Alabama Cops Taser Mentally Disabled Deaf Man in Restroom

Antonio Love, 37, has the mental capacity of a 10-year old.  Last week when he developed an upset stomach, he went into a restroom at a Dollar Store in Mobile, Alabama.  He had been inside the toilet for about an hour when store employees called the police.  Cops arrived at the scene and started banging on the door, demanding that he come out.  But he couldn't hear what they were saying.   Besides being mentally disabled, Antonio is also deaf.  So what do the police do?  They squirt him with pepper spray and then Taser him.  These sterling examples of law enforcement justified their use of excessive force because Love was carrying a lethal weapon ... an umbrella.  From Associated Press:  Police spokesman Christopher Levy said Tuesday store workers called officers complaining that a man had been in the bathroom for more than an hour with the door locked.  Officers knocked on the door and identified themselves, but the person didn't respond.  Officers used a tire iron to open the door, but the man pushed back to keep it shut. Officers saw the umbrella and sprayed pepper spray through a crack trying to subdue the man, Levy said.  They shot the man with a Taser when they finally got inside, he said.  Officers didn't realize Love was deaf or had mental problems until he showed them a card he carries in his wallet, Levy said... Phyllis Love said her son, who has worked in the garden department at a Lowe's store for several years, was scared when he realized someone was trying to get into the bathroom with him. He put water on his face and on the floor after being hit with pepper spray, she said.  "He didn't know it was a policeman until they busted the door in on him," she said. "He had a knot on his head from where it hit him."

Rachel McCarthy Jones at Deeply Problematic writes:  After they realized he was deaf and disabled, what did they do? Did they apologize profusely and let him go?  Was disciplinary action taken against the authorities who overused force?  No.  They laughed at him.  And proceeded to charge him on disorderly conduct.  The right of disabled persons to function fully and exist with respect in our society is consistently deprived of them.  This is obviously a difficult situation to navigate, but it's the responsibility of the authorities to be calm and careful and to restrain themselves from using force in a situation where there is no apparent harm.

Levy says an internal investigation will determine whether or not the officers laughed at him after they realized he was deaf.  And whose version of events do you suppose will be believed?  The mentally disabled deaf man?  Or the cops who Tasered him and then laughed about his disability.  From Pam's House Blend:  God almighty, it makes me sick to keep reporting on this bullsh*t police brutality state because we all know there are so many good law enforcement officers putting their lives on the line every day.  But they are working alongside some seriously disturbed/power-mad sadists with a badge who clearly have no skills, training or desire to properly subdue or communicate with civilians - they reach for the Taser, which is meant as a substitute for a GUN, and blast people into submission.

If there are as many "good law enforcement officers" out there as everybody claims, then why the fuck don't they ever report these bad apples?  They know which of their fellow cops use excessive force on a regular basis.  They're privy to the bragging that goes on inside the station house.  They are all aware of the "loose cannons" in the department.  Just once I'd like to hear about the police policing themselves - proactively, not after the fact.

Comments

[Bee Girl]

Nothing - and I mean NOTHING - the police do surprises me anymore.

[Ghostbuck]

Thank you for your last paragraph. I keep hearing this mantra too. "These are just a minority. Everyone else is wonderful!" Yet in these situations none of this majority of "good cops" steps up to put their fellow officers in handcuffs and restrain them from using excessive force. They don't come forward and report this stuff. Instead, as happened with Crowley, they close ranks, get the story straight and feign disgust that anyone would ever question the integrity of the criminals they tolerate and foster in their midst.