Scranton native and former President Joe Biden’s latest memoir Promise Me, America will soon be released. Let’s hope the publisher promises America to spare readers Biden’s further sugarcoated glorification of his son, the late Beau Biden, the way the former commander-in-chief did in his 2017 book Promise Me, Dad.

The late decorated Marine Sgt. Derek J. Hale, an Iraq war veteran and Pagan’s Motorcycle Club brother, deserves as much, if not more, attention than Beau. Cancer killed Beau. A trigger-happy Wilmington, Delaware, cop killed an unarmed Hale. A corrupt political system led by so-called hometown “hero” Beau Biden justified the bloody execution.

According to a lawsuit filed in the case, Hale, 25, was not wanted for any crime at the time of the November 6, 2007, shooting in Wilmington where Beau Biden served as state attorney general. Hale’s autopsy also showed he was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The wrongful death suit against the City of Wilmington, prosecuted by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Delaware and Arnold & Porter LLP, was settled in 2010 in favor of Hale’s widow, Elaine Hale, for $875,000.

Cops took no blame or responsibility for their deadly, reckless slaughter.

“Yet the city would not risk a jury trial. It knew that if it lost, the award to Mrs. Hale would probably have been even larger,” wrote ACLU Delaware Executive Director Kathleen MacRae in a 2011 statement.

“In the law suit, the ACLU-DE contended that the police did not have probable cause to arrest Mr. Hale, and that the use of excessive force by Wilmington police officers, and the failure to provide adequate training for police officers caused his death. These issues were not resolved by the law suit’s settlement and they remain a concern,” MacRae said in the statement. “The response to the tragedy of Derek Hale’s death should not stop with the settlement payment. More is needed. The Wilmington Police Department must implement appropriate policies, procedures and training to prevent such a tragedy from occurring again.”

According to a March 28, 2007, Washington Post story, “Hale was house-sitting for a fellow (Pagan’s) member when that member’s ex-wife showed up with two children, ages 11 and 6. They were nearby when ‘suddenly and without warning’ three unmarked police vehicles arrived and officers swarmed the house, which had been under surveillance, according to the suit.”

A few days earlier Hale had enjoyed a “Toys for Tots” pre-Christmas charity run with his biker brothers.

“From eight to a dozen armed officers were wearing dark clothing that did not indicate they were police,” the lawsuit says.

Police shocked Hale three times with a Taser. News reports said Hale received seven separate electrical discharges in a span of about 73 seconds.

“Hale is quoted as saying, ‘Not in front of the kids, get the kids out of here,’” the Post story says.

Wilmington police Lieutenant William Brown then pointed his gun at Hale and fired “three rounds at point-blank range into his stunned and powerless body,” the suit reads.

Police officials later promoted Brown.

Hale is buried at Quantico National Cemetery located in Quantico, Prince William County, Virginia. Military service shaped both Hale and Biden, providing each man with vastly different experiences upon which to draw in civilian life.

Beau Biden received medals for his deployment in Iraq although some combat veterans question those awards as “medal inflation.” As vice president, Joe Biden visited Beau three times in Iraq, a privilege denied other parents. Biden also embraced the 2009 pause in Beau’s year-long Army National Guard active service obligation in Iraq so Beau could attend Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration where “Dad” took the oath as vice president. Beau Biden later served in a cushy temporary assignment at the Pentagon before returning to Iraq to finish his tour.

Hale survived two hard uninterrupted tours in Iraq before coming home to no fanfare. Vice President Biden welcomed home son Beau’s entire unit in a showy exhibition of publicly funded grandstanding. When Beau Biden returned to Delaware he continued serving as Delaware Attorney General. He had remained attorney general while in Iraq. It is not clear if he picked up a double-dipping paycheck for ghost service in Delaware.

After Hale died Beau Biden wrote a glowing and grossly misleading report justifying Hale’s death, shaming his sacred duty to truth by clearing the Wilmington police officer who gunned down the honorable Marine veteran. Biden helped cover up the clear, irrational circumstances of Hale’s death.

Contributing to increasing rogue police lawlessness across America and emboldened with power and prestige, Beau Biden also aspired to higher political office. To win, he needed law enforcement support. To get that support he whitewashed their deadly police brutality.

Hale’s story does not appear in any Biden memoir. No Biden family member pays respects at Hale’s grave the way dozens of Pagan’s and Marines, (sometimes Pagan’s who are Marines), pay tribute to their brave fallen brother.

“It’s a shame that a man does two tours of duty in Iraq and comes home and is shot for having his hands in his pockets,” one of Elaine Hale’s attorneys, Stephen J. Neuberger, said in an ACLU release. “You don’t shoot someone because of who they associate with.”

Former President Biden said in a promotional video for his upcoming book, “Promise Me, America is about my faith in America and the American people.”

I wield fiercer faith.

My abiding belief rests in knowing truly righteous people see through the barrage of Biden family bullshit. My loyalty is embedded in honoring the memory of an honorable war hero who rode a Harley as a Pagan’s one-percenter, an American Marine warrior who deserved to live and contribute to his nation at home rather than die at the hands of a cowardly cowboy cop.

America promised Derek Hale liberty and justice for all, immortal values for which he put his life on the line. Pampered Beau Biden broke that holy American promise, a vow to which Marines like Hale remain loyal.

“Semper Fi” is the shortened form of the Latin phrase “Semper Fidelis” that means “always faithful.” These words have served as the Marine motto since 1883. The adage embodies a way of life.

Living this truth requires an unshakable commitment. For those who take allegiance to heart, “Semper Fi” also stands for an equally powerful sentiment in words that have served as a club motto since the brotherhood’s beginning.  

Unflinching fidelity means “Pagan’s forever, forever Pagan’s.”