Posted on 09/24/2007 5:27:48 PM PDT by decimon
DeLAND, Fla. -- A 91-year-old World War II veteran spent eight days in jail after being accused of threatening his caregiver who apparently refused to let him take a walk around his assisted-living facility.
William Kepler was arrested at Deerfoot Manor Alf, an assisted-living home in DeLand, after an incident involving his nurse.
DeLand police were called to the facility, and Kepler was arrested after police said he refused to obey their commands.
Kepler said officers used excessive force on him during the incident.
After eight days in custody, James Floyd, who did not know Kepler, paid a $6,000 bond and took him into his own home.
"There is no excuse for what they did to him, especially when he did not show a firearm or pull a firearm or pull a weapon," Floyd said. "They just flat took him down."
Floyd said he bailed the 91-year-old out of jail because it upset him that he was behind bars.
"This man here, he fought for his country. He fought for me. He fought for you. That's why we're here. If it wasn't for him, this would be a messed up place. It tears me up," Floyd said.
Kepler admitted that he had a fake gun on his person but said he never pulled it out, according to the Local 6 News report.
"They should have an ethical (manager) in there watching them and correcting them. They are plenty wrong," Kepler said of the assisted-living home. "They need a legitimate, honest person to guide them because they're crooks."
The DeLand Police Department said any force was used because they said Kepler did not obey to their commands.
Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.
I can’t believe a lil ol needle would set them off. ;^)
*************
I feel the same.
Carolyn
I don't understand it either. At age 62, I'm not sanguine about my future.
Hillary!-care in a nutshell...
I agree completely with your point. I just think that the article was written to provoke outrage amongst the FReeper community..."here is is poor old man who served his country well. All he wanted was a chance to get out of his room, and he's been beaten into insensibilty by jackbooted police thugs....this could happen to YOU!".
I know plenty of veterans and plenty of older people, and some of them are real SOB's - I wouldn't want to take care of them on a daily basis. Heck, I had a relative who suffered from (Alzhemiers? Parkinson's?) dementia and tried to kill his wife, before he was put into a facility that was equipped to handle his situation.
That's why I think that there's a whole lot more here than meets the eye.
Needles can kill you but where did you see that. If they thought he had a weapon then yeah they needed to “disarm “ him but jail? 8 days?
Many sadists become police because they can do this sort of sadistic behavior with impunity. Police become more and more corrupt because they almost always get away with it — even when they are caught red-handed.
BTW, I couldn’t have cared for him. First of all,I live alone. I have no money or home suitable for an old man. Poor heat, only one window air conditioner that doesn't work so good, no carpet, etc. And I work too many hours. My job requires me to be gone a week at a time sometimes.
He had money. They could’ve hired someone to come to their home to take care of him. I don’t know why they didn’t do that. But it wasn’t my decision to make. Hindsight is 20/20 I guess.
The nurse or your mom?
again...complaining about something that YOU could have solved...
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I think that was uncalled for. You are either lacking in judgement or you are mistaking me for someone else.
Uh?
I've a little tolerance....but not much, for violent patients.
My mom complained the nurse was hurting her with the blood pressure cuff and finally went off her rocker and struck the nurse. The nurse was a good soul and recorded the incident as required and it went no further.
I was frightened because I feared her being kicked out of the hospital. Others on the staff were not so nice and the nice guy got mom’s guff for someone else’s perceived transgression.
Nurse Ratchet is HOT!!!!
I’ll bet she does not shave her legs.
Admittedly, in a perverted, sick kind of way.
So....dementia is a crime, now?
At 91, is is entirely possible that he has absolutely no family left.
I wonder how the Police Officer can sleep, knowing that he popped some geriatric for dissing him.
Probably like a baby.
Sure, if you're threatening someone with a gun. Or, in my cousin's case, trying to kill your wife (of 50 odd years). With my cousin, he didn't need to go to jail, but he *did* need to go to a facility where they could cope with his condition. Unfortunately, it took him nearly strangling his wife, for both her and my family to admit that they couldn't handle him. Dementia is a terrible disease.
As for the cop tasering the guy - we weren't there. I don't put any rough stuff past some police officers - but a combative, unreasonable adult male is difficult to handle at any age. Also - if, for instance, this man was restrained, he'd very likely be badly bruised up, and people would be taking the police to task for that. There's no way for them to win.
In reading other links on this thread, I can't tell if there was a gun involved, or a toy gun, or if he had a toy gun that he thought was a real gun. I gotta tell ya, the reporting on this story stinks. We'll likely never know what really happened. I'd be curious to see if the facility where this gentleman was staying gets investigated. If they do, that says a lot. If not, well, that says a lot too.
Thanks-
Yeah, I read that after my post. I usually read the ENTIRE thread before posting, but I guess I was in a hurry.
I formally withdraw my post.
DeNada. I occasionally suffer from premature posting, too.
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