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submitted 9 months ago by girlfreddy@lemmy.ca to c/news@lemmy.world

What happened next that evening in May 2021 is the basis for a lawsuit by the mother alleging that Burlington police used excessive force and discriminated against her unarmed son, who is Black and has behavioral and intellectual disabilities.

After he failed to hand over the last of the stolen e-cigarettes, two officers physically forced him to do so, then Cathy Austrian’s son was handcuffed and pinned to the ground as he screamed and struggled, according to a civil lawsuit filed Tuesday and police body-camera video shared with The Associated Press by the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont.

The teen eventually was injected with a ketamine, a sedative, then taken to a hospital, according to the lawsuit and video.

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[-] Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social 147 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

If you have a problem and you call the cops you now have two problems

Edit: Also, who administered the ketamine? Had they received training in appropriate dosing? Or did some dumb cop just shove a needle into a kid and hope he didn't die.

[-] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world 61 points 9 months ago

Or did some dumb cop just shove a needle into a kid and hope he didn't die.

Or did some malicious cop just shove a needle into a kid and hope he did die?

[-] Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social 21 points 9 months ago

Turns out I have a small shred of hope for humanity after all

[-] RagingRobot@lemmy.world 19 points 9 months ago

Don't worry we can get rid of that

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[-] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 16 points 9 months ago

Usually it’s administered by EMS. At least here it is.

At least it’s supposed to be. Cops generally only have slightly better medical training than you’re average cpr/fa/aed cert holder.

Basically, it’s just enough they can say they tried to keep that guy they just shot alive long enough for EMS to show up.

[-] cmbabul@lemmy.world 128 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Say it with me, All Cops Are Bastards

[-] girlfreddy@lemmy.ca 36 points 9 months ago
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[-] WoahWoah@lemmy.world 111 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Obviously the police are the criminals here, but that mom...

They clearly didn't grow up being told what I was always told: "if you've got a problem and you call the police, now you've got two problems."

[-] Socsa@sh.itjust.works 24 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Yeah this is some abusive, privileged bullshit and I really hope this idiot learned a lesson. I also hope her child reminds her of this shit anytime she starts mounting her high horse in the future.

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[-] jordanlund@lemmy.world 105 points 9 months ago

What kind of idiot calls the cops on their black son expecting any kind of positive interaction?

Oh... right...

The white kind...

(grrr!)

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna14380

[-] nutsack@lemmy.world 23 points 9 months ago

My mom was this stupid

[-] HipHoboHarold@lemmy.world 14 points 9 months ago

I was actually wondering about that. Like as a white person, I don't want to over step boundaries, but even I'm not surprised.

But this makes a whole lot more sense.

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[-] Fisk400@feddit.nu 76 points 9 months ago

This is a minor problem compared to the fucking forced ketamin injections but can we please use more words to describe these types of issues. Like, specific ones. "Behavioral issues and intellectual disabilities" has also been used to describe the kid that almost beat a teacher to death for saying he shouldn't have his Nintendo in school and the flying guy that tried to kill the judge. If there is no difference between how we describe them and this kid, we are just reinventing calling people retarded in increasingly elaborate ways.

[-] medgremlin@midwest.social 21 points 9 months ago

I see your point, but that is a bigger can of worms than I think you are expecting. There are dozens of genetic or congenital disorders that can lead to intellectual disabilities and hundreds of acquired ones; all of which result in a range of severity. Also, "intellectual disabilities" and "behavioral problems" are very large buckets of different manifestations. In order to differentiate in the way that you are asking for, they would need to report exact diagnoses and give a detailed description of the individual to differentiate them, and even then, there would need to be a lot of context and clarification if they are to avoid misinterpretation or misunderstanding of any terms or descriptions used.

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[-] lolcatnip@reddthat.com 12 points 9 months ago

Describing specific issues would violate their right to privacy.

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[-] zerog_bandit@lemmy.world 73 points 9 months ago

Absolute definition of white privilege to think that calling the police to lecture her black son would yield positive outcomes.

I say this as a white person.

[-] sylver_dragon@lemmy.world 67 points 9 months ago

What do you say to the armed, violent, unstable nutcase with a gun?
Good morning, Officer.

[-] mainframegremlin@programming.dev 30 points 9 months ago

What sound does a cow make? Moo. What sound does a dog make? Woof. What sound does a cat make? Meow. What sound does a pig make? UP AGAINST THE WALL MOTHER FUCKER.

[-] Son_of_dad@lemmy.world 62 points 9 months ago

Police are not an education service. They're armed men who have been trained to be aggressive.

[-] girlfreddy@lemmy.ca 19 points 9 months ago

Police are not an education service.

They like to pretend they are. Schools used to invite them into classrooms in the before times.

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[-] _Analog_@lemmy.world 14 points 9 months ago

Right in the first part, but for the second: police come in more than one gender and the training is the same.

(Afaik on the training part - I welcome being proven wrong!)

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[-] cosmicrookie@lemmy.world 13 points 9 months ago

In most civilised countries, the police is trained to de-escalate conflicts and when the do nedd to be agressive, they are trained for it to not be excessive and certainly not letha..

Also in most civilised countries, this takes several years not just 6 months.

That said, I hope that excessive aggression is not taught in the US police and that it is down to bad culture or single bad apples or regions.

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[-] Endorkend@kbin.social 49 points 9 months ago

And then people wonder why as a neurodivergent person, I've passed over several obscenely lucrative contracts simple because they required me to go to the US for any extent of time.

[-] herrcaptain@lemmy.ca 39 points 9 months ago

Buddy, I'm not neurodivergent and I also straight up refuse to set foot in that place. I don't even feel particularly comfortable sharing a border with them at this point. Lots of the people are great, but the government and many of its institutions scare the hell out of me.

[-] Sagifurius@lemm.ee 19 points 9 months ago

You live in a country with the fucking RCMP and yet have let the media convince you their institutions are scary.

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[-] dream_weasel@sh.itjust.works 40 points 9 months ago

Let's have police reform and additional training or more services!

Also...

PARENT YOUR OWN KIDS. Don't call the cops on your underage children to "teach a lesson" you're the parent, YOU do it. That call doesn't come with a lesson, it comes with a pretty larceny charge to help with your kid's "bad week".

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[-] rottingleaf@lemmy.zip 38 points 9 months ago

When you have a hammer everything looks like a nail.

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[-] Minotaur@lemm.ee 17 points 9 months ago

Yeah god bless the woman I’m sure she had good intentions - but she’s not living in some 1990s public service announcement where the nice policeman gives valuable lessons to children.

Police are like… an absolute last resort “I need someone shot” measure. The fact that we also have them (for no particular reason) also authorize things like reports for insurance related incidents is a pretty colossal failure of “the system” as a whole

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[-] badbytes@lemmy.world 15 points 9 months ago

Can we start IQ testing for cop hiring?

[-] morphballganon@lemmy.world 27 points 9 months ago

They do already. Average intelligence or higher? Rejected.

[-] Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 23 points 9 months ago

They filter out those who score too high.

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[-] M0oP0o@mander.xyz 13 points 9 months ago
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this post was submitted on 03 Feb 2024
486 points (97.3% liked)

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