After the fiasco at the opera, we went further, South of downtown, to our warehouse where all of our belongings are stored. I needed to lie down on my old comfy red Topanga sofa with a cup of tea. But outside the building, there was some kind of police activity going on, and we couldn’t get near. But I did see our always cheerful concierge, Nelson, in the distance being interviewed by Channel Four News. I had to wait to find out what was going on.
What I found out was that a Korean father of two young children had put them in his SUV, doused the vehicle with gasoline, climbed in, and tried to burn themselves all up. He succeeded in crisping his kids, but he was rescued by firemen half burned, and may recover.
I didn’t need to hear that this was a custody case, another botched example from L.A’s Family Court system, I was sure.
Will they ever learn that anything short of shared, unmonitored, parenting cannot work? Please read, again, what I have written in my sidebar “The plight of the Pro se”, at the bottom.
There are otherwise normal rational honest people who will say, o.k., if I cannot have access to my children then neither can you, because they won’t exist any more. And if I go too, I don’t care.
This is not rocket science.
And meanwhile, in the space of one short hideous day, I discovered that where Los Angeles is concerned, the movie “CRASH” is not so far off after all.
LATER
This morning’s newspaper provided some details. The kids were a boy 10 and a girl 11, both unhappy, according to neighbors. A divorce suit had been filed by the wife, there were custody issues, but of course, the court record will be sealed.
But here’s the interesting bit. He was a lawyer, qualified in Argentina, before immigrating. He married his wife, a real estate agent, in 1993.
They went entrepeneurial, opening a very successful business manufacturing and retailing tank tops and T-shirts. A Mercedes and a house in Hancock Park, and good schools for the kids, was the life style. Until business went bad.
A proud man, he worked hard doing grunt work, ironing and folding at the shop, borrowing money to pay the rent. There were incidents of his sometimes violent temper, and apparently his wife moved away, took the kids, and he was living in his car. He closed the business just 2 weeks ago.
He was seen arguing with his daughter outside the car, who may have said something to trigger his helpless rage. Then he acted out.
The lesson here is that where human emotions and behavior go, there are no class lines.
Like the medics who can fix a broken bone but not a case of flu, the Courts and police have the solution. Mr. Yun will be charged with homicide when his condition improves.