Autistic Man’s Family Lodges Complaint in South Carolina

A mother from Greenville, South Carolina, has lodged a complaint owing to excessive force on her adult son affected by autism. He was arrested on Christmas Eve and a Taser was used on him. According to the Greenville police, they were taking action and responding to reports of gunshots in Sullivan Street on Wednesday night. They had spotted Tario Anderson, 34-years on the street. He was asked to stop but, he didn’t stop and ran away from the officers.

The Police Said…

“When they put their spotlight on him, he immediately put his head down, put his hands in his pockets and began to walk away from him,” Bragg said. “They then got out of the vehicle and approached him and ordered him to stop at which point he did flee from the officers and they pursued him.”

“From what he did, he did break the law so in any case like that, we do go ahead and arrest them and make the charges and we’re not deemed certified to declare anyone as mentally ill or with a disease or anything like that so we don’t technically know if he is,” said Bragg.

Tario’s Mother Said…

Tario’s mother says that he is affected by severe autism and cannot understand much. He ran away due to scare of gunshots and the police. He also does not understand much. So, his mother says that he need not have been arrested. The use of Taser could also have been avoided as it shocked him. Tario’s family has been living in this particular street their whole life and Tario walks the street during nights to visit his nearby relatives.

The police failed in realising that Tario has severe autism. After he was arrested, he was taken to a detention center. He was charged having interfered with police work and that he resisted arrest. He was actually guilty of nothing other than having walked when it was dark.

Source-Medindia