"We're afraid of them."

"We're moving out of town. We're afraid of them."

Who would make such a statement? A resident in a gang-infested neighborhood? Somebody targeted by the Mob? An undocumented person in the U.S.A.?

How about a retired business executive, speaking of the McHenry County Sheriff's Department?

I was in court this morning for yet one more court appearance of an elderly couple who fear certain deputies of the McHenry County Sheriff's Department. And for good reason. The woman (late 70s, maybe 80?) was hospitalized for five days in March 2008, after deputies entered their home to serve an arrest warrant on their son. Now tell me, how does an 80-year-old woman interfere with several strong deputies and get knocked down and injured to the point of hospitalization? And get charged with resisting arrest? And her husband, too?

When I met this couple last fall, after tracking them down (after nothing had appeared in the Northwest Herald, ever, about the altercation or injuries), the husband told me he was afraid "they" might come back. He meant the deputies who had been there earlier in the year to arrest their son.

This couple is now moving out of state, but they must have the judge's permission to leave Illinois to buy a house, because their case isn't over yet. They won't miss a court date, though.

This one will not be sliding through the cracks. And I think you can be pretty sure that, this time, the deputies involved won't forget to show up in court on the date of the trial.