Cops beat and cuff autistic teen

as the father of an autistic 25 year old son, if this happened to him, three things would have happened. there would be two cops in the hospital. i would own that police department after i sued their pants off. or both one and two. and this kid did NOTHING! he was standing by his family's own car in front of their own house!

normally i try to be supportive of police to a point. they do have a very hard job to do. but i am no where near an apologist for them either. their behavior is getting worse. serious retraining is in order. they also need to be held to the same laws as every one else for things such as assault etc......

www.dnainfo.com...

a reply to: blackthorne

I look after the autistic.
Boy I'm mad the poor dude may have trouble already attempting to make sense of he world and this happens!!?.
I hope the cops get fired and jail time.
I have fallen out with karma because it appears that what comes around goes around is a lie.
But just once I want it to work on these cops.

a reply to: boymonkey74

boy- there is another component to this too. this teen boy was also of african descent. if it were my son, who is caucasian, i doubt they would have done anything. seriously, can't some just stand out side and enjoy the weather and watch what's going on with out being harassed by police?

a reply to: blackthorne

sounds to me like a couple of punk-asses, plain and simple.

The fact that I carry on my person, even at home, might mean I'd have been shot if that were my son (he suffers from high-functioning Asperger's). You better believe I'd have had answers before those police drove away, one way or another.

I don't know the whole circumstances so I will hold judgment on the issue in terms of legality. However, I do want to note that Autism is not noticeable from a physical or mental standpoint often times. All things being on the up and up, I don't think Autism can be used against the officers because in all honesty, how were they suppose to know?
I'm not trying to stick up for the officers at all, if they did wrong they deserve to be punished, but Autism is hardly something that is detectable at face value.

a reply to: AbstractDreamz

Better training for cops to include conditions like autism and especially mental health is needed.
Also empathy but you can't teach someone this.

a reply to: boymonkey74

I agree, it wouldn't hurt. Often times though, the situation can become to fluid and the chance to ask questions never arises. I would assume, the majority of interactions Police have involve those with Mental disorders of some sort. One thing mentioned in the article is pretty telling though...

“Every other house on the block, there’s a child with disability,” she said. “A lot of them don’t come outside that much. If you’re policing the neighborhood, you should know the people."

Police DO NEED to become more involved in knowing the people they police.

a reply to: AbstractDreamz

sounds like you could tell that this boy's behavior was noticeable. having 25 years of exposure to autistics of various degrees, you can pick up on the clues. and besides the point, what right do the cops have to just start harassing some one for hanging out in front of their home? a normal kid could have been waiting for a ride as an example! i know i did that as a teen.

The mother said it all,

"If you’re policing the neighborhood, you should know the people." A bit of common would help too. The police should be identified too, they should be on charges, they had the boy in their charge, and he was assaulted and injured.

Stop and frisk at its finest.

Well I just don't know about that

originally posted by: blackthorne
a reply to: AbstractDreamz

sounds like you could tell that this boy's behavior was noticeable. having 25 years of exposure to autistics of various degrees, you can pick up on the clues. and besides the point, what right do the cops have to just start harassing some one for hanging out in front of their home? a normal kid could have been waiting for a ride as an example! i know i did that as a teen.

YOU can pick up the clues because you have 25 years experience, I couldn't and I would say the majority of Americans couldn't.

I mentioned I wouldn't comment on the legalities of the case, because I don't know both sides. I could jump to conclusions and say he was just waiting for a ride, but I honestly don't know. It's not unheard of for the arrested victim and their family to lie through their teeth and the same can be said of the Law Enforcement side. I just don't know all the details.

a reply to: AbstractDreamz

will agree with you on your second paragraph. yes, people can and do lie all the time. but it says something that he was released with NO charges after being taken down town. that sounds like the department knew it screwed up with these two cops.

"He's not making eye contact STOP RESISTING! I JUST WANT TO MAKE IT HOME SAFELY!"

Yeah, I don't see how an autisitic teenager can respek their authoritah, so I can't say I find this surprising. Obscenely depressing and awful, but not surprising.

Moments later, the officers — whose identities were not given to Canales or his family — pinned him to the ground and slammed his face into the cement sidewalk, according to the lawsuit.

Uh, I hope they're in a jurisdiction where that's straight up illegal too.

a reply to: AbstractDreamz

No, we don't know what happened. And it's entirely possible that the family is lying about what happened before hand.

But I would bet stop and frisk was a major factor here. "Look it's a black guy standing by a car let's see what he's doing."

But there's almost no info out about this. NYPD is refusing to comment in any way about it. They did, however, say that apparently an officer "feared for his life."

nypost.com...

originally posted by: blackthorne
a reply to: AbstractDreamz

will agree with you on your second paragraph. yes, people can and do lie all the time. but it says something that he was released with NO charges after being taken down town. that sounds like the department knew it screwed up with these two cops.

It does sound that way. If that is the case, the family will be getting some $$$$ from the NYPD. Not saying that fixes the problem, but it helps.

a reply to: AbstractDreamz

No, I kind of get what you're saying--having had enough idiot friends in high school that did some questionable drugs and seeing how it made them act, I can fully understand how an autistic individual may appear to be high on drugs or something else wrong with them to an LEO who is possibly used to encountering people on drugs. But with that noted, if LEOs had even the slightest bit of training on dealing with autistic people, they'd be able to recognize it 9/10 times without much trouble.

The point with autism is that it is a case-by-case basis, and with this kid apparently having the tell-tale signs of lacking eye contact (and that doesn't mean just looking down in a shy manner) and, I must assume, other physical cues that accompany that behavior, the officers should have at least approached the house and knocked on the door and asked if they knew the child.

It's pretty apparent that these two officers are just jackwagons that appear not to care enough to even try.

originally posted by: AbstractDreamz
It does sound that way. If that is the case, the family will be getting some $$$$ from the NYPD. Not saying that fixes the problem, but it helps.

No, that wouldn't solve anything. Instead, sue to put the officers through training that deals with autistic children--that would be a better use of the taxpayers' dollars than just taking some away and the officers continuing on the same path.

a reply to: blackthorne

Assholes with a god complex. How much do you want to bet they'll get a slap on the wrist and keep their jobs?

a reply to: SlapMonkey

there are other things like a slight rocking/swaying of the body. sensitivity and some confusion to loud noises. (like being yelled at by two cops). repetitive motions etc..... yes there are levels. this kid sounds like he is a very high functioning level. yet there would still be some outward clues that he was "different".

and it still does NOT excuse them harassing him for just standing outside his own home!