Patterico's Pontifications

5/6/2005

Scum of the Day: Clarence Stowers

Filed under: Crime,Humor,Scum — Patterico @ 7:08 pm



I thought the latest finger-in-food story was funny. But there’s nothing funny about this aspect of the story. It turns out that the scum who found the finger in his food, a lowlife by the name of Clarence Stowers, refused to return it to the guy who had lost it so it could be reattached:

To a dessert shop customer, the severed fingertip found in a pint of frozen custard could be worth big dollars in a potential lawsuit. To the shop worker who lost it, the value is far more than monetary.

But Clarence Stowers still has the digit, refusing to return the evidence so it could be reattached. And now it’s too late for doctors to do anything for 23-year-old Brandon Fizer.

“I’m not saying who has it, but somebody has it,” Stowers said this week in a telephone interview, refusing to let on where the fingertip is now.

Soon after Stowers found the finger in a mouthful of chocolate soft-serve he bought Sunday at Kohl’s Frozen Custard in Wilmington, he put it in his freezer at home, taking it out only occasionally to show to television cameras.

He refused to give it to the shop’s owner, and refused to give it to a doctor . . .

Medical experts say an attempt to reattach a severed finger can generally be made within six hours.

But according to the shop’s management, Stowers wouldn’t give it back when he was in the store 30 minutes after the accident.

“The general manager attempted to retrieve it and rush it to the hospital,” reads a statement posted Thursday on Kohl’s Web site. “Unfortunately, the customer refused to give it to her and declared that he would be calling the TV stations and an attorney as he exited the store.”

Officials at Cape Fear Hospital said their efforts to retrieve the finger also failed.

Apparently the guy’s lawsuit was more important to him than whether someone could keep their finger. And Stowers’s attorney has the nerve to make his client sound like the aggrieved party:

Stowers’ attorney, Lee Andrews of Greensboro, wouldn’t say if a lawsuit against Kohl’s is planned, saying he needed “to get some more facts.”

But Andrews said his client is concerned about possible disease in the fingertip and kept it because he wanted someone to test it for “all the diseases that are out here now.”

“He’s upset to the point that he’s been debilitated to some degree,” Andrews said. “Emotionally, it’s been very upsetting to him.”

Boo freakin’ hoo.

I wonder if local prosecutors are considering filing charges. Can he be prosecuted for theft under the laws of North Carolina? If this had happened in California, Penal Code section 485 might apply:

One who finds lost property under circumstances which give him knowledge of or means of inquiry as to the true owner, and who appropriates such property to his own use, or to the use of another person not entitled thereto, without first making reasonable and just efforts to find the owner and to restore the property to him, is guilty of theft.

Sound applicable to you?

In any event, I would certainly think that the owner of the finger has a damn good civil lawsuit himself, against Stowers. A hell of a lot better than any lawsuit Stowers might file against the custard shop.

(Via How Appealing and commenter Rick.)

UPDATE: At Kevin Drum’s blog, the commenters have taken this lesson from the finger-in-the-custard incident: Republicans suck. Of course, that’s pretty much the same lesson they take from any post of Kevin’s.

17 Responses to “Scum of the Day: Clarence Stowers”

  1. There would be difficulties about treating body parts as property, however.

    Remember how well it worked out for the guy in Moore v. Regents of the University of California? 51 Cal.3d 120 (1990) They stole his spleen (I think) cells, and made tens of millions off of them (still doing so).

    So he might have been able to take the guy’s finger here in California.

    The Angry Clam (fde4e6)

  2. His inaction may have contributed to the permanent injury of another.

    There’s ‘by action or _inaction_’ clauses on a lot of interesting statues, isn’t there? Criminal Negligence? Assault? Dig through a pile of state-specific statues?

    Al (00c56b)

  3. Oh, I’m fairly certain that the guy who lost the finger could sue the guy who found it.

    I just don’t think he can be prosecuted for theft.

    The Angry Clam (fde4e6)

  4. Question: Why did the fingertip end up in sold product? Did the loser not know it was missing and so no one took preventative action as regards possible (grossly) contaminated product? I doubt it. They wanted the fingertip back, naturally. But, it seems they were either very stupid or very oriented to not losing product (money). Evidently they didn’t want it quite enough to pull all possibly affected product and search for it (and, not insignificantly, avoid the possibility of a customer starting to eat it).

    Levans (c16f47)

  5. Clam,

    Moore didn’t expect to keep his cells. The dude who lost his finger intended to keep it, if only he could find it.

    I’d file a case on the guy.

    Patterico (756436)

  6. I felt sorry for the guy, Stowers, before I read about his refusal to return the amputated portion for reattachment. According to reports, that happened quite soon after the accident and reattachment was only dependent on the surgeon receiving the piece within a few hours. It would not have been a medical miracle for it to have succeeded.
    I hope there is some way to minimize any financial windfall this selfish cretin may gain.

    mikem (fd2aad)

  7. Go for it. I’m just saying that I don’t think that California policy allows for ownership of body parts.

    Which is a pity, really- donors should be allowed to sell organs on the open market rather than the odd, socialist system currently in place. /Posner.

    The Angry Clam (fde4e6)

  8. Truth is as Strange as Fiction
    Finger food, part deux. This time, the story appears to be real.

    UPDATE: Lonewacko offers yet another finger food story, this one involving Arby’s. His post comes complete with a Google ad for a coupon from … Arby’s. Here’s a screenshot for…

    damnum absque injuria (38c04c)

  9. With Levans, I really don’t see how the custard shop could have failed to retrieve the lost fingertip, and even to sell the custard that was affected. The whole shop full of custard was not in the area of the loss, we can assume. So why not search the custard likely to have been spoiled, pretty awfully.

    As to keeping the finger tip, I assume his lawyer advised him to?

    Ruth (82efb6)

  10. If he did, he should be disbarred, but that doesn’t make Stowers himself any less of a scumbag.

    Xrlq (c51d0d)

  11. Public caning should be instituted for people like stowers. Nothing will happen to him though.

    Troy (7b3c0d)

  12. I live in the city of this finger incident. Mixing blades inside the machine severed his fingertip. He immediately went to tell the Manager. The injured employee was immediately sent to the hospital.

    The Manager then went to the serving counter to have the machine shut down, begin the sanitizing procedures and remove the affected bucket of custard. In the few moments between the time the employee’s finger was severed and the General Manager’s response, a drive-thru employee who was unaware of the accident, packed the only custard served from that machine.

    Thats how it happend so fast. The man/woman (no one knew what it was by the looks of “him” on TV) Looks and sounds like a fat black woman with braids and a hairy upper lip. Clarence is a selfish coldhearted gold digger! I only hope the citizens of Wilmington that get on the jury are decent, he will walk away with nothing. NO lawyer here would touch the case LMAO…. thats sad when we have so many Personal Injury Attns. here… HE should be sued for with holding the finger, I would sue him in a second. Poor kid lost a part of his hand.

    livehere (a00d07)

  13. i am appalled at the behaviour of this man.if it was his finger off,im sure he would want it back.he is out to make a name for himself plus a few bucks.he is a disgrace.im sure his family and friends are in shock over this too,if not,shame on them too.mr stowers should be sued for failing to return that finger.this person who lost it,will find it very difficult for a long time to work.

    doris (2d38f3)

  14. For what it’s worth (read: nothing), Stowers is offering the finger back now.

    Xrlq (5ffe06)

  15. PICTURE OF THE FINGER EATING ASSHAT:

    parents keep your kid’s fingers away from this man…

    Patellar (aef404)

  16. This situation came up in a conversation here in Germany today. Any idea how the case finally worked out?

    Dave
    Mannheim, Germany

    Dave Hague (c3a4b6)


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