A Plano man was arrested Saturday for threatening a Dallas abortion clinic, but his attempts to get a restraining order against the police are only the beginning of his bizarreness.
Erlyndon Joseph Lo, a 27-year-old law school graduate and aspiring lawyer, has been charged with “using interstate commerce to communicate a threat to injure, and threatening force to intimidate and interfere with clients and employees of a reproductive health service in order.” The reason is our first disturbing detail:
He filed a restraining order against the cops.
According to Jason Trahan of The Dallas Morning News, Lo went to the courthouse in Plano and formally filed a document stating his intention to go to the Southwestern Women’s Surgery Center and “use deadly force to defend the innocent life of another human being.” He also requested a restraining order against police, barring them from using force to try to stop him. This would be a good entry in some sort of “world’s stupidest criminals” segment, if it weren’t so terrifying.
He sued the Supreme Court to stop abortion.
In March, Lo sued the nine members of the Supreme Court, requesting (according to his website) “that IMMEDIATELY all murder of an innocent human life in every single case, abortion, be rendered ILLEGAL by United States law.” He also requested damages in the amount of $999 trillion. He says, “Ultimately, I will win this case without any doubt,” and (caps his),
YOU MAY KEEP UP TO DATE WITH THIS REAL-LIFE STORY AS IT HAPPENS. IT’S LIKE READING A BOOK. THIS IS NOT FICTION. IT IS A SERIES OF REAL-LIFE EVENTS, ACTUALLY TAKING PLACE. IT MAY BE UNBELIEVEABLE TO YOU. IT’S LIKE NEWS.
He believes women should die rather than get abortions.
Lo writes,
Abortion is WRONG in EVERY case, even when a woman is raped and she did not want to have a child, EVEN WHEN SHE WILL DIE IF SHE HAS THE CHILD, AND EVEN IF THE WOMAN WILL SURVIVE ONLY IF SHE KILLS THE BABY. That is the OBJECTIVE AND ABSOLUTE TRUTH. THAT IS THE ONLY CORRECT ANSWER.
Presumably these views are informed by his religion, which he initially acquired through television:
I accepted Christ into my life when watching TV. Some guys were really strong and breaking ice. They invited me to accept Jesus into my life and ask him to forgive me for the ways I sinned. I did so, and I was changed.
He thinks he won a debate against Barack Obama.
Lo explains,
I challenged President Barack Obama to a public debate on abortion, which he lost by not responding. He must have accepted my challenge before March 26, 2010 at 5:00 p.m. Therefore, he lost, I won […]
He elaborates:
I am supremely superior to Obama. I’m like Lennox Lewis, and he’s like Mike Tyson. Mike Tyson is braver than Obama, because at least Mike Tyson agreed to fight Lennox Lewis. Obama was too cowardly/scared/indifferent to even debate me.
It’s pretty clear that Lo is unhinged — the Dallas Morning News quotes an FBI complaint stating that when he visited the Plano clerk’s office filed suit against the Supreme Court, he “exhibited erratic behavior, including raising his voice at members of the clerk’s office, obsessively washing his hands in the public restroom and sitting in a court witness room in the dark without authorization to enter the room.” No doubt more mainstream anti-abortion groups will denounce him as they denounced Scott Roeder, if they acknowledge him at all. Yet his threats and rantings are a chilling reminder that abortion clinics still aren’t safe, and that one person’s insane convictions can tip debate over into violence. Lo’s own bizarre behavior may have saved the Southwestern Women’s Surgery Center — let’s hope the FBI is on alert now, and can stop would-be assassins who may not articulate their plans so clearly.
Image via Above the Law.
Plano Man Is Arrested After Threatening Women’s Clinic [Dallas Morning News]
SMU Law Grad Morphs Into Anti-Abortion Warrior [Above The Law]
Erlyndon.com [Official Site]