Fact Check

New House for Danita Marsh Petition

Petition seeks to persuade 'Extreme Makeover, Home Edition' to create a new home for wounded police officer.

Published Dec. 24, 2006

Claim:

Claim:   Petition seeks to persuade the television show Extreme Makeover, Home Edition to create a new home for Danita Marsh, a wounded police officer.


OUTDATED


Example:   [Collected via e-mail, December 2006]


On October 27, 2006 Officer Danita Marsh, a Black female Nashville (TN) police officer, was ambushed while sitting in her patrol vehicle trying to assist a domestic violence victim. That fateful day changed a lot of lives. It changed Danita's Marsh's life forever. She is now paralyzed from the waist down.

Officer Marsh, like countless other officers suit up everyday to go out to our city streets to keep the peace, insure decorum, and try to keep our families safe. Let's show Officer Marsh that we appreciate her and her
commitment to service.

We are one big extended family. We've asked Extreme Makeover-Home Edition to assist Officer Marsh in achieving her goal that she vowed to walk again.

Show how much you believe in that goal by putting your name down to let ABC Producers know that we want this story of courage and determination to make the show for a newly built house for Danita Marsh and her son, to meet their special needs.

Please cut & paste the list then add your name, city & zip. We need at least 500 names or more before Christmas. Send it to everyone you know.

The 500th person will forward the list to djones2925@bellsouth.net. The list will be mailed to ABC-TV. The list will be mailed to ABC-TV.

[list of names removed]



 

Origins:   On 27 October 2006, 30-year-old Officer Danita Marsh, a 3-year veteran of the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department and the mother of a 9-year-old boy, was wounded in the manner described while on a domestic violence call. As she and the domestic violence victim sat in Marsh's police cruiser, the victim's boyfriend, a convicted murderer named Willie Lee Lindsey, returned to the scene and opened fire on the two women. The critically-wounded officer got off two shots but missed, and the assault continued as Lindsey opened the door of the cruiser and pistol-whipped Marsh in the head, then turned his attention to his estranged girlfriend, shooting her in the hip before pulling her

Officer Danita Marsh

from the squad car and beating her until her brother came out of the house, causing him to flee. Lindsey was subsequently apprehended after a high-speed chase
and is now behind bars. Officer Marsh sustained extensive gunshot wounds to her arms and spinal cord in the assault and was paralyzed from the waist down.

The above-quoted petition entreated the ABC televison network's Extreme Makeover, Home Edition show to build a new home for Danita Marsh (even though the types of projects tackled by that program were primarily of the "renovate an entire house" nature, not of a "build one from the ground up" one).

Although attempts to persuade Extreme Makeover, Home Edition to come to the rescue didn't pan out, Danita Marsh did get her new home in 2009, built through the efforts of the 100 Club of Nashville (a service organization that assists the families of fallen police officers) and a number of contributors who donated time and materials towards the construction of a residence for her.

Last updated:   18 December 2009


Sources:




    News 6:00 PM (NBC).   "Evening News."

    WSMV-TV.   16 December 2006.

    Local News 10:00 PM (NBC).   "Nightly News."

    WSMV-TV   15 December 2006.

    News 6:00 PM (NBC).   "Evening News."

    WSMV-TV   6 December 2006.

    "Police Shooting Suspect Confesses; Held on $1 Million Bond."

    Metropolitan Nashville Police Department.   27 October 2006.

    "Officer Danita Marsh, Wounded in the Line of Duty, Slowly Recovering."

    Metropolitan Nashville Police Department.   7 November 2006.

    "Tax Deductible Donations for Officer Danita Marsh Accepted by 100 Club of Nashville."

    Metropolitan Nashville Police Department.   27 November 2006.

    KABC-TV [Los Angeles].   "Paralyzed LAPD Officer Gets Home Makeover."

    11 December 2006.


David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.