Normally I am a staunch defender of the cops and the tough job they do (a big departure from they days of my yute, by the way,) but this video is so far beyond the pale that I cannot imagine defending her actions. WTF? While he is in custody, in the station, the deputy gets behind him in his wheelchair and dumps him onto the floor! What could he have possibly done to justify such behavior? What the hell is wrong with people?
You should be more outraged - the guy was a quadriplegic, not a paraplegic.
I don’t have audio on this computer. Is he dumped just so the officer can frisk/search him? Why aren’t any of the other officers objecting to this?
I can’t hear the sound on this- out of curiosity, was any reason at all given? And disregarding how henious that is, but surely if you work there you know you are on camera?
I just read they thought he was faking about needing a wheelchair.
I guess. He has full use of his arms. I admit I am unsure on where the dividing line is.
There is no audio from the surveillance tape. The newscast commentary does not address it.
No.
One would think. The guy smiling as he walks off camera at the end seems unconcerned.
That seems literally incredible to me. He was stopped for a traffic violation. Presumably he has hand controls on his vehicle. He has a wheelchair with him. Why in the world would someone go to all that trouble just to fake a disability?
While being interview in the video, he uses his arm and hand to describe where his paralysis begins. He clearly uses his arms in the police video, too.
He’s also holding his dogs leash in the beginning.
My WAG if that “excuse” is legit, is that some morons think everybody in a wheelchair is the type with a severe and obvious mental handicap, and that a neatly dressed otherwise “normal” looking and sounding guy has to be a fraud.
What does it even matter if he was para/quadra-plegic? Wouldn’t dumping anyone out of a wheelchair be fucked up?
ETA: It’s also possible that perhaps the dog is a service animal. (Although he didn’t look like he had the harness and what not.)
I don’t suppose it matters, really. It would make the event more egregiously wrong, IMO, if a quadriplegic were dumped out rather then someone with, for example, a broken ankle. But fell free to disregard the “–plegic” part. It still really sucks.
Doesn’t mean he is not a quadriplegic. Despite the seemingly obvious connotation that he would have to be paralyzed in all four limbs, quadriplegia is defined by the location of the spinal cord injury. As it was Mr. Sterner’s neck that was broken, his injury occurred in the cervical region and he is a quadriplegic. In his case, it was probably damage at C6 or C7, since he appears to have use of his arms.
Whether or not he has suffered a loss of sensation in his arms, none of us know. Nor do we know if there is any effect on his motor skills in his arms, hands and fingers. In reality though, not all quadriplegics are on respirators and unable to use their hands and arms at all.
Quadriplegic doesn’t mean total upper body paralysis, just that his upper body is also affected to some degree, which makes it even harder for him to protect himself from a fall.
If we can take him at his word we do. He states that he has no sensation below the chest, and points with his hand. It seems clear to me that above the chest he has retained sensation.
The deputy has been “relieved of duty.” If there’s any justice, he (she? hard to tell) will be summarily fired.
ETA: “She,” apparently. That fucking bitch should have her arms and legs tied together and be dumped out on the floor a few times with her pants down around her knees, see how she likes it. I hope he sues her and the department for a heap of money.
The first news announcer with the accent…Rorwrrrrr!
IWatching the film Muderball it might help anyone else understand this. And it’s a good movie. 
I don’t get how the news agency got a copy of the tape, and showed it to the cops, who claimed it was the first they knew of it.
I would have thought the victim get a copy of the tape, probably with legal assistance, in pursuit of a complaint or a lawsuit. Surely the filing of a complaint or a lawsuit would trigger some kind of investigation. And the news reporter says nothing about a complaint or lawsuit having been filed. Are the police in the habit of making copies of their own surveillance tapes on demand, without reviewing what they’re handing out. I seriously doubt it.
I’m thinking (hoping) the victim must have an anonymous ally among the cops – maybe someone who saw the incident, found out there would be nothing done, and passed the story to the news.
Very strange.
Exactly - quadriplegia just means that the injury happened somewhere in the cervical spine. If it’s lower cervical spine, then you still retain some use of your arms.
A myotome is a group of muscles primarily innervated by a single nerve root, and you can tell which muscles are affected by a spinal injury by the level of the injury.
A C8 injury would affect the muscles that flex the fingers. A C7 injury would affect the triceps, wrist flexors, and finger extensors. C6 affects the biceps and wrist extensors.
From looking at the video, it seems like he has use of most of his arms, but when he points to where on his chest the paralysis begins, it doesn’t seem like he has full use of his hands. When he falls out of the wheelchair it looks like he couldn’t break his falls with his arms, so he probably has problems with the muscles that extend the elbows (primarily the triceps), so he probably has a C7 level injury.
Nevermind.
Second the recommendation. Great movie.