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Escape

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MOUNTAIN GATE, Calif. (AP) - An autistic teenager suffered a head injury and a broken elbow in a beating by three sheriff's deputies who mistook him for a prowler, authorities say.

Pierre Cowell, a 17-year-old who does not speak, had wandered from his home early Friday.

A neighbor, who did not recognize him, called 911 after seeing him outside her home about 2 a.m., Capt. Tom Bosenko said Monday. The woman became alarmed when she heard the doorknob jiggling, he said.

As three deputies approached the house, Cowell ran toward them and bumped one of them, Bosenko said. When Cowell didn't respond to the officers' commands, they used a baton, stun gun and pepper spray to subdue him.

"The officers were very much concerned for their safety," Bosenko said, adding that the deputies thought Cowell was under the influence of drugs. He said that the officers did not know that an autistic teenager was missing at the time.

Cynthia Cowell said she was unaware her son had left their home Friday until deputies came to her door.

"He doesn't understand anything to do with danger. He has to have someone constantly with him," she said.

She said she was surprised the deputies did not know he was autistic until she told them. "Being totally nonverbal would be a clue," she said.

"When Cowell didn't respond to the officers' commands, they used a baton, stun gun and pepper spray to subdue him.

The officers were very much concerned for their safety,"


Like a scene from a comedy... not funny for the kid though :/
 

tris-

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this article is trying to make out like the cops KNEW he was autistic. obviously they didnt otherwise they wouldnt of fucked him up. how does none verbal instantly mean he is autistic?

"HEY GET THE FUCK ON THE GROUND"
"err he aint sayin anything sarge"
"oh never mind, he MUST be autistic, let him go boys"

i mean wtf is that woman on, i want some too.
 

Mojo

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tris- said:
this article is trying to make out like the cops KNEW he was autistic.


I read it Like the cops were to fucking stupid to figure it out, not that they knew :p

Seemed like the kid ran toward them and the cops just went into beat the crap out of him mode and didnt consider any other possabilty for his actions.


"HEY GET THE FUCK ON THE GROUND"
"err he aint sayin anything sarge"
"oh never mind, he MUST be on drugs, lets beat the fuck out of him"
 

tris-

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ok dude, tell me where you live and i will come run at you. i will be silent mind so obviously i mean no harm.
you know, when someone runs at you, i dont think you have enough time to sit down with a cup of tea and a medical encyclopedia to check out wtf maybe wrong with the guy running at you. maybe in the future it will go like this

"HEY GET THE FUCK ON THE GROUND"
"Sarge hes runnin at us, he is silent though.."
"ok, let him keep running at you while i go sit in the car and get out the big book of medical thingys and see what it means when someone is runing at you and they are silent"
"err, i think hes killed robson"
"oh jees"
 

Mojo

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tris- said:
ok dude, tell me where you live and i will come run at you. i will be silent mind so obviously i mean no harm.
you know, when someone runs at you, i dont think you have enough time to sit down with a cup of tea and a medical encyclopedia to check out wtf maybe wrong with the guy running at you. maybe in the future it will go like this

Well the coppers were quoted as saying running "toward" not running "at" although it would be hard to tell at night I think a simple eye contact check would help distinguish the difference.

And how was he running exactly, like someone whith a mental ilness in a state of cunfusion or like someone just about to pull off a flying kick.


So this kid ran "toward" and bumped into these coppers so they had probably already come to the conclusion that he wasnt a violent a criminal or a threat after all why would they let him get so close? (within bumping range) in the first place?

So they subdued him with force after this had happend?, sounds to me like the kid went of down the street and when the coppers yelled stop and the kid didnt respond they got their power crazed ego's dented (as we see with coppers often when people dont cow down and do as they want immediatly) so they beat him up.

But i could be worng, just like the coppers were wrong :p
 

Escape

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Communication was the problem and the way the cops reacted to him just made the situation worse. I'd guess it went something like:

The kid is scared, sees the cops and runs to them for help
The cops are on edge and tell him to back down
The kid is waving his arms around trying to say something / maybe mumbling
Cops are telling him to lay down on the ground
kids waves some more
Cop beats him with the batton - now get the fuck on the ground
Kid starts freaking out, makes some more weird moves
Cop whips out the stun gun and fires
Kid is knocked down, but gets back up more freaked out than before
Cops think 'wtf' and start spraying him and beat him some more
Kid goes into shock or unconscious with head injuries.


Could have been avoided if the cops weren't so trigger happy and tried to understand the situation instead of beating him. When you meet someone on the street who's acting strangely, you just assume it's a mental disorder. If he was carrying a weapon, then the cops would've had a reason to act with force. But in this case it was over-reaction.

Saying someone is an autist is pretty vague, there're different levels of the disorder afaik.
 

Ilum

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Maybe everyone isn't aware of it, but law enforcement is actually a profession, and use of force is to be used only to the extent it's needed. When it's 3 adult law enforcers vs a single teenager, stun guns, pepperspray and batons is obviously not needed.

They should be sacked.
 

Bubble

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My Parents take care of autistic children..not to the extent that this kid was tho..still a feel very sorry for him

Its was a total misunderstanding/mistreatment. They used well to much Violence this should cost them there jobs..sthere defence that they were concerned for there safety is just a joke...I'm just glad this sorta shit wouldn't happen in England
 

Ezteq

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this is horrible and although i do agree this is police brutality, i can almost side with them i mean with the amount of folks out there running about on angle dust and crack etc they probably expect everyone whos acting wierd to be on drugs, and i sympathise with the woman who called the police what with a strange guy out side rattling the door hell i would have been scared to death, however this said it is appauling and im sure the boy could have been restrained without all that violence.

its just sad that people always jump to the conclusion that folks mean them harm.
 

tris-

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well ez, its for simple survival. if i see someone running at me, in my direction then i do get concerned. id rather by thinking someone means harm than someone being good willed.
would you rather be ready or fucked?
 

Ezteq

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tris- said:
well ez, its for simple survival. if i see someone running at me, in my direction then i do get concerned. id rather by thinking someone means harm than someone being good willed.
would you rather be ready or fucked?
lol me personally im scared shitless of people i'd be a little speck of dust on the horizon if some one was running towards me.
 

Morchaoron

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Ezteq said:
its just sad that people always jump to the conclusion that folks mean them harm.

some cops deal with druggies and agressive fucks on a daily basis, this just looked like such a situation: drugged prowler messing around peoples homes and gets agressive, usual stuff, just turned out to be a autistic teenager, oops, a little lame perhaps but they should have kept him indoors because he cant go anywhere alone like the mother said...

wrong person in the wrong situation at the wrong place at the wrong time
 

Ezteq

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Morchaoron said:
some cops deal with druggies and agressive fucks on a daily basis, this just looked like such a situation: drugged prowler messing around peoples homes and gets agressive, usual stuff, just turned out to be a autistic teenager, oops, a little lame perhaps but they should have kept him indoors because he cant go anywhere alone like the mother said...

wrong person in the wrong situation at the wrong place at the wrong time

i agree totally 100% its just sad that this world is like that is all i meant, but i bet those policemen will have protesters against them who will be incapable of seeing it this way and yeling police brutality all the way, im sure those policemen will be feeling bad enough about this with out all that.
 

old.Tohtori

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Teh Seel shows how it wents downs!

Officer d00d: INC!!

Sheriff: Root ffs!!

Officer leet: Resist!

Sheriff: Peel!! PEEEEEEL!!!

Officer d00d: Stun!! Baton! Spray!!

*n00b was killed by Officer d00d*

Sheriff: gg

Officer leet: ...wtf no exp?

Sheriff: Who pulled a gray ffs?!1

And that's how it is.
 

Bubble

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Morchaoron said:
some cops deal with druggies and agressive fucks on a daily basis, this just looked like such a situation: drugged prowler messing around peoples homes and gets agressive, usual stuff, just turned out to be a autistic teenager, oops, a little lame perhaps but they should have kept him indoors because he cant go anywhere alone like the mother said...

wrong person in the wrong situation at the wrong place at the wrong time


Same thing happens in America with replica guns (Police thinking this teenager had pulled an weapon on him and didn't think twice) In the UK a mate of mine works in a model shop, they sell BB guns, he had just fixed a broken gun and was returning it to its owner (in a bag ofc) he was spotted by someone fiddling with this gun, within 5 minutes he had a Police fan on him with heavy armed police. He did what he was told and i don't think he even had a gun pointed at him dispite the police being told theres a man in his 20's with a Semi Automatic weapon walking up my street.
 

old.Tohtori

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It's better tto check the non-gunners then to have the real gunners running loose. No?
 

Bubble

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old.Tohtori said:
It's better tto check the non-gunners then to have the real gunners running loose. No?

you didn't get the point
The police handled it well

Rather than pointing 20 MP5's at him, they surrounded and Calmly approched
 

old.Tohtori

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Bubble said:
you didn't get the point
The police handled it well

Rather than pointing 20 MP5's at him, they surrounded and Calmly approched

I actually did, you just mistook my post as a "flame" towards yours :p

I was just giving another point on the matter.
 

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