Another Just–in-Time-for NAAM news story today.
Imagine you are this boy with no limbs, who just got tackled by this large man with a badge and gun ,and the man is now screaming in his face ,and he now threatens your friend who has the temerity to record this entire incident. Yes, that’s egregious
….Joel Feinman, Pima County Public Deefender
Egregious indeed!
KOLD-News, Tuscon aired a video Tuesday showing a Pima County deputy sheriff head locking and wresting to the floor, a 15-year old black quadruple amputee--a resident of an unidentified group foster facility in Tuscon.
After the deputy finished the beatdown, he turned on another teen who was taping the incident, cuffed, and then for good measure slammed his head in the wall.
The deputy had been called to the facility about a “disruptive. teenager.” Coverage is unclear if the teenager was one of those arrested or someone else.
The boys were charged with disorderly conduct. Seriously! The charges were dropped later.
The names of the boys and other information about them have been withheld,by authorities, but the amputee was reportedly living in the group home because he had been abandoned by his parents.
Here’s the news story which shows part of the video.
The raw video is here.
The Sheriff’claims the video, a copy of which was turned over to him by the TV station, is the first he had heard of the incident, which happened in September. It was only made public this week.
The deputy has been identified as Manuel Van Santen, an 11-year veteran of the department, He has been placed on administrative leave while he is investigated by IA.
KOLD reported that the station was trying to arrange a meeting with the boy,s but nothing has been aired yet.
According to Vox, which covered the story:
More than 23,000 children in the foster care system live in group homes like the one in Tucson. And they are far more likely to have experienced multiple forms of trauma in their short lives, according to research by the Casey Family Programs. For example, 55 percent have been physically abused, 40 percent have been sexually abused, 68 percent have been emotionally abused, and 62 percent have suffered a traumatic loss. A majority have mental health problems or physical disabilities.
It will be interesting to see how the cops wiggle-worm their way out this one. How much you wanna bet that Officer Piggy will be exonerated? You know. He was probably in fear for his life. You never know what armless legless kids will pull next.
Legal counsel has been retained, so at least there is a hope of financial retribution
Remember that those in fostercare are our brothers and sisters What is NM2019 doing for them? What is NAAM2019 doing to stop this horror?