Autistic Teenager Is Beaten by Deputies After Being Mistaken for a Prowler

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Agree, beaten is inappropriate word. I don't know what other word to use in conjunction with batons, though? Tapped? Poked? Smacked? How about ????kicked? Lol cause he had the ???? kicked out of him! Lol pepper sprayed, electrocuted, beaten with clubs (baton's are those light spinny things cheerleaders and conductors have), broken elbow and what, a cracked skull? Heh, if he'd run into the Crips he'd have gotten off lighter. Just a thought.

No-one is arguing that anything that was done was wrong, legally the kid was in the wrong.

But maybe this could be a good time for discourse on whether standard procedure should be toned down a bit? Just that he was severely ????kicked for nudging a police officer, maybe this is a wake-up call to review some standard procedures?
 
"OMG he nudged me I'm in fear for my life! Men attack!"

(kid on ground)

"He's resisting us beating him! Ack I'm in fear for my life! Spray him spray him!"

"He's coughing at me! I'm in fear for my life! Tazer Tazer damnit tazer! Quickly, he's curling up in a threatening manner!"

"Eeek he's moaning threats at us, I'm in fear for my life! Officers need assistance, call SWAT quickly!"


...The director's cut ending for the movie 'Radio'. Test screenings led to the current version.
 
I don't see any side to be on except the one against the press for trying to sensationalize this whole mess.
As BearGulch said in defense of the police "Walk a mile in their shoes" That also applies for the parents of kids with autism. I don't see "incredible failures" on anybody's part. This is just a S*** happens scenario

I teach Special Ed and I can tell you from first hand experience how tough these kids can be on parents
Watch an exhausted mom or dad drop their kid off in the morning after the kid has been up all night fixated on something and going nuts because he can't have it. Now exhausted mom/dad has to go to work and possibly face another night of the same, followed by work the next day. and while there is some gov't money for respite care to give mom a few hours off from the kid but the problem will still be there when she comes back.

Just ain't no easy solutions
 
Aren't they also trained to use their heads prior to escalating the level of force used? There's nothing here to indicate that he did more than bump an officer, so unless you're privy to some information the rest of us aren't, there's nothing justifying your acceptance of this level of force.

People complain about the cops being harshly judged on limited information. Coming to their defense on similarly limited information is just as bad.
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Tell you what, buzz_knox and all the others who think they would of handled this much better mainly because you have never been in a situation like this.

You come running from a round a corner of a house, at 2AM on an active prowler call “someone is attempting entry into my house†call and run towards me much less at me or make contact with me in any manner and I guarantee you will end up meeting the same fate as this kid.

Having been on calls which went from oh great another prowler call to “OH S-H-I-T†in a less time it took you to read that I can tell you things happen really fast and doing stupid stuff like charging the cops will get you killed.

There are plenty of very cavalier attitudes on this and other boards about how cops should do this and cops should do that etc… but the fact is in the majority of the cases you barely have time to react to the immediate threat much less figure out where on the UOFC you should start.

You run at me in a situation like this one, and I will automatically assume you intend to do me great bodily harm or attempt to kill me and I will act accordingly.

Normal people don't charge the cops.

The last guy who charged me with out any warning ended up with a broken wrist and a broken leg, ultimately we determined he was not only drunk but he had traces of cocaine in his system.

There are a lot of arm-chair cop/commandos types on this and every board who have never been in a situation where something like this went from already dangerous to worse, I would safely bet you money the last 100 times those very same cops had someone charge them in a situation like this one, it was a drunk or doped up low life up to no good and they are trained to react to that type of threat, not somebody’s 17 year old autistic child, out when he should not be, prowling around a total strangers house at 2AM.
 
I feel bad for the kid having to deal with that, but like someone said, SH** happens. I have to agree with weasel on this one, I am not an LEO.. but I don't think it would be out of the ordinary for anyone dealing with someone charging them at 2am out of nowhere to do what it took to keep themselves safe... who knows what the motive is.
 
One thing I noticed is that eveyone jumps right on the paper for using the word beating. Who is to know if the brush wasn't actually a shoulder to the policeman's chest?
 
how many:

of ya'll that are bashing the cops on this would, if the kid had opened your door at 2 am:
A. knew that he was harmless and gave him a drink of water and waited with him on the couch till his mom came and got him.
B. triple tapped him with your home security firearm.

i don't know the whole story and so far none of us do, if the cops did wrong sound like they will have to pay for it.
i know that the probable answer for the above for me would be "B" and having read alot of whats on this board ............
i believe everone is lucky that we do not have a dead kid here.
 
Stranger at 2:00 in the morning, and the homeowner calls the police?

I've got to side with the cops on this one.

But then again, I wasn't there, and the only account I have is from the biased liberal media...

Therefore, I have no right to approve of the offiers' actions.
 
There are a lot of arm-chair cop/commandos types on this and every board who have never been in a situation where something like this went from already dangerous to worse, I would safely bet you money the last 100 times those very same cops had someone charge them in a situation like this one, it was a drunk or doped up low life up to no good and they are trained to react to that type of threat, not somebody’s 17 year old autistic child, out when he should not be, prowling around a total strangers house at 2AM.
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A point you make there that I don't think anyone else has picked up on, regarding the error of the articles headline. The kid wasn't "Mistaken for a prowler"...the kid by definition was a prowler.

He may not have been morally or legally culpable, but he still was a prowler. If it had been my doorknob he'd been rattling he'd likely have been dead (depending on who was there, my wife would be a lot more likely to shoot him than me).
 
Buzz all I am saying is that i am not sure a "beating" took place. # guys trying to hold a thrashing autistic kid could end up with similar results. I'll leave it to the review board before I condemn them.
 
And some view it as abandoning their kids.
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I run into this a lot. One person just cannot deal with this on her own. If Dad ran away, then Mom has to provide for the household, be the buffer between the kid and the world and vice versa, and still keep her sanity. As far as I am concerned, Mom is a hero for dealing for 17-ish years. That's 17 years without a day off, folks, 24 hours a day. She slips up once and some of you are ready to villify her? Ever had a two year old wander away? Ever turn around and not be able to see your child and feel that brief stab of icy cold fear, wondering if the little guy is around front playing with the hose or in the back of some sicko's van? Now imagine that instead of your child being able to do more as he/she gets older, that you now get to supervise him/her more, since they now have the strength of an adult but none of the mental cut-off switches. Someone who gets in their way when they see a favorite item is bound to be tossed aside. Add to that (usually, but not always) indifference to affection. That is my idea of hell for a parent. Thank God I haven't been placed in the situation of having to decide if I am able to care for my own child, but if I did, I cannot say if I would place my child in a home,and I do this for a living.

Like I said above, nobody was 100% right or wrong, and we should just let it go.
 
...Officers position themselves in handicapped-boy's path of travel, "Oh my god he's coming right for us!"

"Timmy!"

"On the ground now dick????! On the ????ing ground!"

"Timmmmmy!"

*smack Thump crack slap zap foosh clap thud splat thwak snap

"Timmy?"

"Stop resisting you ????ed up junkie! Stop resisting!"

"Timmy! Timmy!"

*crack smack flap thwak snap zzzzaaaap posh whoosh thud

"Timmy?! TIMMY TIMMY!"

"God damnit stop resisting you junkie piece of ????!"

"TimmyY"
 
Its an impression of Timmeh .. a handicapped character on Southpark who only says "Timmeh!"
 
Yeah, it's from South Park. As far as a point. . . well, none I can see.

Mom seems to have had a handle on this for 16.99 years but you only have to screw up once
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That sums it up perfectly. That's exactly what it's like to take care of an autistic or MR child.

The article doesn't show anything the officers did wrong. Maybe they did wrong, but it's not in the information we have.

And actually, a total lack of oral communication is a good indicator of severe autism, but it can mean so many other things, too. Part of the responsibility of having such a child (or caring for one) is acting as a buffer between the child and all the people who will apply their normal algorithms for dealing with normal brains to an autistic child because they can't know any better.
There was less communication between that kid and those cops than if he'd been a cognitively normal speaker of some exotic foreign language.

Tragic for everybody.
 
Someone trying to get into my house at 2am stands a better than average chance of getting himself shot. And no, I do not submit intruders to a psych exam to make sure they arent simply misguided or handicapped.

And then there is this:
"He doesn't understand anything to do with danger. He has to have someone constantly with him,"
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Cynthia Cowell said she was unaware her son had left their home Friday until deputies came to her door.
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Right, nice parenting.

Of course why should this be her problem? Obviously the rest of the world should be prepared to take care of HER son for her.

She said she was surprised the deputies did not know he was autistic until she told them. "Being totally nonverbal would be a clue," she said.
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If that kid got himself hurt or shot it is ONE person's fault, his mother.
 
I know the officers did everything right, but the fact remains that a completely unarmed handi-capped kid had the absolute ???? kicked out of him, for what? It's just that Maybe it's time to review some policies and procedures, if the rules say you can nearly kill a handicapped kid in the most brutal manner possible, and you done nothing wrong, maybe those rules need be re-examined. Just 1 crazy crazy viewpoint.
 
Right, nice parenting.
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sigh...
Partner, you should just be glad that you haven't had to deal with what this mom has had to deal with and will continue to have to deal with for the rest of her life or her son's--Whichever comes first.
This mom is not a bad parent anymore than the police involved were sadists
It was just a lousy situation with a bad ending. The only consolation is that it could have ended much worse but didn't.
 
Partner, you should just be glad that you haven't had to deal with what this mom has had to deal with and will continue to have to deal with for the rest of her life or her son's--Whichever comes first.
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While I am sypathetic towards the woman's difficulties I am a little peeved that she criticized law enforcements handling of a situation that she herself was responsible for. Her proper reaction should have been: "Gee, thanks for bringing my son home and not shooting him". Instead she is upset that they didnt use their telepathy to identify her son as being autistic.
 
You're right on that part
Its a failing we may all have --expecting others to see what we take as obvious
I'd love to know what the police said in response to her comment
And if that was her entire comment or a juicy part taken out of context by the news
 
While I am sypathetic towards the woman's difficulties I am a little peeved that she criticized law enforcements handling of a situation that she herself was responsible for. Her proper reaction should have been: "Gee, thanks for bringing my son home and not shooting him". Instead she is upset that they didnt use their telepathy to identify her son as being autistic.
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Most mothers would be upset that their child received a beating, "forcible detention", or whatever term you wish to use. To expect a Mom to sincerely say "Thanks for breaking my kid's arm" immediately afterwards is asking for a bit much.
 
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