin's image, which for some reason prompted Hamlin to show up at a police station asking why his face was on television. He was arrested immediately and, according to press reports, confessed to the crime, though later he pleaded not guilty. Days later, police arrested Hamlin's cousin Percy Jordan in connection with the crime. He also pleaded not guilty. Both men are in custody pending trial.

Less clear is the relative culpability of various city employees and employees of Howard University Hospital who treated Rosenbaum—or, to be more accurate, failed to treat him—for two hours after he was first found by a neighbor lying in the street semiconscious. Their actions probably weren't criminal, but they were shockingly negligent. After Colbert King of the Washington Post noticed inconsistencies in the stories of various city officials and started making a public stink, Charles J. Willoughby, Inspector General of Washington, D.C., looked into the case. His report is a shocker.

To read the footnotes below and on the following 18 pages, move your mouse over the portions highlighted in yellow. To read Willoughby's report in its entirety, click here.

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David E. Rosenbaum
This is relevant because Rosenbaum would be repeatedly mistaken for a passed out drunk by various medical personnel, including one doctor.
Nobody else seems to have noticed that Rosenbaum was lying in a pool of blood.

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from: Timothy Noah

Posted Thursday, June 22, 2006, at 7:44 AM ET
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Timothy Noah is a senior writer at Slate.
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