Sounds like it happened again.. Autistic man shot by police

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I just caught the tail end of the news item on TV; Santa Clarita, CA, 7-9-2010. LA County Sheriff deputy shot a man in his 30s who neighbors said is Autistic... He's alive in the hospital, and hopefully will be OK. He was walking in front of his mother's mobile home, and sensed a sheriff on patrol suddenly coming up behind him. He panicked and grabbed for his phone, but the deputy evidently thought it was a gun because the Autistic man was so startled, and made a jerky motion to grab his phone. Inexcusable ignorance; SHAME on any law enforcement agency which fails to fully familiarize personnel with Autism and any other type of "difference" which is easily misunderstood for hostility or un-cooperative demeanor!

I could easily have been shot on Easter Sunday, when my wife and I were pulled over by police for "suspicious behavior", and the cop suddenly popped back to my window after disappearing back to his car to run my licence for a long time, and I didn't notice he was on his way back to finish talking to us. He made me jump and nearly put my head through the car's roof! He was equally startled, and that's going to happen when there are Autistic and Aspie people interacting with police in a high-tension situation.

Charles

I don't trust the cops, anymore. That one takes the cake.

If a I was a cop and someone who was acting strangely made a sudden hand movement to a pocket or waist band I would fire three times to the center mass I am not letting anyone attempt to shoot me. You do not wait to see what the person has in their hands. By the time you can see the gun the perp has a chance to get off several rounds before you draw your weapon you are either quick or dead. You or me would not take a chance with your life why should a cop.

Whenever I have dealings with the police first word out of my mouth is I have Aspergers. I keep my hands where they can see them without making any quick movements. I also comply to all orders given to me without argument. i do not want to go to the Erie county holding center the place is a hell hole that has been getting in trouble for prisoner mistreatment and suicides. Its not worth the aggravation at the hands of idiots with badges.

It happens pretty much all the time. Why I am I not surprised?

I become robotic when dealing with police,
compliant, but robotic. They probably think
me weird, but I don't care, it keeps me out
of trubble. its the only way i can deal with
it, smooth robotic action does not startle them.

I don't agree with what you've said.


Fair enough, but being autistic, wouldn't you even think about the fact they might ALSO be autistic?


So, you would not draw your wepon and THEN wait to see, like any smart, well-trained officer would?
I have to say, I don't come from the US, so I don't know how it is with police there, but back in Britain, where I come from, I'm pretty sure that any smart officer would know to make sure they know if they try anything, they're a gonner, but then just wait. They'd point the gun at them, but wouldn't shoot automatically.
Personally, I think that this "Shoot first ask questions later" that seems to be the police motto in America is completely warped. It's totally overacting. Yes, if an officer does that he might save himself from a gunman, but in applying that he's going to harm LOTS of innocent people along the way.

Say it was a kid, say it was an 8yr old child who had Aspergus who was playing outside, heard someone come up behind them and had automatically reached for a mobile phone for whatever reason. Say it's parents had told it to make sure it had the mobile on it incase anything should happen. Would you then condone shooting at it because "It might be a gun"? I've heard there have been quite a few kids who've gotten hold of guns in America. Would you condone it then?
And if not, why would you discriminate against adults simply because they're adults?

I think that if any smart person were to seriously think about the kind of thing you've said about, they'd probably see it to be like Swiss chese - more holes than anything else.

With my experience, no ID, not interested. After all, it's easy to pose an a law enforcer.

Wtf happend to "freeze!"?

I think its just a tough situation all around.

BTW, love Neon Genesis.

The only thing I learned from this is never reach into your pocket for anything when you see a cop going after you. I wouldn't even reach into my purse either nor my bag. I'd keep my hands out.

I pretty much agree with todesking. Police deal with criminals all the time so how are they going to know who has a mental condition or a mental illness? How are they going to know you don't have a gun? How do they know you aren't a criminal if they see suspicious behavior from you?

I'd pretty much do everything todesking says he does minus telling them I have AS. I also wouldn't even run from them. If I want them to see I am innocent, I will let them check everything from me, my bags, my purse, my pockets, everything and answer all their questions. Also let them call people who know me and stuff.

The safe thing to do is tell them what you are reaching for before you do it. If you have a concealed handgun license it is important to tell them right away.

Some states require you show ID when asked, but other than that, you can make them get a warrant to search you and your stuff.

We should make a thread just for talking about interacting with law enforcement. There seem to be a lot of threads going that way. Is there one already, or should I start one? Or could someone else who knows how this works do it?

I will not risk my life for anyone why should a cop. But I do agree with you that the cop should wait before they shoot. But as you say you are from England you do not have the gun violence we do from the criminals. They constantly show cop car dash camera footage showing criminals ambushing police officers. The police compensate for the ambush attack with training that stresses be quick or be dead. They become reaction shooters the same as the army.

A reaction shooter is trained on pop up targets that the shooter shoots as they pop up. This trains them to hit a target as it makes itself available sort of target of oppertunity. The American army adopted this practise after WW2. We stole this training method from the Nazis. The Nazi soldier was quicker in their reaction time in combat compared to their opponents reaction time. But it has its draw back such as the soldier with this training is more likely to accidently shoot civilians on reaction as they enter their field of fire. The US used this training by the Vietnam war and look what happened to civilians in that war. Durring WW2 US soldiers before reaction style shooting training rarely shot at civilians, The Russians adopted this traing before their war in Afghanistan and they too shot a lot civilians accidently and durring WW2 they also barely shot civilians while in combat. The police have adopted more of a para-military training style to defend against a more aggressive and better armed criminal that is common in the American drug trade, With this style of training helps the police officer have a greater chance of survival in a gun battle but it comes with a greater chance for innocent civilian deaths due to accidental shootings.

I would wait for them to tell me to reach for it then do it that way it lets the cop think he still in control and keeps him getting pissed or scared.



If you make cops wait to get the warrant they will make you pay in the long run. I was with a friend a who got pulled over by the police who said someone reported us for being parked in front of their house. The caller said we were smoking marijuna in the car. We weren't we did not even have a cigarette or a match in the car let alone marijuna. When he pulled us over we gave him our IDs and asked why we got pulled over he told us and we both laughed. We told him we were picking up a friend who lived up stairs apartment of the house. The friend showed him his address to prove he lived there. The cop would not hear what we were saying so we then said looked at our pupils or do you smell marijuna? The cop asked us to search the car we said no so he said we had to wait for the drug dog to do a sniff around the car so we said ok.

The cop then told us it was going to take an hour for the dog to be available I think he was lying so we would submit to the search. But we just said ok hurry the f**k up. It took almost an hour for the dog to show up when it did it made a circle around the car and found nothing the two cops then went behind the police car had a discussion then came back and asked us if we would come out of the car and alllow the dog to make a circle around us. So we did and the dog made circle around each of us and found nothing. The dog handler told the cop thank you for wasting his and our time. Then left pissed off. The cop then admitted to us sometimes people will add something like they had drugs or firearms to make the cops come out to a call quicker.

When we went back to our friends house where his downstairs neighbor called the cops on us. We made sure to stomp up the stairs and across the floor until left at 2:00am.

F***ing bigot pig, he should be forced to strip naked and be forcefully fired

Just another reason why emotions are pointless.