A Vermont mother has filed a lawsuit alleging that police used excessive force and discriminated against her unarmed Black son with behavioral and intellectual disabilities.

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.

  • ???
    9•1 year ago

    I’m 100% on board that this was unnecessary, but how should police handle something like this? It’s a 230 pound 14 year old hormonal teenager that turned sullen and refused to comply.

    USING WORDS.

    • @[email protected]
      1•1 year ago

      I don’t think so. My guess is that sometimes the only way to deescalate is to leave someone alone. That’s what you’d have to teach police. But presumably only a qualified mental health professional can answer that question.