Brian Nichols: Two Sides

Brian Nichols is now in custody. Details about his life are seeping out slowly. Apparently he had two distinct sides, kind of like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Kind of hard to believe but it seems to be true. I watched the media blitz that was the end of his free life and thought that the ride to the FBI headquarters was much like the infamous white bronco ride by O.J. Simpson.

Now about those 2 sides.

The good:

• Family members say he came from a good community and did not get into trouble in the street.
• His parents sent him to private schools and college
  
• He had a stable job as a computer technician with a division of UPS
  
• He lived a good life financially and lived in a gated community
  

The bad:

• Past coaches and some class mates say he was physically intimidating with his expertise in martial arts.
• He did get into trouble at least 3 times while in college for assault, harrassment, terrorist threats, disorderly conductand criminal tresspassing
• He did eventually drop out of school
• Some of the above charges were dropped while he was in school
  

With all that good stuff, what went wrong? Makes me think of those kids in Columbine. The red flags were there with them also but noone did anything.
I was talking with my parents about Nichols and we all wondered as we watched the live capture how the female hostage got out unscathed. My mother said that he must have given up. He knew there was no way out. Apparently she turned out to be a hostage negotiator. Not in reality of course as a profession, but in her ability to save her own life and the life of her child. According to all the things I have heard about her, she talked him to death. Talked to him so much they had a connection and he had to let her go. Good for her.

According to articles these clips came out about the 13 hours she was held hostage:

The hostage who helped end the 26-hour manhunt for a man accused of killing a judge and three others had long talks with her captor during the 13 hours she was held in her own apartment, police said today.

"She acted very cool and levelheaded. We don't normally see that in our profession," said Gwinnett County Police Officer Darren Moloney. "It was an absolutely best-case scenario that happened, a complete opposite of what you expected to happen. We were prepared for the worst and got the best."

The two had some "pretty in-depth conversations" before the woman was able to leave and make a 911 call from the complex's leasing office. Authorities are not sure whether Nichols let the woman go or if she escaped on her own, Moloney said.

While she was held hostage, she talked to Nichols about her young daughter, her late husband and God, authorities told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Atlanta police Chief Richard Pennington said he thought the woman appealed to Nichols on a spiritual level.

I used to live in Gwinnette county many many years ago in Lawrenceville. It was like living in the 1950's when it came to race relations. The klan still marched when I was there. It was also at the same time when Oprah went there to the county next to Gwinette--Forsythe and did that show about the horrible racism in that county. The two counties are the same in that respect. To be honest I was surprised that he was not shot dead at the scene. It is a black man, in Georgia in Gwinnette county. A very bad combination.

What I do is kick them in the pants with a diamond buckled shoe!
~~Aileen Mehle~~