Aracelina Velazquez

Professor Batty
English 113B
7 April 2016
Stop the Injustice Killings
People with disabilities often times become victims of the law enforcement. Majority of the
individuals with disabilities have higher chances of being victimized by a police officer than
those without inability. Indeed most disabled people have an impairment that is physical, mental,
emotional, cognitive, or an amalgamation of these issues that affect the person's ability to do
things that are considered normal. Individuals with disabilities are usually misinterpreted by a
police officer because they might look suspicious, being uncooperative, or claimed of doing
something illegal. Police officers are trained to react a certain way in critical situations or when
in need of help; however, there is insufficient training when approaching individuals with
disabilities which can be seen through the amount of brutal actions done to disabled victims and
the miscommunication; moreover, there are training strategies that the law enforcement can
practice.
To begin, there are cases where disabled individuals are brutally beaten or end up fatal due to the
lack of law enforcement training. In the article, Police Violence and People with Disabilities
claims, The Bureau of Justice Statistics surveyed 6,000 people and based on extrapolations of
the information estimated that around 500,000 people every year are, 'hit, held, pushed, choked,
threatened with a flashlight, threatened or sprayed with pepper spray, threatened with a gun or
other form of force,' by police. The article Police Violence and People with Disabilities
discusses the estimated amount of people who are inhumanely beaten with weapons used by the

law enforcement. Police officers carry weapons for self defense and to protect the community
however, using self defence on a disabled person who doesn't know how to defend themselves is
unfair. If police officers were trained enough on how to act on a disabled person there wouldn't
be so many injustice actions. There are many cases where disabled individuals are beaten to
death because police officers do not know how to respond to people with disabilities. For
example, In the article, How Misunderstanding Disability Leads to Police Violence, David M.
Perry argues, In January 2013, Ethan Saylor a 26-year-old man with Down syndrome was killed
by three police officers because he refuse to obey orders. Perry asserts that Mr.Saylor diagnosed
Down syndrome wanted to rewatch a movie and was brutally forced to leave even after his
caretaker told the officials to let her handle it. This case demonstrates an unnecessary beating
that could have been handled in a different manner. Police officers should have calmly tried to
convince Mr.Saylor to leave the theater. Instead the police officers removed the boy using brutal
body force towards him crushing a larynx that lead him to his death. If this situation was
processed in a proper trained way Ethan Saylor might still be alive today.
In addition, police officers often miscommunicate situations with disabled victims that lead to
tragedies. Police officers often approach a victim if they look suspicious, threatening, or simply
doing something illegal. In most cases there is a miscommunication between a disabled person
and a police officers because the officers automatically assumes and jumps to conclusions on to
the behavioral actions done by an individual. But police officers are often unaware to the
behavioral actions of a disabled person, therefore causing a tragic situation. For instance, in the
article, Police Officers in American & People with Disabilities, Thomas C. Weiss argues, In
2008, Ernest Griglen was removed from his car by police who thought he was intoxicated. He
was subsequently beaten. Griglen was, in fact sober, but he is diabetic and was in insulin shock.

Weiss states, that Mr Griglen was taken away from his own car because authority thought he was
drunk and then was inhumanly beaten. This situations demonstrates the miscommunication
between the officer and Mr.Griglen. If the police officers tried to speak to the man instead of
jumping to conclusions, the man could have got some type of emergency help. Police officers are
trained on how to handle critical situations and way to approach individuals. But most of the
times there is not enough communication between the victims and the officials. This causes
officials to judge an individual to quickly not knowing that they might have some type of
disability, this can lead to a miscommunication causing a tragic death. In addition to cases that
end up tragically caused by the miscommunication. In the article mentioned previously, Weiss
asserts, Antonio Love was repeatedly tasered by police officials because love wouldn't open the
restroom door of a Dollar General store. However, Weiss discusses that Mr. love was feeling
sick and was taking a while in the restroom which concerned the store manager so the manager
called the police; The officers knocked on the bathroom door, ordered him to come out, but got
no response. Love is deaf. He couldnt hear the police. Weiss argues, the police assumed that
since he wasn't responding he was being a threat to them. Its understanding that police officers
react in brutal ways because they are putting there life on the line. However, they could've taken
this situation in a manner that did not involve immediate tasering but a proper performance of
calm communication.
Furthermore, there are training strategies that the law enforcements can practice when
approaching a disabled individual. Most police officer are trained on how to react or approach
certain situations. But police officers use commands such as Drop that!" and "Get on the
ground! For example, In the article, Police Brutality Hidden Victims: The Disabled, Elizabeth
Heideman discusses, When officers encounter individuals who are unable to follow or

understand these commands, like those with mental or physical disabilities, impatient officers
can react quickly and forcibly--often with deadly consequences. Heideman argues this a
problem because shouting and screaming to a disabled individual can scare them and make them
react brutally when they weren't in the first place. However, there are certain strategies that the
law enforcement can do to avoid critical situations with a disabled victim. In the article, How
Police can Stop Shooting People with Disabilities, Claudia Center discusses, In communities
across the country, officers are trying to resolve situations without resort to lethal force by using
accepted crisis intervention and de-escalation tools, including calm communication,
collaboration with mental health resources, physical containment of the individual from a
distance, and patience. According to Center strategies such as calm communication,
collaboration with mental health resource and etc. are a great way to interact with a disabled
individual. If these strategies are properly practiced and used there will be less injustice actions.
Also the CIT (Crisis Intervention Team) program helps police officers get training on how to act
appropriately to situations involving a disabled victim. In the article, Police Brutality Hidden
Victims: the Disabled, Elizabeth Heideman claims, CIT-trained officers ask the individual how
and what they're feeling, as well as what they would need to feel better; The officers address
individuals in a soft and calm voice, making sure their body language is open and nonthreatening. Heidman discusses that the CIT programs trains police officers on behavioral
communication skills when approaching the individual so that the victim won't get scared and
feel comfortable talking to the police officer. In addition Heidmann discusses that officers who
are receiving CIT training get to know vulnerable members of the community and their families
on a good day, when they're feeling healthy and happy. This gives police officers the advantage
to have face to face interactions with those with disability including their families to be able to

get to know them better in case of a future crisis. The CIT program is a great way for police
officers to get proper training when dealing with crisis situations. Police officer will get
sufficient practice and can reduce the amount of injuries and deaths caused by the lack of
training.
Overall, the lack of law enforcement training has lead situations involving disabled people to get
beaten or killed. Most critical situations could have been dealt in a different manner. The
miscommunication when approaching a disabled individual causing the situation to end
tragically. For instance, when police officer jump to conclusions assuming that the person is
drunk, threatening, nor following orders but the victims reason is they have a mental disability. It
is important that the law enforcements get together to be involved in CIT training that helps
reduce the mistreatment of those with disability. The CIT program will help reduce the injustice
killings and help police officers be aware of the training skills. There will be less brutal beating
and miscommunication with the CIT program and behavioral strategies towards the disabled
victims.

Work Cited
Center, Claudia. "How Police Can Stop Shooting People With Disabilities."American Civil
Liberties Union. N.p., 20 Mar. 2015. Web. 24 Mar. 2016.
Heidman, Elizabeth. "Police Brutality Hidden Victims: The Disabled." N.p., 8 Sept. 2014. Web.
20 Mar. 2016.
Perry, David M. The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 6 May 2014. Web. 24 Mar. 2016.

"Police Violence and People with Disabilities." Disabled World. N.p., 9 Jan. 2013. Web. 23 Mar.
2016.
Weiss, Thomas C. "Police Officers in America & People with Disabilities."Disabled World. N.p.,
20 Oct. 2015. Web. 24 Mar. 2016.