Source: Tampa Tribune (TBO.com) Link: http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/feb/13/na-toss-from-wheelchair-brings-jail-suspensions/ Title: "Toss From Wheelchair Brings Jail Suspensions", by Mike Wells Date: February 13, 2008 It sounds like a bad joke. The kind of thing where you say to a friend, "Did you hear about ...?" And they look back at you like you're insane and say, "No way. What're you smoking?" Four Hillsborough County, Florida sheriff's deputies have been suspended after one of them, Deputy Charlette Marshall-Jones dumped a disabled man out of his wheelchair last month. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Yes, it really happened: Sterner tumbles to the floor The video—yes, there is video—is astounding. Sheriff David Gee is doing better than I am; he can do more than string together long phrases of profanity: Chief Deputy Doboco, we should note, has not taken the "let's wait until the review is finished" route. Then again, this isn't that kind of situation. None of the three supervisors who appear in the video did anything about the situation. One, Cpl. Steve Dickey, seemed to smile at the situation. I mean, really. If you want to know how to render me speechless, this is damn near enough to do the job.
Asking a man in a wheel chair to stand up? DUH! Getting brutal when he can't, .... just plain inhuman. What ever happened to working within the spirit of the law, rather than to the letter, ... I doubt this guy was deliberately blocking an intersection, perhaps he stalled, one look at the car should have made the officer show some compassion. Ticketing for anyone should be reserved for those that refuse to move, or who cause another some distress, not just for stepping on the cracks in the pavement.
The man hasn't as yet been proven that he was physically handicapped in any way. He just refused to walk and was put into the wheelchair. PERHAPS he was just pulling the police officers chain and that's why she dumped him out of the chair. I'd like to see a medical report from a qualified doctor saying that he really was handicapped or just what his problem really is. In time we will know the facts but only after a medical exam. :shrug:
It means we still don't know what his medical problems were. I've known people that can walk that use hand controls because their legs aren't as good as they once were.
It doesn't matter what the guy claimed, the Police did not have a right to turn him out of his chair, without first KNOWING he was fully capable of standing. If there was any doubt, they should not have got physical. We should not accept the idea that we have to prove a damn thing to the Police, we are innocent until proven guilty.
The problem is that the police didn't have his medical records AND I'll bet he was trying to provoke the police into doing something stupid like this.I'm saying the police were right in doing this at all, but they weren't fully aware of his condition plus he might have been acting like a jackass with them.
You see a lot more in that vid that I do, and without sound too. But you miss the point, if the guy says he can't stand, and they provided a wheelchair to get him to the police station, they have no place tipping him out of it. They were totally in the wrong, he was not in a position to have to prove shit at that point, common human decency should have kept that fat cop from throwing the guy on the floor.
Sheriff apologizes; deputy unrepentant; policy note Well, the article at the topic link has been updated. The new title is "Gee Apologizes For Treatment Of Inmate In Wheelchair", and opens with discussion of that apology. Deputy Marshall-Jones is, thus far, unrepentant: Additionally, even if she felt she had legitimate reason to doubt Mr. Sterner's status— —there were other ways to make the point. It will probably be difficult, but not impossible, to explain why she did not call for a medical evaluation. Unfortunately, I did not quote a part of the article that seems to have been edited since. I believe the union intends to fight for Deputy Marshall-Jones. The only defense I can see is that they might try to make it about training and procedures, as in, "We couldn't call the nurse until he was admitted, and we couldn't finish admitting him until we searched him. It was unsafe to call the nurse before that. What were we supposed to do?" And that's as close as I can get. But since inmates in wheelchairs are nothing new to the department, it would seem they've been through this before, so it's not much of a defense. _____________________ Notes: Wells, Mike and Krista Klaus. "Gee Apologizes For Treatment Of Inmate In Wheelchair". TBO.com. February 13, 2008. See http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/feb/13/na-toss-from-wheelchair-brings-jail-suspensions/
