This is behavior is absolutely uncalled for. Even worse is the quote from the police spokesperson. Just an incredible callous attitude.
It’s a WHEELCHAIR. It’s got wheels. Push it out of the way. There’s no excuse for dumping people out onto the ground.
How does dumping a disabled person on the ground help? You still have to move that person out of the way. They could have been badly injured and now you have two medical emergencies.
The irony of this story just struck me.
Not much has changed since 1970. Well, one word changed. 
Authoritian attitudes never change.
Ohio
Tin soldiers Trump coming,
We’re finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in Ohio.
Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are cutting us down
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?
It sounds like the woman was blocking EMTs from getting to someone suffering from chest pains. While I don’t condone the actions of the police, necessarily, she wasn’t innocent either.
I understand they needed emergency access to the elevator.
Wouldn’t pushing the wheelchair out of the way be the fastest solution?
Dumping her out, onto the floor, means you still have to move the wheelchair and move the person. If she’s injured, say a broken hip, then she can’t be moved. You’ve got two medical emergencies.
I watched the vid a couple of times, but I can’t tell if she was in front of the elevator when she was tipped or not. I didn’t see the cop move the wheelchair afterwards either. Maybe she fell out of the chair when she was moved?
She sure did go flying. If I were going to dump someone out of a wheelchair, I would expect it to take more than that. And some of what she said was a trifle over-stated, especially the part where she said her doctor told her literally that she would die if the Republican health care bill passed.
It’s too bad and all, no doubt.
Regards,
Shodan
Wheelchairs tip easily.
My cousin’s front caster went into a low spot in my parents yard. I was just feet away and couldn’t catch her in time. It took three of us to get her back seated. One holding the chair and two lifting her.
Not if she’s got the brakes set. She appeared to be of a weight sufficient to make it difficult to slide the wheels across the floor.
Could they have released the brakes? Depends on whether she was preventing them from doing so.
I’d agree that dumping her out of her chair didn’t improve the situation, but the solution may not have been as simple as “just roll the wheelchair out of the way.”
If she was deliberately preventing the chair from being rolled out of the way (as by preventing the cops from releasing her brakes), I’d be in favor of using OC or taser to obtain compliance.
Someone will get sued.
It is hard for me to feel much sympathy for the woman. I’m a Dem, some might say liberal, and although I dislike Portman and agree entirely with the protestor’s goals she has a lot of culpability here in how she was treated. At the point when her protest became more important to her than allowing a medical team to save a life… well, you can’t expect kindness, compassion, and consideration from others. Sorry, I’m just not feeling a lot of concern for her at that point based upon HER lack of judgement.
During the Columbus Pride parade last month we also had a similar incident where protestors made absolutely horrible decisions without thinking. Before the parade a central Ohio resident made implied bomb threats online that he hoped someone bombed the parade like the Boston marathon. Obviously that received quite a lot of attention and created an environment of heightened fears. A small group of protestors decided to take the opportunity during the parade to interrupt the parade and then were SHOCKED AND HORRIFIED that the Police rushed in and used physical force to break it up and remove them. I had zero sympathy for them. They completely failed to use good judgement.
Looks like a way of intimidating other protesters who might try the same tactic - very low level form of terrorism I guess
While the cops shouldn’t have dumped her out of the wheelchair - merely grabbing it and preventing it from moving would have sufficed - what did this woman think would happen when she blocked EMTs from assisting someone suffering a heart attack? That they would just let the patient die? Yay for civil rights.
There’s a longer video from a different angle starting at 12:50 here:
The officer looks like she is just pushing. Her hands aren’t in the right position to lift the wheel chair with any significant force. It looks to me like the front wheels lock up and that’s why the wheel chair tipped a bit. It’s also plainly obvious that the woman is hamming it up.
At 9:40 you can also see a protester stand up and wrestle with a cop for his wheelchair which is oddest thing I’ve seen today.
It looks like her feet are on the floor and being dragged back before she topples forward.
I can walk with a cane and be on my feet for a short time but I would have to pull out the old chair if I was going to be at something like that. No way I can be on my feet for even twenty minutes straight.
If she was unintentionally pushed out of her wheelchair in an attempt to remove her, I can understand that. But Lt. Hargus’s actual press release, which means it’s the official position of the department, is that cops will intentionally push people out of their wheelchair. aceplace is right that doing so is more likely to make things even worse.
A big issue with police as of late is a lack of trust by the populace. This sort of thing doesn’t help.
I do know that, if I was protesting, and some cops came in and tried to make me leave, I would first assume they were doing so illegally and trying to stop the protest. I would not assume they actually have a legitimate reason for doing it. Because that’s where we are as a country.
I would probably wind up listening anyways, out of pure fear of the man with a gun. But I am not inclined to assume that any cop stopping a protest is legit since OWS.
And you sure don’t make that better by proudly proclaiming that you will intentionally cause bodily harm in a way suboptimal to your primary goal if you “have” to.
Far far better to show regret and say that stuff like this can accidentally happen when trying to save a life and someone won’t listen and leave. That would get my sympathy.
I’m all for free speech, but that seemed more like civil disobedience than a lawful protest.
Lawful protests do not involve disrupting business, whether it’s a government official’s office or an abortion clinic.
I’ve watched the video several times now and I can’t figure out why she was shoved out of her chair. Once the woman was out of the chair, the officer simply walked away, leaving the wheelchair right where it was. I feel like important info is missing so I am trying to withhold judgment but geez. That just looked like assault.
I googled the issue they are protesting.
I don’t think the Medicaid cap has passed yet.
There didn’t appear to be any object or person(s) that was being stopped from passing, which then might justify such actions. I know what the official line is but the video doesn’t seem too corroborative. The officer just looked like he was trying to intimidate. ETA: he looked like he was emptying a garbage can, not moving a human being.
Yes, this is just like four people being shot dead.
It’s an authoritarian attitude that lead to the Kent State shootings.
The same attitude expressed by the police spokesperson.
Paraphrasing… If you’re in the way we’ll move you.
That attitude easily leads to escalating use of force.
I hope someone higher up in state government makes it clear this is excessive force under the circumstances shown in the video.