McCormick guilting his sister into brushing his teeth, although he can do it his damn self (artist's rendition).
by Johnny Guatemala
July 9, 2007
RENO-- Local paraplegic Darren McCormick is a complete asshole that evokes no sympathy from anyone, according to tenants in his apartment complex, especially since he doesn't have motivational tales about the inherently precious value of life. Injured in a mechanical bull riding accident, McCormick, 37, has spent a dozen years confined to a wheelchair and has been unrelentingly mean-spirited ever since, according to his sister and caretaker, Jean.
"He gives me a lot of headaches, especially when I come home from a split shift at the diner and he's complaining about making him dinner. Sometimes I want to tell him to wheel his crippled ass to the fridge and get some damn Hot Pockets. But he's my brother. And besides, I think he'd feed off the negative energy. He's like New York City strapped to a chair," said Jean.
Jean has tried to get her brother active in handicapped social functions, but Darren has found ways to embarass her until she relents and takes him back home. Last year at a local roller rink's Handicap Night, Jean found a nice wheelchair-bound woman that wanted to meet Darren and introduced the two. While Jean thought the two might hit it off, Darren crushed that hope by telling the woman to beat it, because he liked "dating walking chicks so he could give them some curbside service."
And if one thinks McCormick's cantankerous behavior is simply bluster, they should know his actions aren't those of a choir boy, either. In 1997, he spent several nights in jail after punching a stripper in the neck when she innocently asked him if he liked how her lap dance felt.
McCormick guilting his sister into brushing his teeth, although he can do it his damn self (artist's rendition).
"Usually someone who goes through a traumatic experience like that values life much more afterward. But he's still short-sighted and cynical like everyone else," said neighbor Gladys Gingerman. "The worst part is he has no penchant for the 'sunny side of life' stories that we come to expect from the handicapped."
Another detractor is apartment manager Herb Croate.
"I'd get rid of Darren in a second if I could," said Croate, "but he'd raise hell that I was discriminating against handicapped people. In reality, I'm discriminating against surly assholes who roll over your toes in the lobby. I'll ask him nicely to leave at the end of his lease, but he'll probably sue me again."
Croate's reference dates back to a 1999 Washoe County Common Pleas Court ruling in favor of McCormick. Although his building was handicapped accessible, it possessed only a cargo elevator that no incapacitated person could ever use. Although all laundry facilities and other amenities were on the first floor, and McCormick had never tried to use the elevator personally, he sued. The ruling cost Croate thousands when he had to replace the elevator shaft with a conventional model.
"For the love of God! That's why I kept empty apartments on the first floor, just in case a wheelchair person moved in," said Croate. "If you ask me, he probably did all this because he wanted to move away from his Indian neighbors, what with the dance music and ethnic cooking smells. The thing that gets me is that after they moved, he stayed put on the first floor, despite the new elevator. He still hasn't used the damn thing," Croate added.
McCormick fired back, "I have the right to go anywhere I want and I HAVE to be accomodated. It doesn't mean that I have to use that right. It just has to be there. There's no way in hell that I can use a jet ski, but if I go to the rental shack at Lake Tahoe and there isn't handicap access, you better believe I'll unleash hell."
McCormick, undoubtedly off to spread more misery...