California residents are struggling. Faced with unrelenting unemployment and one of the worst housing markets in the country, many people are having trouble making ends meet. So many people will likely empathize with one 59-year-old North Carolina man, or at least understand the motivation behind his recent “criminal” activity.
After losing two jobs in three years, the man found himself suffering from multiple physical ailments and without health insurance. He filed for Social Security Disability, but was denied. With no other options, he took matters into his own hands: walked into a bank, handed a note to a teller demanding one dollar and medical attention, and waited for police to show up and arrest him. He is now in jail, where he finally has the access to health care that he so desperately needed.
According to local media reports, the man had worked as a delivery driver for Coca-Cola for 17 years before being laid off three years ago. He got another truck driving job, but was soon laid off from that one, too. To make ends meet, he took a part-time job at a convenience store. However, disabilities and ailments such as a bad back, severe arthritis and carpal tunnel syndrome left him unable to perform even the most basic of duties at the store.
When the man discovered a lump on his chest, that was the last straw. He devised the bank robbery plan, and committed the crime. The extent of his criminal charges remains to be seen.
What do you think? Is this an abuse of the system? Or do you understand the man’s motivation for robbing the bank?
Source: Miami Herald, ” Healthcare? One desperate man finds it in jail, ” Leonard Pitts Jr., 25 June 2011