Tortured for child support - part two

September 10, 7:55 AMFamily Rights ExaminerTeri Stoddard

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David Bardes was left in a hypothermic jail cell for 32.5
hours, 31.5 more hours than Bush's torture memo allows

David A. Bardes left his job on the 101st. floor of the World Trade center and moved to Charleston, South Carolina so his children would have their father in their lives.  Once there he was falsely accused of being in "gross" child support arrears.

Part one

Part two

He says he proved to the state attorney that he was not in arrears, and that he had actually overpaid his child support.  Bardes was left in arrears anyway and says the "destroy deadbeat mechanisms" went into full force.

I met with judge #1, who agreed to put me on trial so I could clean up my good name and reputation.  Judge #1 told me in court, three times, that I have no Constitutional rights. Then came my trial, which I was found innocent by judge #2. 

Then the state attorney, issued a death threat and typed up a fake court order stating that I was "guilty". He scheduled a snap hearing and judge #3 tossed me into jail for six months without even as much as hearing.

Bardes was charged with civil contempt of court and taken to the Charleston County jail.  He was shackled and chained before a female sheriff deputy shoved his head into the wall, knocking his glasses to the floor and causing a lense to pop out.   Jailers threw his medication in the trash, including his asthma inhaler. 

Bardes admits that he refused to sign forms put before him, and that he ignored orders to stop smiling for his mug shot.  Taken aside and placed in a cell that is used as a hypothermic chamber, Bardes began to shiver.  He asked for his jacket multiple times but was refused. Then he began to shiver violently. 

 As my body temperature reduced one degree at a time, wave after wave of excruciating pain enveloped my body. I knew I was going hypothermic.

After six hours, Bardes says, the shivering stopped.

I had passed through the first and second stages of hypothermic shock, and was now at the third and final stage. I could not move my arms or legs. The pain was horrific.

A guard came into the cell and I told him to tell the nurse that I had just gone into hypothermic shock as my body was no longer able to shiver to keep itself with heat. The guard, said, “I will do no such thing until you comply.”

Comply with what?," I thought. My head was in such a cloudy state and the guard’s words fell onto my brain in slow motion. Before I could assemble more words the guard left and the door lock clunked closed.

There was nothing left but to die from hypothermia. It was a matter of hours. I had to keep my mind alert because if I lost consciousness, it would then lead to bodily death. With hypothermia, conscious death occurs before bodily death. Eventually you die from either heart failure or brain death.

I had to keep my brain active at all cost. I had lost the use of my limbs and my head was back against the wall. I was unable to move and all I felt was the thousands of daggers stabbing my body all over. I was slowly and painfully dying from hypothermia. My eyes were closed and I could feel my body heat being sucked away by the blowing cold air. My body felt like cold meat; like a corpse.

This is an ongoing series.  Subscribe above or follow me on twitter to get notified of updates on this and other stories of parental injustice.

• Family Rights 101: Why is there a fathers rights movement?
• Family Rights 101: Where can I learn more and hear victim stories?
• SUPPORT? System Down Documentary