Mom says autistic son's run-in with Buckeye officer was 'exc

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Mom says autistic son's run-in with Buckeye officer was 'excruciating'

September 22, 2017

By Dave Biscobing, Megan Thompson

...After the incident, Buckeye Police announced they are working on creating a voluntary register for people with disabilities, mental illness, and autism. They also proposed that those individuals wear bracelets.

The registry would allow officer to look up specific information on people the come into contact with.

Leibel and other parents of children with autism told ABC15 they were disgusted by the idea.

"I think it's disgusting that you have to label someone with a disability with a special mark so they don't have to live in fear of being hurt by police," she said. "How would that have changed (the situation with my son) at all?"

A parent of another child with autism who lives in Buckeye told ABC15 the idea reminded him of the "Holocaust...."

http://www.abc15.com/news/local-news/in ... ruciating-

Diane Craglow was caring for a 14-year-old autistic boy named Connor Leibel in Buckeye, Ariz., one day in July. They took a walk to one of his favorite places, a park in an upscale community called Verrado. She was not hesitant to leave Connor alone for a few minutes while she booked a piano lesson for his sister nearby, because he usually feels safe and comfortable in places that are familiar to him, and he learns to be more independent that way.

When Ms. Craglow returned, she couldn’t believe what she saw: a police officer looming over the boy with his handcuffs at the ready, pinning him to the ground against a tree. Connor was screaming, and the police officer, David Grossman, seemed extremely agitated.

As Ms. Craglow tried to piece together what had happened, more officers arrived, spilling out of eight patrol cars in response to Officer Grossman’s frantic call for backup. Soon it became clear to Ms. Craglow that the policeman was unaware that Connor has autism, and had interpreted the boy’s rigid, unfamiliar movements — which included raising a piece of yarn to his nose to sniff it repeatedly — as a sign of drug intoxication.

"When an unfamiliar policeman rushed up to Connor and asked, “What are you doing?” he was honest, as autistic people usually are. “I’m stimming,” the boy said brightly. But Officer Grossman was unfamiliar with the word. On the body-cam audio, you can hear the officer’s uncomprehending response: “What?” You can also hear Connor try to calm himself down by saying “I’m O.K., I’m O.K.,” as he sustains abrasions on his back, arm and cheek by being held on the ground by the officer.

This is basically a worst-case scenario for anyone who cares for someone with a developmental disability, as well as for disabled people themselves, who live every day in fear that their behavior will be misconstrued as suspicious, intoxicated or hostile by law enforcement. And the encounter could have ended up a lot more tragic. Imagine if instead of being fair-haired and rail-thin, Connor had been powerfully built and black or Hispanic. A tense police officer, approaching a young man he thought was a threat to himself or others, might have been tempted to reach for his Taser or service weapon instead of his handcuffs."

Playing in google found this,
Opinion | Op-Ed Contributor
The Police Need to Understand Autism
By STEVE SILBERMANSEPT. 19, 2017
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/19/opinion/police-autism-understanding.html?mcubz=1


EIGHT?????? "... spilling out of eight patrol cars ..."

Well, sure! You know Barney always recruits Goober and Gomer and Floyd to help out.