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.

  • Semi-Hemi-Demigod
    link
    fedilink
    147
    edit-2
    11 months ago

    If you have a problem and you call the cops you now have two problems

    Edit: Also, who administered the ketamine? Had they received training in appropriate dosing? Or did some dumb cop just shove a needle into a kid and hope he didn’t die.

    • @Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      6111 months ago

      Or did some dumb cop just shove a needle into a kid and hope he didn’t die.

      Or did some malicious cop just shove a needle into a kid and hope he did die?

    • FuglyDuck
      link
      fedilink
      English
      1611 months ago

      Usually it’s administered by EMS. At least here it is.

      At least it’s supposed to be. Cops generally only have slightly better medical training than you’re average cpr/fa/aed cert holder.

      Basically, it’s just enough they can say they tried to keep that guy they just shot alive long enough for EMS to show up.

  • @WoahWoah@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    111
    edit-2
    11 months ago

    Obviously the police are the criminals here, but that mom…

    They clearly didn’t grow up being told what I was always told: “if you’ve got a problem and you call the police, now you’ve got two problems.”

    • @Socsa@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      24
      edit-2
      11 months ago

      Yeah this is some abusive, privileged bullshit and I really hope this idiot learned a lesson. I also hope her child reminds her of this shit anytime she starts mounting her high horse in the future.

      • @WoahWoah@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        -2
        edit-2
        11 months ago

        Yes, the elderly woman that adopted an at-needs child of color is the one being abusive and privileged.

        The abusive, privileged bullshit is your comment.

          • @WoahWoah@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            56
            edit-2
            11 months ago

            She mistakenly thought that calling the cops to talk to her child about not stealing would help him understand why it’s wrong and what the stakes are. She’s an old white woman. She didn’t realize that cops wouldn’t treat her large, black child as subhuman.

            She was stupid and ignorant, but the cops are the monsters here. Don’t get it twisted with your own relationships with your parents. This isn’t that.

            • @wildginger@lemmy.myserv.one
              link
              fedilink
              -411 months ago

              Insanely weird to project your parental issues on a lady calling the cops on her adopted black child, but being old is not an excuse for not being aware of the century long issue of cops treating black people poorly.

              • @Doof@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                1611 months ago

                there was a time where media portrayed that as a reasonable thing to do, the police would come and talk to their kid. I’ve heard stories about it happening. Hell when i kid we got caught being destructive and the cops who caught us took us on tour of where we could end up. We got brought in the truck straight to the cells. It is a foolish thought but a person who holds some idyllic model in their heads sometimes are blinded by it.

                • @wildginger@lemmy.myserv.one
                  link
                  fedilink
                  1111 months ago

                  She has a black lives matter sign in front of her house.

                  She isnt senile, and she is aware of a movement dedicated to dealing with police aggression.

                  Her age isnt an excuse. She clearly should have known better. Its insane to excuse her behavior.

                • @NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  611 months ago

                  When I was in cubs as a child, they took us to a police station and the cops talked to us about various things, we got our fingerprints taken (for us to keep, not their system) and we got to check out the jail cells.

                  Cops have definitely been used for educational purposes in the past. I don’t remember much of it specifically, but i remember it being a great experience.

                • @wildginger@lemmy.myserv.one
                  link
                  fedilink
                  011 months ago

                  ???

                  There was no “no u” here.

                  Are you whiny about the fact that they projected their parental issues onto anyone who correctly judged the idiot for calling the cops? Thats their projection, that they said.

                  Correctly noting the idiot should have known better about the older-than-her issue of cops beating black folk for the sin of being black has nothing to do with anyones parents.

                  Telling someone not to project their problems isnt a “no u,” but its cute your best retort was to brag about how poorly you read.

  • @Fisk400@feddit.nu
    link
    fedilink
    7611 months ago

    This is a minor problem compared to the fucking forced ketamin injections but can we please use more words to describe these types of issues. Like, specific ones. “Behavioral issues and intellectual disabilities” has also been used to describe the kid that almost beat a teacher to death for saying he shouldn’t have his Nintendo in school and the flying guy that tried to kill the judge. If there is no difference between how we describe them and this kid, we are just reinventing calling people retarded in increasingly elaborate ways.

    • @medgremlin@midwest.social
      link
      fedilink
      2111 months ago

      I see your point, but that is a bigger can of worms than I think you are expecting. There are dozens of genetic or congenital disorders that can lead to intellectual disabilities and hundreds of acquired ones; all of which result in a range of severity. Also, “intellectual disabilities” and “behavioral problems” are very large buckets of different manifestations. In order to differentiate in the way that you are asking for, they would need to report exact diagnoses and give a detailed description of the individual to differentiate them, and even then, there would need to be a lot of context and clarification if they are to avoid misinterpretation or misunderstanding of any terms or descriptions used.

      • @Fisk400@feddit.nu
        link
        fedilink
        911 months ago

        I’m not saying it’s easy. When I say specific I just mean more specific than the huge bucket we currently have. Maybe 5 buckets so that this kid doesn’t need to share a bucket with the Nintendo kid i mentioned.

      • @Fisk400@feddit.nu
        link
        fedilink
        1011 months ago

        I’m sure there is some middle ground we can find. His mother is named in the article and his actions were explained in depth so I don’t see a problem with being a bit more specific with what caused the behaviour. Especially when the phrase is also used to describe quite violent people.

        • @girlfreddy@lemmy.caOP
          link
          fedilink
          911 months ago

          I have to wonder why you want a clearer picture of what the boy was suffering from, 'cause from my vantage point it seems it’s only to satisfy your own curiosity rather than solve a larger issue.

          Imo it’s none of our business what his diagnoses was as he was the victim here.

          • @Fisk400@feddit.nu
            link
            fedilink
            -111 months ago

            If it’s not relevant they dont need to bring it up. If it is relevant I would like to know what way it is relevant. I am fine with either but not both.

            Don’t forget that the reason I want there to be more detail is because they used the expression as an excuse for that guy that jumped the judge. A guy that was articulate and friendly right up until he turned feral. I think it is doing this kid a disservice to put these two very different people under the same vague header. It’s what they did with the r-slur and it’s why it’s considered a slur today.

            • @girlfreddy@lemmy.caOP
              link
              fedilink
              311 months ago

              Again, in this particular instance he was the victim.

              Blanket rules in revealing diagnoses do not take into account individual’s right to privacy. I prefer to respect that right vs your request to know.

              • @Fisk400@feddit.nu
                link
                fedilink
                -111 months ago

                I don’t know why “a bit more specific” is being read as reveal his medical history.

                • @girlfreddy@lemmy.caOP
                  link
                  fedilink
                  311 months ago

                  Because being specific is a breach of privacy. It’s really none of our business unless ofc one is a busybody.

  • @zerog_bandit@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    7311 months ago

    Absolute definition of white privilege to think that calling the police to lecture her black son would yield positive outcomes.

    I say this as a white person.

  • sylver_dragon
    link
    fedilink
    English
    6711 months ago

    What do you say to the armed, violent, unstable nutcase with a gun?
    Good morning, Officer.

    • @mainframegremlin@programming.dev
      link
      fedilink
      3011 months ago

      What sound does a cow make? Moo. What sound does a dog make? Woof. What sound does a cat make? Meow. What sound does a pig make? UP AGAINST THE WALL MOTHER FUCKER.

    • @girlfreddy@lemmy.caOP
      link
      fedilink
      1911 months ago

      Police are not an education service.

      They like to pretend they are. Schools used to invite them into classrooms in the before times.

    • @_Analog_@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      1411 months ago

      Right in the first part, but for the second: police come in more than one gender and the training is the same.

      (Afaik on the training part - I welcome being proven wrong!)

    • @cosmicrookie@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      1311 months ago

      In most civilised countries, the police is trained to de-escalate conflicts and when the do nedd to be agressive, they are trained for it to not be excessive and certainly not letha…

      Also in most civilised countries, this takes several years not just 6 months.

      That said, I hope that excessive aggression is not taught in the US police and that it is down to bad culture or single bad apples or regions.

      • @Son_of_dad@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        111 months ago

        I don’t think police in other countries are much better. I’m in Canada and our cops can be every bit as bad as American cops.

  • Endorkend
    link
    fedilink
    4911 months ago

    And then people wonder why as a neurodivergent person, I’ve passed over several obscenely lucrative contracts simple because they required me to go to the US for any extent of time.

    • @herrcaptain@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      3911 months ago

      Buddy, I’m not neurodivergent and I also straight up refuse to set foot in that place. I don’t even feel particularly comfortable sharing a border with them at this point. Lots of the people are great, but the government and many of its institutions scare the hell out of me.

      • @Sagifurius@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        1911 months ago

        You live in a country with the fucking RCMP and yet have let the media convince you their institutions are scary.

        • @herrcaptain@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          1211 months ago

          I’m not saying the RCMP (or local cops) are much better, and we have plenty of our own problems. These days those mainly stem from the import of MAGA-style “conservatism,” and I’ll admit that things have been getting noticeably worse around here.

          That said, we don’t have school shootings pretty much every week, insane amounts of gun violence, the overreach of homeland security (my biggest reason for not wanting to set foot down there - crossing the border), people having to mentally run a cost/benefit analysis if they need to go to the hospital, talk of civil war, half our political representatives being clinically insane (here it’s a little less), people going to jail for weed (a small bit of good that’s happened here during a period of general backslide), the alphabet agencies (the RCMP has historically done some heinous shit but it’s child’s play compared to the CIA), the fact that a rapist who actively says he wants to destroy democracy has a very good chance of becoming president again, etc, etc, etc.

          So yeah, I’ll happily stay in the country with the RCMP.

        • Canadian cops are scary too, but it’s not even close. US cops are five times more likely to kill. And Canadian cops don’t have qualified immunity.

          • @Sagifurius@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            011 months ago

            And yet when they run 14 year olds over with their cruiser in a school playground nothing happens.

            • I did a quick search for this but nothing came up. Do you have a link to an article?

              Cars are the number one killer of children in Canada. We tolerate a disgusting amount of preventable traffic accidents in Canada, but comparing that to killing children by shooting them or putting them into deadly chokeholds is nonsensical.

    • @LesserAbe@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      611 months ago

      Naturally you should do what you’re comfortable with. I will say that the most upsetting news stories from any place aren’t representative of what it’s like to live there. As a lifelong resident I don’t know anyone personally who has been shot or shot at in the U.S, and don’t know anyone who has been wrongfully arrested or assaulted by the police.

      That’s not to say it’s not a problem that needs to be addressed, it is. Just if someone is turning down opportunities they would otherwise accept out of fear of this thing, I would say they may be overweighting the risk.

      It reminds me how my mom would always text me when I lived in the city, “did you hear about this shooting? Are you ok?” But I wouldn’t have even been aware there was an incident. There are a lot of people in the world. The absolute crime rate has overall been going down. But the ability for us to hear about horrible incidents has only increased.

      • @Misconduct@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        411 months ago

        I talked to a guy a while ago that genuinely would not believe I’ve never owned or handled a gun. Absolutely would not accept it and said I was lying lol. I think I briefly saw a hunting rifle in my uncle’s closet as a kid but that’s pretty common even outside the US. There are people out there that really think we’re ALL armed to the teeth I guess

  • dream_weasel
    link
    fedilink
    4011 months ago

    Let’s have police reform and additional training or more services!

    Also…

    PARENT YOUR OWN KIDS. Don’t call the cops on your underage children to “teach a lesson” you’re the parent, YOU do it. That call doesn’t come with a lesson, it comes with a pretty larceny charge to help with your kid’s “bad week”.

    • @Randomgal@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      411 months ago

      This. Honestly this is the one comment in this cesspool that makes sense. The thing that failed here is parenting.

      • dream_weasel
        link
        fedilink
        311 months ago

        And parenting a disabled kid for crying out loud. What a shit show.

  • @Minotaur@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    1711 months ago

    Yeah god bless the woman I’m sure she had good intentions - but she’s not living in some 1990s public service announcement where the nice policeman gives valuable lessons to children.

    Police are like… an absolute last resort “I need someone shot” measure. The fact that we also have them (for no particular reason) also authorize things like reports for insurance related incidents is a pretty colossal failure of “the system” as a whole

    • Æon
      link
      811 months ago

      Exactly this. I can’t imagine how sheltered I’d have to be to still believe calling the police to “teach someone a lesson” is anything but a catastrophically bad idea. And I’m pretty sheltered already!