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Police pepper spray, arrest homeowner for burglary...

RobsanX

Gods gift to common sense
SUPER Site Supporter
Is it safe to say these cops acted stupidly in arresting this homeowner?

‘Temporary Custody'
By Jim Kenyon
Valley News Columnist
Hartford Police officials issued a press release on Tuesday announcing they had asked Vermont State Police to investigate whether their response to a 911 call of a “burglary in progress” last Saturday afternoon in Wilder was appropriate.

According to the one-paragraph statement, Hartford police found an “unknown male subject on the third floor” of a Stony Creek townhome who was taken into “temporary custody” before paramedics treated him for a known medical condition.


End of story?

Far from it. The police department's press release lacked critical details about what happened at Stony Creek last Saturday afternoon, facts on which I hope the state police investigation will shed light. Meanwhile, I'll share what I have found.

The unknown male subject found in the home? He was actually the 34-year-old African-American who owns the home and has lived there for four years.

And the part about taking him into temporary custody?

Hartford police neglected to say that in the process he was: blasted with pepper spray; struck with a nightstick; handcuffed, wrapped in a blanket and hauled -- naked -- out of his home, according to a neighbor and what the man says police later told him. When the neighbor tried to tell cops that the handcuffed man on the pavement was the homeowner -- not a burglar — he said he was threatened with arrest for interfering in police business.

http://www.vnews.com/06042010/6673969.htm
 

grizzer

New member
Need more detail, source of call, mode of entry, etc...

Too bad neighbor was not a Forbes Senior Journalist with a camera.
 

muleman

Gone But Not Forgotten
GOLD Site Supporter
Rob, do you ever have anything positive to say about police? There are misfits in every profession but most are there to protect and serve.
 

RobsanX

Gods gift to common sense
SUPER Site Supporter
Rob, do you ever have anything positive to say about police? There are misfits in every profession but most are there to protect and serve.

Let's talk about the story, and not about me.
 

Doc

Bottoms Up
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
From what you posted it sounds like a major screw up on the part of the Police who arrested the naked homeowner (was it the Hartford Police or the Vermont State Police, I do think these are two separate police forces and from the article I'm not sure which arrested the guy).
I suspect there are more details to the story and they didn't screw up as bad as it sounds at this point.
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Is it safe to say these cops acted stupidly in arresting this homeowner?

http://www.vnews.com/06042010/6673969.htm

Yes. After reading the whole story (which is still clearly incomplete). But based on the facts that are missing from the story its hard to tell HOW stupidly they acted. This guy has some sort of medical problem, he was non responsive and probably incoherent when he was questioned by police. We don't know why the police pepper sprayed him. Perhaps he lashed out at them? Even he doesn't remember what happened.

It does appear that the police did not fully do their job.

In their defense, they were called by the cleaning service who cleans this homeowner's townhouse and were told that the house had been ransacked and the burglar may have still been inside. All things considered that is not enough to warrant what happened to this guy but combine it with his incoherent state and I can BEGIN to understand why the police may have acted this way. Why they did not listen to the neighbor, however, I do not understand.
 

OhioTC18

Gone But Not Forgotten
GOLD Site Supporter
In their defense, they were called by the cleaning service who cleans this homeowner's townhouse and were told that the house had been ransacked and the burglar may have still been inside.

Maybe his medical condition, whatever that was, caused him to act irrational and trash the place. He could still have been irrational or incoherent when police arrived. They have no idea what they were walking into.
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Maybe his medical condition, whatever that was, caused him to act irrational and trash the place. He could still have been irrational or incoherent when police arrived. They have no idea what they were walking into.

Agreed.

While the article indicated that he did not have diabetes, it does say his blood sugar levels have fallen on many occasions and he has been in the hospital for treatment. If blood sugar levels fall low enough people become incoherant, non-responsive, etc.

If that is how the police found him he may have acted very irrationally.
 
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