Texas man says cops beat him after he pulled over from diabetic shock

[MrScorpio]

A 70-year-old man claims he was severely beaten by a pair of cops after he stopped on a Texas road because he fell into diabetic shock.

Thomas Mathieu said he only remembers pulling over in a turning lane in San Antonio before the Jan. 13 scuffle with police that put him in a hospital with three broken ribs and several cuts and bruises to his body.
“None of it adds up, because I am basically a gentle person,” he told WOAI-TV.
“Why in the world would they do this?”

A video of the encounter that was recorded by a police cruiser’s dashboard camera was recently released to the news station and shows the moment officers find Mathieu slumped over the wheel of his car.
The footage shows the officers ordering Mathieu out of the car and threatening to pull him out if he ignored their commands.

But as they tried to pull the elderly man out of the driver’s seat, the officers said Mathieu put his hand on the gear shifter.


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/texas-man-cops-beat-pulled-diabetic-shock-article-1.1831238#ixzz37vu9HYqO

[Ino]

1. Medical Alert bracelet would be a good idea

Maybe the stupid cops would see that, at least while they're cuffing someone.

Let's see, an unconscious, unresponsive man slumped over wheel... maybe his hand flopped onto the gear shift as they were trying to pull him out of the car... but they say he was TRYING to put it in gear, and they were so CONCERNED that they would be dragged! and so started beating him. Yay cops!

[awoke_in_2003]

14. Putting thug cops in jail...

would be an even better idea.

[Ino]

16. I'll second that!

Prison even.

[Cal Carpenter]

2. oh, we're supposed to ask about medical conditions *before* we punch him in the face?

"It wasn’t until a minute later that an officer asked Mathieu if he was a diabetic and learned that he was suffering from a medical condition."

Fucking sick pigs.

eta: "McManus said the officers were cleared of any wrongdoing after the case was investigated by the department’s internal affairs bureau"

More sick pigs protecting their own.

[Comrade Grumpy]

3. This happens with some regularity. Seems to be standard operating procedure.

See noncompliance.

Assume it's intentional noncompliance.

Beat the shit out of the victim.

Them arrest him and charge him with resisting arrest. (I don't know if that happened in this particular case.)

Then, when scandal emerges, put the thug on desk duty or paid vacation for a few weeks.

Then clear the thug and put him back on the streets.

Rinse and repeat.

[MrScorpio]

4. We've seen this shit before...

[redqueen]

5. HE IGNORED THEIR AUTHORITAH!

Psychopaths love official jobs and uniforms.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

6. A 70 year old man recovering from pneumonia and on the edge of unconsciousness from low blood sugar

would have very little strength. Low blood sugar in a diabetic saps every ounce of strength in your body and you probably can't even stand up. Does it make sense to anyone that, even if he reached for the gear shift, the cop punched him instead of just grabbing his hand? And apparently the cop kept punching him to make him get out of the car. They teach that at the Police Academy?

[IDemo]

7. Actually, hypoglycemia can result in a tremendous burst of energy

I just passed the 50 year mark with Type 1, and trust me, I speak from experience. When someone drops too low, the liver can release epinephrine (adrenaline) which can cause a very intense reaction. Not in many years since I'm now under good control. but I punched holes in the kitchen walls of two rental houses, dented a refrigerator door, and ran from co-workers who were trying to help me with a juice.

Not saying that anything like that happened to the gentleman in this case.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

8. I'm a diabetic too with type II

and I've had my share of low blood sugar episodes when I was starting to take insulin and learning how much to take. Since the brain's main nutrient is sugar, low blood sugar usually makes you very sluggish and weak, you sweat like a hog, and you start having trouble seeing and thinking. If it gets too low, it can lead to coma and possibly death.

Don't think I've ever experienced what you describe but maybe type II is different in that regard.

[IDemo]

10. The brain is certainly not firing on all cylinders during hypoglycemic eposodes

I was low enough one day nearly 25 years ago that the voices of people trying to communicate with me sounded literally like the honking of geese. It would have been funny if I wasn't ready for an ambulance ride.

I have spoken with a paramedic who said he had used an uppercut to the jaw to knock out a combative diabetic. Glucagon is the normal treatment but relies on a controllable patient to administer.

This is the first thing I think of when I read a news story about someone crashing their car into a house or acting irrationally in a public setting.

[Politicalboi]

9. Why couldn't the cops take the keys out of ignition

What a bunch of shit. I hope this man sues the shit out of these assholes.

[sakabatou]

11. Of course they were cleared

[surrealAmerican]

12. Since the officers were cleared of wrongdoing ...

... that means this is approved procedure for that police force. This should result in a change in procedure for the entire department then, right?

[Duppers]

13. in my opinion, yes.

[roamer65]

15. We need to tie medical alert information to vehicle registration.

I'm not giving the cops a pass, but it would definitely make it harder for them to get away with behavior like this.