Makes me so proud of my hometown...

[OwnedByFerrets]

:puke: :puke: :puke:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/28/antonio-love-ala-police-u_n_246081.html

"MOBILE, Ala. — Officers who used pepper spray and a Taser to remove a man from a store bathroom found out only later he was deaf and mentally disabled and didn't understand they wanted him to open the door, police said Tuesday.

A spokesman for the Mobile Police Department said the officers' actions were justified because the man was armed with a potential weapon – an umbrella."

[FSogol]

1. If he had opened that umbrella indoors, all of the police would had bad luck.

:crazy:

[Flaneur]

2. More brutal cops giving that one good cop a bad name.

Seems like it's Tasermania at PDs across the land.

[ColbertWatcher]

10. Just another isolated incident. n/t

[rd_kent]

3. I'm no apologist, but how would they have known?

Had the guy been in the bathroom and not mentally disabled, this would not be a story. The cops only see a door with an unresponsive person on the other side who will not come out and may be armed. What do you expect them to do?

Its easy to armchair quarterback after the fact, but put yourself in their shoes. What would you have done(as a police officer)?

[uppityperson]

4. He wasn't unresponsive. If he was, why would they have tazed him?

[SemiCharmedQuark]

6. They arrested him AFTER he showed them a card saying he was deaf and disabled.

They only let him go because the magistrate refused to issue a warrent.

"Officers didn't realize Love was deaf or had mental problems until he showed them a card he carries in his wallet, Levy said. He was arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct, but officers released him and took him home after a magistrate refused to issue a warrant.

Levy said officers were justified in using force against Love since he had an umbrella.

"The officers really worked within the limits of our level-of-force policy," he said. "We had no information about who this guy was.""

[rd_kent]

8. That part is insane

The arrest after seem ludicrous, but after the tazing, we dont know how that part went down.

[dugaresa]

9. perhaps they thought he was The Penguin because he had an umbrella

i know, bad joke.

[madrchsod]

5. my wife deals with people like this everyday

with proper training it`s relative easy to redirect "behaviors" with out harming the person and one`s self. her training includes how to disarm a mentally disturbed person that is holding a weapon such as knife...or even an umbrella

[SemiCharmedQuark]

7. You missed the best part: AFTER they sprayed and Tasered him, he showed them a card explaining that

he was deaf and disabled and they arrested him for disorderly conduct.

[Lance_Boyle]

11. was he also greased up? 'cuz you KNOW how much trouble those

greased-up deaf guys can be...