Disabled Man Thrown Face Down From Wheelchair By Police — Police Later Claim He Fell Out of The Chair

This video has raised serious concerns of how the D.C. Metro transit officers put a wheelchaired man into custody. The video shows the officers slamming the man face first into the concrete. Later you can see the man is laying near a pool of blood.

I do not know the reason for the arrest, but the face plant is disturbing. There are two officers arresting a handicapped and unarmed individual. It is hard to see why it was necessary to throw him face first onto the cement.

What is equally disturbing is the statement by the Metro police that the man resisted arrest, “which resulted in him falling out of his wheelchair.” Falling out of his wheelchair? There is a history in D.C. of high-ranking police officers denying misconduct shown on video to clear officers, as in the controversy involving Internal Affair head Assistant Chief Peter Newsham. The question is who approved the statement that this man “fall out of his wheelchair”? That is a rather bold and reckless statement before the conclusion of an investigation into whether he was the subject of excessive force.

The Washington Post article below does not address the striking disconnect with that official statement and the video. Hopefully there will be a follow up on this story.

Source: Washington Post

Kudos: Anna Smith