Police officer ignorantly and aggressively detained autistic boy who was just stimming

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2017/09/20/police-officer-ignorantly-and.html

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Oh FFS.

Can we train the cops that "different’ =/= ‘dangerous’ already?

Land of the free, home of the brave means the officers are supposed to be brave so we can be free. Not the other way 'round.

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Just the beginning of an epidemic of yarn-sniffing, mark my words!

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I hate updating The List.

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It’s a slippery slope. You start with yarn, then move up to string, then shoelaces, twine, paracord, until finally you’re down at the docks, chasing that high you can only get from a hemp hawser.

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It’s been closed. Does need updating though. @orenwolf: can you unlock M_Dub’s thread? It’s the List of Things That Frighten Police.

[edt] As a parent of a boy who will be a teenager before I’m ready for him to be, this just breaks my heart. Nobody’s kids should ever be treated this way by the people they’re taught should be helping them.

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Yet another scenario where cops assume everything* that doesn’t comply with their heavy-handed authoritarianism must be violently subdued.

*including autistic kids, dogs, old people, people who don’t speak English, other people with medical impairments/conditions, etc.

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Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with these people?

What a fucking lying sack of shit that cop is.

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It not only cleared Officer Grossman but also came to the unsatisfying conclusion that because the autism label covers a large spectrum of symptoms and behaviors it “would be very difficult to teach officers to recognize them all.”

Why do they need to recognize them? All they need to do is provide evidence of unlawful activity! If they aren’t doing anything unlawful, then it shouldn’t even matter to the cop what conditions they might have.

And I can say as an autistic person, that you haven’t truly lived until you have aggressively detained a belligerent, disorderly police officer.

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List of Things That Frighten Police

Blinking LEDs
Photography & Video Cameras
Black/Brown Adults and Children
Direct Eye Contact
Breasts
Lyft
Peaceful protests
Halloween
Lesbians
Imaginary Black/Brown People
Puppies
Turtles
Rap Battles
Free Speech
Mail Carriers
Motorcyclists
Disabled People
Drawings of Penises
Two-Dollar Bills
Milk
Pregnant Women
Nurses
Journalists
Balloons
Students
Yarn

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A kid on the spectrum? Cops go to plaid!

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Here’s an update from earlier this week:

Multi-tools

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for a second there I thought it was the other David Grossman who does stuff for the cops.

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Is ‘intoxicated’ a catchall for ‘any type of mind-altering substance’? Most times if someone is drunk, you can tell from the aroma, ditto other common substances used for this purpose.

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Opened! :slight_smile:

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Annnd, police officer David Grossman is our asshole of the day.

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It would be very difficult to teach officers to recognize all unlawful things…

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I know, right? How can the people who enforce the law be expected to know what the law actually says? It’s much easier if cops shoot first and ask questions later.

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