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Sergio Hernandez
Professor, Batty
English 113B
April 6, 2016
Brutality against Disables
Individuals with mental and physical disabilities are victims, towards police brutality.
Although law enforcement are trained to handle certain cases, there are some that lack the skills
to take on cases with individuals with disabilities. The disabled group lacks the abilities to follow
basic police commands due to their conditions. Individuals with disabilities are at a disadvantage
towards police brutality, because of their physical and mental conditions. There are well known
organizations that specialize in training for officers, but somehow police brutality is still
happening, because there is no cooperation or any enforcements to make this a priority when
being an officers.
Law enforcement train to handle cases in various ways, but not all police officers have
the proper training to make the situation any easier. For example, in the year of 2011, a forty-five
year old disabled man, named Charlie McGillivray, was shot by police officers for being unable
to answer their interrogations. Charlie had experienced brain injuries, as a result he lack the
ability to speak (Gallant the Star). Being unable to speak, the defenseless man was shot multiple
times. After he was shot the tragedy was not over, he was then tackled to the ground. As a result
after he arrived at the hospital he instantly died. This isnt the only case that police officers have
used brute force. Law enforcement train, but lack the skills of patience and communication
which affects people with mental and physical problems. Police officers have brutally tackled,
shot, pepper sprayed, tased and killed innocent victims. As quoted by Joe Swanson Just because
you have a badge doesnt mean you can treat people any way you like (Rebloggy) in this quote

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Joe Swanson points out that a badge is not a pass towards police brutality. Furthermore, disabled
victims have a disadvantage towards police brutality, due to their conditions.
Individuals with mental and physical disabilities lack the ability to perform certain police
commands due to their conditions, because of this they are abused by law enforcement. For
example, in an article by The Daily Beast by Heideman talked about a twenty-six year-old men
named Ethan Saylor, who was killed by law enforcement because he wanted to watch a movie
more than once. The individual had Down syndrome which caused the victim to be unable to tell
from right and wrong. Due to his condition, the police used brute force to remove him from the
theater. As a result, the law enforcement crushed his larynx which caused Mr. Ethans life.
Police officers dont understand the situation that is going on due to the fact that they dont know
what type of disorder they are dealing when they are called for help.
This lack of skills cause brutality and death. As quoted by Morgan Freeman the actor
Attacking people with disabilities is the lowest display of power I can think of (Nicholas).
What is indicated in this quote is that causing harm or any type of violence towards the disabled
group is inhuman and it shouldnt be done by anyone. As from all the people in the world
disabled people have a higher risk of police brutality and being killed than those that dont
contain a disability. The disabled people are always victims, because law enforcement dont ever
sit down and try to reason with them. If they would to sit down and just talk for a few minutes
they can make a change and stop brutality. As a matter of fact polices dont have the knowledge
to understand people with disabilities. There are organizations around the world that provide
special programs to law enforcement to serve them with the training they will need to handle
cases in a more proper matter without using brute force.

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The basic training that officers receive in CIT are used to handle a crisis, such as to use
commands, for example, Get down on the floor, put your hands up or dont move. This
training doesnt always work with disabled people, thats why when there is a crisis that involves
an individual with a disability officers dont know how to respond. Some law enforcement are
impatient that they result to violence and brute force, but not anymore because, there is an
organization that wants to make a difference from this happening. In addition, one of the biggest
organizations around the country is the Crisis Intervention Team Training (CIT) which help
prevent tragedies with individuals with disabilities.
This organization trains and shows strategies to law enforcement. As quoted by Charlie
Pardo, We all signed up for this to help people, and CIT helps us do our jobs a lot better(CIT)
the Article indicated in this quote, that the CIT organization has helped officers improve their
way of helping people in a way that they wont cause any harm to individuals with disabilities.
There are many ways that this organization helps train officers to do their job better. There are
different methods that (CIT) uses to train officers, for example knowledge, plans, and experts are
the three that I found the most effective methods towards this problem. In the CIT organization
website they have used experts to help law enforcement in the field when encountering someone
with a disability.
This organization hires specialized people that major on the field of disabilities by doing
so they instruct officers on what to do to handle the situation in a proper matter. Although its an
effective method there isnt always an expert available. The 2nd method that law enforcement use
is knowledge. Officers are trained to learn about different disorders and also to know about
different techniques when approaching an individual with a disorder. For example, when officers
approach the victim they listen to them, ask questions and make them feel comfortable. The CIT

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organization provides officers with knowledge that can enhance their performance in the field by
doing so they are able to plan out on how they are going to handle the crisis. For example, as said
by the CIT organization when a crisis rises they make sure that law enforcement leaders always
know what type of disabilities they are dealing with first. Also to make sure that the safety of
others around is their main priority. If the situation is escalating officers make sure to listen to the
disabled victim stories and avoid stereotypes. As quoted by CIT Its more than just training
what the quote is indicating that the organization is not just about training, but instead is a
different lifestyle of learning. When officers go to CIT they dont go just for training instead they
go there to make a difference to help improve the lifestyle of disables. The training that officers
receive is enough to make a change and stop police brutality but, to do so it should be influence
to other officers as well. If there isnt cooperation then there will be no change.
As a final point, the lives of the disabled matter and law enforcement should make a
difference from ongoing tragedies. The CIT organization can be a changing point. Just think
about the differences that youre able to learn from this organization such are learning new things
and understand the disabled group. They are no different and they shouldnt be mistreated or
abuse just, because they lack the ability to follow basic commands, give this organization a
chance to make a difference and help out those in need and help save a life. CIT will make a
change we just have to give them faith and make the street safe again.

Works Cited
"CIT International." Resources: Presentations. Crisis Intervention Team Training. Web. 06 Apr.
2016.

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"How Police Can Stop Shooting People With Disabilities." American Civil Liberties Union.
Claudia Center, 20 Mar. 2015. Web. 15 Mar. 2016.
"Police Brutality's Hidden Victims: The Disabled." Daily Beast 8 Sept. 2014. Opposing
Viewpoints in Context. Web. 15 Mar. 2016.

Professor Batty Comment

Sergio, You have some good point here. Your thesis needs to be more argumentative. You are just
saying that there is training available, but what do you think about the training. If this issue is

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still a problem, then do you think that the training is good enough? You also need to be careful
not alienating your audience. Right now it seems like you are suggesting that all police officers
are bad people who enjoy getting away with brutality. Any time you make generalizations about
people, you run the risk of offending and, thus, losing your audience. Perhaps focus just on their
insufficient training. You have a clear organization. You need to introduce your quotes more
state