Cop Beats Up Young Man with Down Syndrome for Packing…a Colostomy Bag

I hope this family wins a giant lawsuit.

and that the kid was cooperating and Ossifer Gunslinger grabbed the bag and shit went everywhere. And that's when the beating happened.

That is one stupid asshole cop. I hope his career is over. I hope the family sues.

Hint: it's wearing a badge

He's the contents...

Shits inside.

The war on drugs, and preferential hiring of veterans has created a police force that views us all as insurgents rather than citizens.

...that all that hardware is to deal with a report of some kids smoking pot somewhere. Or a black guy walking through a white neighborhood.

in any occupation requiring them to be armed.

and now owe every vet with PTSD an apology for this patently uninformed statement.
You haven't a clue.

Another "clue" is based on working with first responders and law enforcement personnel and seeing the extreme stress levels with which they must deal. Another "clue" is the definition of PTSD, which is that it is a "debilitating" mental disorder. Another clue is that I was a post-grad National Institute of Mental Health Fellow for three years and am familiar with the diagnostic criteria (referenced below) for this condition. Put all those together, and I very reasonably conclude that anyone who has been medically diagnosed with PTSD should not be working in an armed capacity.

So no, I don't owe vets with PTSD an apology for positing that they should not be employed in an armed capacity. In fact, to the extent that they have in fact been medically diagnosed with this disorder, carrying weapons and being involved in any use of said weapons would only exacerbate their PTSD. The US govt. and MIC, on the other hand, owe all our vets an apology for involving them in every needless war, i.e, every war following WW Two.

Here's the latest fact sheet on PTSD from the DSM - V:
http://www.dsm5.org/Documents/PTSD%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf


Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) will be included in a new chapter in DSM-5 on Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders. This move from DSM-IV, which addressed PTSD as an anxiety disorder, is among several changes approved for this condition that is increasingly at the center of public as well as professional discussion. The diagnostic criteria for the manual’s next edition identify the trigger to PTSD as exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury or sexual violation. The exposure must result from one or more of the following scenarios, in which the individual:
•
directly experiences the traumatic event;
•
witnesses the traumatic event in person;
•
learns that the traumatic event occurred to a close family member or close friend (with the actual or threatened death being either violent or accidental); or
•
experiences first-hand repeated or extreme exposure to aversive details of the traumatic event (not through media, pictures, television or movies unless work-related).

The disturbance, regardless of its trigger, causes clinically significant distress or impairment in the individual’s social interactions, capacity to work or other important areas of functioning. It is not the physiological result of another medical condition, medication, drugs or alcohol.
Changes in PTSD Criteria
Compared to DSM-IV, the diagnostic criteria for DSM-5 draw a clearer line when detailing what constitutes a traumatic event. Sexual assault is specifically included, for example, as is a recurring exposure that could apply to police officers or first responders. Language stipulating an individual’s response to the event—intense fear, helplessness or horror, according to DSM-IV—has been deleted because that criterion proved to have no utility in predicting the onset of PTSD. DSM-5 pays more attention to the behavioral symptoms that accompany PTSD and proposes four distinct diagnostic clusters instead of three. They are described as re-experiencing, avoidance, negative cognitions and mood, and arousal.

Re-experiencing covers spontaneous memories of the traumatic event, recurrent dreams related to it, flashbacks or other intense or prolonged psychological distress. Avoidance refers to distressing memories, thoughts, feelings or external reminders of the event. Negative cognitions and mood represents myriad feelings, from a persistent and distorted sense of
blame of self or others, to estrangement from others or markedly diminished interest in activities, to an inability to remember key aspects of the event. Finally, arousal is marked by aggressive, reckless or self-destructive behavior, sleep disturbances, hyper-
vigilance or related problems. The current manual emphasizes the “flight” aspect associated with PTSD; the criteria of DSM-5 also account for the “fight” reaction often seen.
2 •
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
The number of symptoms that must be identified depends on the cluster. DSM-5 would only require that a disturbance continue for more than a month and would eliminate the distinction between acute and chronic phases of PTSD.
PTSD Preschool Subtype and PTSD Dissociative Subtype
DSM-5 will include the addition of two subtypes: PTSD in children younger than 6 years and PTSD with prominent dissociative symptoms (either experiences of feeling detached from one’s own mind or body, or experiences in which the world seems unreal, dreamlike or distorted).

PTSD Debate within the Military
Certain military leaders, both active and retired, believe the word “disorder” makes many soldiers who are experiencing PTSD symptoms reluctant to ask for help. They have urged a change to rename the disorder posttraumatic stress injury, a description that they say is more in line with the language of troops and would reduce stigma.
But others believe it is the military environment that needs to change, not the name of the disorder, so that mental health care is more accessible and soldiers are encouraged to seek it in a timely fashion. Some attendees at the 2012 APA Annual Meeting, where this was discussed in a session, also questioned whether injury is too imprecise a word for a medical diagnosis.

In DSM-5, PTSD will continue to be identified as a disorder.
DSM is the manual used by clinicians and researchers to diagnose and classify mental disorders. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) will publish DSM-5 in 2013, culminating a 14-year revision process. For more information, go to www.DSM5.org.
APA is a national medical specialty society whose more than 36,000 physician members specialize in the diagnosis, treatment, prevention and research of mental illnesses, including substance use disorders. Visit the APA at www.psychiatry.org
and
www.healthyminds.org
. For more information, please contact Eve Herold at 703-907-8640 or
press@psych.org
.
© 2013 American Psychiatric Association

You don't have the standing to made such a broadly negative statement.
You can cite all the research you want but that still doesn't make you qualified
Maybe, after you've served a few tours of duty in combat, you might just figure it out.
Until then, know this; myself and nearly every vet I know laughs at how clueless the shrinks are.

Just like cops, psychologist and psychiatrists are not your friends.

preferential hiring of veterans and I would be very surprised if the vets weren't

screened for PTSD.

They may have candidates fill out some multiple choice psych tests - easy to fool. Their officers don't receive training on either recognizing or dealing with various mental illnesses.
It has also been noted that many vets do not seek mental health treatment for PTSD because once such a diagnosis is on their record, it can have lifelong effects on remaining in the military, promotions in the military and civilian employment possibilities. If employment screening asks, "Have you ever been diagnosed with or treated for mental disabilities or illnesses?", it is up to the candidate to self report.

This is beyond disgusting - more cruel and inhumane punishment.

if he can't identify someone with Down's syndrome. I've seen small children who identify my daughter as handicapped within seconds of seeing her. Surely an adult should know a Down's syndrome person when he sees one.

and you thank the officer for your very existence, for without them there would be no life. When I see a police officer chariot parked in front of a fire hydrant at the Donut shop I get on my knees and thank Ford for being bestowed with the responsibility of transporting these 350+ lb behemoths.

Praises be to police officers and as we Copists Copstians always say "the tape doesnt tell the whole story".

Amen.

unless it was necessary.
so if the command is given, one should jump!
why wouldn't one, especially if it is for the common good???

They'll just throw you off. Or shoot you to keep you from jumping.

like the point?

If you are developmentally delayed, and do not have the ability to completely understand what is being asked, you don't have the right to walk on the public sidewalk that tax dollars fund? That the cops can assault you? Really?

How safe would you feel walking down the street if it wasn't for police keeping all those colostomy bag packing 'thugs' with down syndrome off the streets?

... prove themselves and following a person with Downs is pretty freakin stupid

And "Mental Retardation?" Because it sure looks like it.

Oh wait! Be careful: if you don't understand, the cops might beat the shit out of you.

I am the mother of a child with developmental delay. But thanks anyway.

The riverside poster. It was a reply to that poster. I haven't seen your post.

I have a child with severe DD as well. And while I would never permit him to roam unsupervised, sometimes shit happens (accidents, etc) where folks with developmental delays might be roaming about. I know one family where a parent has to be up all night to prevent their nonverbal child from leaving as she has done before. The police found her wandering the streets at 3am.

I agree things do happen. It's sad that our people can't even trust the police, that people like he fear that police will one day injure my child or worse.

DU has its share of trolls and was absent, I took the poster at his word. I had no reason not to.

Who's a what now?

of mental retardation.

I worked in Human Services with two of them.

One, the group that was non-verbal, and needed 24/7 supervision.


Two, the group that was higher functioning and had a pretty free rein of the town they lived in.

If they're able enough to go around town freely, they should also be taught certain things. Like, for instance, not to run away from the police if they stop you. Now, someone either dropped the ball with that poor guy, or...also likely...he heard some idiots talking about how EVIL the cops are.

Oh, and in the article it said how the cops "should have known" from his appearance that he was Downs Syndrome. Again...one young woman I knew...it was not readily apparent that she had developmental disabilities until you got right up close to her and she spoke.

... that would keep them alive much more than not

So what do you do in that case?

And how stupid are the police that they couldn't recognize a 5 foot 3 inch boy with Down Syndrome?

... walk on those side walks...

My heart breaks for Gilberto. I hope he's been able to recover both physically and emotionally. Nothing was done over it either, it took the cop being found drunk, shirtless & in his police vehicle before he was charged and suspended.

http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2011/12/fernando_villa_dui_cop_was_inv.php

On December 6, a Miami-Dade cop named Fernando Villa made national headlines by passing out drunk behind the wheel of his squad car, naked but for a pair of cargo shorts, with only his drunken foot preventing the vehicle from rolling into a busy West Kendall intersection.

The 32-year-old officer has been charged and suspended, but Riptide decided to dig deeper into his police file. What we found is scary: eight internal investigations, some with disturbing allegations.


http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2011/12/fernando_villa_half-dressed_dr.php

Typical....it takes getting caught in flagrant delicto before authoritarians apply their Rules n Regulations to their own.

The police dept to fire his sorry ass.

As Kurt Vonnegut used to say.

I hope this man (or his family) sues and wins a multi-million-$$ settlement for the outrages visited upon his person.

There is no excuse for this. None.

to the fullest extent of the law, and then sued in civil court for every damn penny they've got.

This shit has to stop.

What they did was wrong, but the story is old.
While DCClothesline.com has this listed as a May 1 story, all of the material is from September, 2011.
http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshhNQJ90mp0RLjQ9nir
Bad journalism on the part of DCClothesline.com
At this point, I would like to know what happened to the case. Did they sue? Did the cops receive a reprimand? Is our outrage still unanswered or did justice prevail?

.

Which means ... some good ole boys will gather around a table behind a
locked door. They'll drink a few cups of coffee, tell a few jokes (this event
will no doubt inspire a few jokes about "retards" and then they will arrive
at a unanimous decision that will leave the officers involved and the entire
department blameless and will show the victim was at fault for his injuries
and his public humiliation. In their benevolence they will let Gilberto go
this time with a warning.

must be real proud of himself

WHO IS TRAINING THESE COPS??????

We need a top down *and* bottom up cleanup of our police departments. Too many of the wrong types of people are working in law enforcement.

http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/Man-With-Down-Syndrome-in-Clash-With-Cops-129820353.html

Why do people read these garbage pseudo-news blogs ?

There is some garbage here, and we'll begin with that lie. I'll call it a lie, look at the eye in the picture. It's blown red, which means the blow(s) were severe enough and brutal enough to cause bleeding in the eyeball itself. That is not going to happen from a single open hand slap.

But let's consider that alleged open hand slap for a moment, why use it? A common sense approach would have been to subdue or take the suspect into custody, which means control. That is not most efficiently accomplished by the alleged open hand slap. The open hand slap is punishing, how dare you if you will.

But again, the bruises are inconsistant with that type of blow. They are more consistant with a hard object, fist or some sort of club, being used to strike the face. The police are lying, as usual, downplaying the amount of force used, pretending when they are in the spotlight that they are absolutely reasonable and this is a very tragic accident in which they with good intentions stumbled into.

They brutalized a boy, and assumed they would get away with it. Then they discovered that the boy had special needs, and then realized that they will need an excuse that the fellow cops and cop lovers would support.

I offered an actual news article. That's it.

everybody knows his name.

I say that kind of agony is worth millions.

We need to get rid of these fuckers.

so to coin a phrase sue the panst off them

This poor kid is traumatized and they say, I am not a doctor.

Fucking stupid asses and or vicious men who do not belong on any police force in the US.

Cops are so predictable. If it doesn't bow, blow it away. I'm tired of reading these stories. And it'll never change. We may be free people but there's always a pig around the corner to remind us..we're free to a point.

complete fucking hell was their first clue? The police state is completely out of control. I hope those parents sue the holy hell out of that department, and why isn't the DA looking into assault charges. That boy was simply walking home. What the hell is going on in this country.

how is it that police have such difficulty policing in amerika that they are resorting to this type of behavior as a matter of course rather than an incident like this being something rare? America you went wrong when you let reagan, bush's election theft, darth cheney, the kochhead brothers, ALEC and PNAC determine our destiny. I hope this family get restitution for the abhorrent behavior of these florida(again) 'police officers'. That kid is in a lot of pain.

What would I do if someone is being beaten by the police. What if I sensed that person's life might be in danger? Do I do something about it? Or do I stand idly by and "not get involved."

I remember an incident a few years ago when my daughter, in her late teens, was pulled over in front of our house by the police. Her tag had expired. I was on the front porch when she pulled up with a police car behind her. He had just turned on his lights. I thought "what's going on?" and stepped out into the yard to see if everything was all right. The cop was getting out of his car and told me to stay where I was. I was about 30-35 feet away.

I stood there while he issued her a ticket, but afterward I thought "What would I do if this contact between my daughter and the cop spiraled out of control? We've seen that happen time after time on YouTube videos. What if he forcibly pulled her out of the car? I don't think I could just stand there and watch my daughter's life threatened by a cop.

I think I'd become a story on the 5 o'clock news...

I think if I were to witness that, I would just lose it.

Unless you personally know them as friends, sisters, borthers, aunts, uncles, cousins, etec don't talk to police unless you have to!

I tell my adult developmentally disabled son, the cops are not his friend. I NEVER let him even walk to the mailbox alone. Seems my "fears" are justified. I've heard of this happening almost daily somewhere.

drilled him relentlessly on how to behave with the police. I just hope to God he actually remembers and follows it should he ever, indeed, be pulled over. It really scares me, frankly. My son jokes that "I'm white, so it's less likely to happen to me", which certainly is true, but the way the police are now, with no understanding of or tolerance for any kind of neurological differences, and with them considering the average person as a threat no matter what and shooting and tasering at the slightest movement, you never, ever know.

He's been with me when I've been pulled over for traffic tickets; I have a hearing impairment and have been fortunate that they usually understand, except for one who didn't, when my son had to "translate". But he saw how angry the cop was before he understood and how he wouldn't listen at first to my explanations as to why I wasn't fully complying with his orders to pull to a certain part of the road. I think that had an impact on him and hopefully he will listen to my instructions on how to behave with them.

Even with hearing aids, when in some situations with high background level noise, I have difficulty understanding what people say. Particularly going through security at an airport. I say, "I have a hearing loss. If I do not immediately respond to an instruction it may well be that I didn't understand what you said."

Just the excuse they need because you didn't properly respond to their "commands"

Police forces should only be allowed to hire people who demonstrate more rational and level thought processes.

This has been taken to court and upheld.

Link: http://abcnews.go.com/US/court-oks-barring-high-iqs-cops/story?id=95836


Apparently the ideal cop is a bully and a "tough guy".

It encouraged DECENT PEOPLE to join the force.

Now the shows are like this:



Where the cops chase down poor people and throw them to the ground. This encourages those guys on the high school wrestling team to join the force.

Remember those guys?

They were the types to toss someone smaller than them in a locker.

just like in nearly any profession, there will be some who will try to take advantage of their real...or imagined..."power".

Always looking to have others think they're the tough guy. These punks need a good spanking and sent to their room without supper.

than one of them. As ignorant as some of the people running this nation.

When you give a sociopath with an IQ of 110 or lower, a badge, Gun, Body armor, and no civilian oversight.

requires an officer to investigate?

I want nothing to do with the police. They have become extremely dangerous to ordinary (but slightly different) citizens like me.

The stupid cop didn't shoot him and claim self defense and stand your ground.

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/crime/police-scuffled-gilberto-powell-who-has-down-syndrome-over-bulge-waste-band-was-22

He is a man with Down's Syndrome, and was alone and unattended. He was walking down the street in a bad area of Miami (Richmond Heights, which is filled with theft, assault, rape, murder, etc. - I lived in Miami, so I'm familiar with the areas there).

Cops were in that area to keep down crime, as they are in all bad areas, trying to keep down shootings and crime. In an area of such high crime, I have no frikkin' idea why a 28 year old with Down's Syndrome would be allowed to roam by himself. It's just damned crazy!!!!

Anyway, so he was walking down this extremely dangerous area, and the cops saw a bulge, and a bulge, walking around a really dangerous area usually screams "GUN."

So when they asked him to stop, because he has Down's Syndrome and couldn't make sense of it, he took off running, which in a really dangerous area, translates into: "I just shot somebody or did something awful to someone and that's why I'm running from the police."

What I personally would like to hear the story from the mother. Why does she let her Down's Syndrome son run around unattended in a violent area? Also, is there no place where he could be attended during the day so he doesn't run out and about in a dangerous area?

with cops. There are no checks and balances. They hardly ever get in trouble.

continue worshiping uniforms this kind of brutality will continue. Police mentality is it's us vs. them, and the general public is them. Many police are mentally unstable and cannot be looked in the eye for fear of an unwarranted response.
Unfortunately the good people in law enforcement have to protect that bad ones as they might need their help in a difficult, life threatening situation. No one said you had to be smart to carry a gun, but a little common sense in hiring police would go a long way toward a civil society.

I live next to Ft. Campbell, Ky. and almost all of the cops here are extremely militarized. My Daughter graduated college 2 years ago. The H.S. and College use the gym to host these events. The security is very extreme, to the point of changing these celebrations into
military style, high threat situations. I left my Daughters graduation very annoyed because of the barking of orders to family and friends attending that event. I posted about it at the time.
I am not looking forward to my Sons H.S. graduation because I know it will be more of the same. The LEO's made their presence very obvious. Their numbers were excessive and their military tactics were not necessary, especially in an atmosphere of celebration.
There was approximately 1 officer for every 2 row section (maybe more as they were also walking the aisles). They shouted at and intimidated most in attendance. From the elderly to the very young. They barked instructions at the guests from the moment of entry.
They stood in front of each section and blocked the possibility of a clear view of the ceremony. When someone would attempt to move to an unobstructed area, like boot camp "inmates", they were loudly berated. Some who did not obey their orders were escorted out and a few were arrested. I have been invited to the college ceremony also this year and declined. It will be hard for me to enjoy the H.S. ceremony. I get so pissed hearing them loudly intimidate the helpless and those hoping to enjoy the ceremony that I have to bite my tongue and attempt to see past the "masters."

that we live in a fascist state.

Fear their leaders even more.

To serve and protect...bullshit