Autistic 17-year-old mishandled by Metro Transit police, family says
The family of a 17-year-old who has autism says police officers who forcefully arrested him, rendering him unconscious, should have recognized he was disabled when they talked with him. They are calling for better training.
Two Metro Transit police officers wrote in reports that the St. Paul teen, identified by his family as Marcus Abrams, resisted arrest and tried to strike an officer. They took him down to the ground and, when he was kicking at and trying to punch officers, put him in a neck restraint, the reports said.
Abrams had two seizures when police used force against him at the Green Line's Lexington Parkway Station, his lip was split, and he has cuts on his face and head, said Maria Caldwell, his mother.
A Metro Transit police sergeant wrote in his report that the officers' use of force complies with department policies. Police are reviewing the case "to ensure all of our standard policies and procedures were followed," said Metro Transit spokesman Howie Padilla.
Abrams has Asperger's syndrome, which is considered on the high-functioning end of the autism spectrum, his mother said. He also has seizures, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and other disabilities, Caldwell said. Because he has touch-sensory problems, he doesn't like people to touch him or be in his personal space, she said.
"He has the mind of a 12 year old ... even though he doesn't look like that," said Caldwell of her son, who is 5 feet 11 inches tall and slender.
Caldwell said it should have been obvious to officers when they talked to Abrams that something is different about him. He is also legally blind, Caldwell said, and wears glasses that are obviously very magnified. The glasses were knocked off and damaged during the struggle with police.
"If they had training with dealing with an autistic child or someone like an Alzheimer's patient ... it would seem they would have known how to handle him better than they did," Caldwell said Wednesday.
Speaking generally, Padilla said officers continue to undergo training in working with individuals who have "emotional-behavioral issues" and in crisis intervention.
The incident happened about 7 p.m. Monday. Abrams and friends who were with him are apprentices with Urban Boatbuilders, a youth organization, and they had been demonstrating their work at the Minnesota State Fair. They were heading home from there, waiting for a train, when Abrams jumped onto the tracks. The teen said Wednesday he was "mostly playing around, like play fighting."
Abrams was on the tracks for about 10 seconds, said his 15-year-old friend, who was helping Abrams get home; Abrams usually has someone to help him wherever he goes, his mother said. Abrams had just returned to the platform when officers approached.
Metro Transit reports released Wednesday give the following accounts from officers Richard Wegner and Peter Buzicky:
The officers were driving by when they saw a male on the tracks, leading Wegner to shout "Hey!" out the window. The male ignored him. As Wegner started to get out of the squad, the male jumped back on the platform and they followed.
Wegner and Buzicky asked for Abrams' identification, but he said he had done nothing wrong and did not need to identify himself. Wegner told him it was illegal to be on the tracks.
"He responded loudly, 'I'm 17!' " Wegner wrote. Abrams "again made no movements to retrieve any ID" and Wegner told him to put his hands behind his back, but he would not, the officer wrote. Buzicky grabbed Abrams' other wrist and tried to pull it behind his back.
Abrams started backing up and Wegner grabbed his vest. Abrams put up a hand to him and the officer grabbed it to prevent him from striking him.
"He continued to refuse to comply," Wegner wrote. "In fact he was able to cock his left hand by his left ear while looking right at me telling me not to touch him."
Wegner told Abrams he was under arrest, but said the teen continued resisting. The officer used a "leg sweep takedown" because he "felt that it would be easier for us to control him on the ground," he wrote. Abrams was on his back and Wegner landed on top of him.
Buzicky was trying to hold Abrams down, but he "continuously was kicking me and hitting me with his hand," the officer wrote, and Wegner said Abrams tried to punch him. Wegner used his arm to encircle Abrams' neck and put him into a "neck restraint," saying he added compression when Abrams kept kicking and trying to hit the officers.
They got one handcuff on Abrams when he began kicking again. Wegner then used his knee to pin Abrams' head down to the ground to control his upper body.
The officers got the second handcuff on Abrams and Wegner wrote he "released the suspect completely." Wegner said Abrams seemed semiconscious; Buzicky described him as unconscious in his report.
Police said they called for paramedics, who took Abrams to Regions Hospital.
Abrams was released early Tuesday morning and said Wednesday that his upper body, jaw and head remain sore.
Caldwell told police at the hospital about Abrams' disabilities and that "was one of the determining factors" for officers to release him to his mother and not take him to the Ramsey County Juvenile Detention Center, Padilla said. Police don't plan to present the case to prosecutors to consider charges against the teen, he said.
Abrams' family is working with attorney Paul Applebaum and he met with the teen Wednesday.
"I think it's clear that he's got disabilities and, in my estimation, they would be apparent to an officer who was dealing with him," Applebaum said.
He is investigating what happened to determine their next steps.
Abrams' autism makes it difficult for him to tell people his feelings or to interpret the intentions of others, Caldwell said.
"He's not out to harm anybody," she said. "He's just like any teen, trying to find their place in the world, but needing just a little special help."
Mara H. Gottfried can be reached at 651-228-5262.
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Complete List - Top 10 Donald Trump Failures - TIME
Donald Trump is very proud of himself for forcing President Obama to release his birth certificate, ending the debate over whether he was legally fit to lead the country. But not everything the Donald has put his name behind has succeeded. TIME takes a look at some gambles that went bust
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Planned Shelter for Migrants in Germany Burns in Suspected Arson Attack
German police said on Sunday that a planned accommodation center for migrants in the southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg was hit by an arson attack, the latest sign of tension as migrants flow to the country.
Police in the city of Heilbronn said nobody was in the sports hall in nearby Wertheim at the time of the attack, and it was not currently possible to enter the building because of fire damage. Some 330 beds for migrants had already been installed at the facility.
The attack came as a senior member of parliament in Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), spoke out in favor of tighter rules on granting asylum.
"Those who are not in danger should leave Germany as quickly as possible," Gerda Hasselfeldt told the Welt newspaper.
"We have to set clear priorities. We need our energy and resources for those who are fleeing war and persecution."
The comments came as Hungary and Croatia traded threats as thousands of migrants poured over their borders, deepening the disarray in Europe over how to handle the crisis.
A proposal being argued over ahead of a meeting of European Union interior ministers on Tuesday would, if agreed, relocate 120,000 asylum seekers over the next two years around the whole bloc.
The number of migrants entering Germany, which recently re-imposed border controls, was lower on Saturday, with 1,710 people registered, than on Friday, when the number was 1,985, police said.
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Prince George's County students claim school lunches are undercooked, contain mold
FORT WASHINGTON, Md. - Students attending Prince George’s County Public Schools are complaining about some disgusting discoveries in the school cafeteria. Complaints about moldy and undercooked food were issued to the school district through Twitter directly from these students who say they have not heard a response from the school system.
But the outrage on social media was more than evident from these students who say someone will end up getting sick from these school lunches.
"Criminals are getting better food than we are,” said Tamera Perry, a senior student at Friendly High School in Fort Washington.
It’s not prison food, but these students allege their school lunches are not up to par.
“You're giving us something that's not healthy, that can possibly cause us to die and it's just unacceptable,” the high school student told us.
A school lunch menu for Friday, Sept. 11 at Friendly included “Rojo Fiesta Pizza." But Perry said, “What was in it was nowhere near salsa. That wasn't pizza at all. It was just disgusting."
Some students may not share the taste in ingredients or choices made by Prince George’s County Public Schools. But they said burger buns with mold and undercooked meat are nothing new to their lunch trays.
"I've gotten lunch where my mandarin orange has mold on it,” said Perry. “There have been incidents where the lunch lady had to collect our fruit cup because they were expired. Our milk has been expired. Open up apple juice cartons and it's been green. It's just disgusting."
One picture showed hollowed out chicken nuggets. For these students, their lunches come at a price too high for many.
"They raised our lunches to $3,” said Perry. “We're paying $3 for something that’s not edible, not organic and it's not healthy ... For some of the population of students, that's their only lunch, so you're putting them in a sticky situation where they can either continue to starve or they eat it because that's the only thing they have to eat."
FOX 5 reached out to Prince George’s County Public Schools on Monday. The school district was observing a holiday and there were no classes and their offices were closed.
But a school spokesperson wrote in a statement, "PGCPS cannot confirm the origin of the photo circulating on social media, but encourages anyone who has concerns regarding meals to call 301-952-6580. Providing healthy and nutritious meals for all students is a contributing factor to high academic achievement and the district prides itself on doing so for over 129,000 students each day.”
Read More >>Syria's Piano Man Flees After Years of Giving Hope to Others
ANTAKYA, Turkey — Syria's piano man once offered hope — now he is asking for help.
When many died, starved or picked up weapons to fight in Syria's civil war, Aeham Ahmad stuck with his music. The owner of Al-Ayham for Music played his piano in the ruble of Yarmouk, an unofficial Palestinian refugee camp outside the Syrian capital, Damascus, that once housed 160,000 but where only around 18,000 remain.
The 27-year-old played to convince those who had fled to return home. He and his neighbors sang to tell the world of their plight.
"Come back to Yarmouk," they sang. "Do not abandon your mother, Yarmouk. She is waiting for you."
The music brought a little hope, even joy, to an otherwise miserable existence. Eventually, the video and pictures were noticed around the world and Ahmad came to be known as a single point of light in the darkness of Syria's war.
Now, after years of bringing hope to others, even Ahmad has been forced to flee
In April, ISIS stormed Yarmouk and Ahmad decided it was finally time for him, his wife and two children to leave. So he packed his instruments — including the piano — and tried to exit the camp.
Militants soon stopped him at a checkpoint.
"They asked me what those were. I told them they were musical instruments. They asked me if I didn't know that music was a sin," he said from the border with Turkey. "They then poured gasoline over all the instruments and burned them."
"April 17 is a historic day for me because it was my birthday and they burnt my best friend," Ahmad said. "I've had this piano for about 16 years. It is a Russian piano. It was a special relationship."
"April 17 is a historic day for me because it was my birthday and they burnt my best friend," Ahmad said. "I've had this piano for about 16 years. It is a Russian piano. It was a special relationship."
"It was kind of like a living person with me and my family under siege," he added.
The family was then forced to go to the town of Yalda, where he played an electronic keyboard but out of sight because ISIS and their supporters were never far. Still, the family was forced to live in intolerable conditions.
"We were in a siege. My family and I ate cats for dinner at the end," he said. "Imagine what you can't imagine. Eventually there was no food."
Ahmad decided it was time to leave again — this time for good. He paid a smuggler to take his family out and the four soon left with nothing but the clothes on their backs. It soon became clear that his wife and kids would be safest in Damascus while he joined the exodus in Europe.
"There is no clear plan but to escape ... and that I provide and deliver more music, in a better way," he told NBC News from Turkish border with Syria. He has since made it to Greece, from where he hopes to travel across land to Germany.
Now, the Syrian piano man who sang for a return to a Yarmouk of the past seeks a future in Germany.
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