Posted on 07/11/2010 9:51:28 PM PDT by The Magical Mischief Tour
Michelle Schreiner's blood sugar was dangerously low when a friend called 9-1-1 and Gresham police and paramedics arrived to find her holding a syringe full of insulin.
The officer ordered Schreiner -- who was dropping in and out of consciousness and was having trouble speaking or moving -- to drop the syringe. He shot Schreiner with a stun gun before handcuffing her and allowing paramedics to treat her.
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0 Share Not only was the incident life-threatening, Schreiner said, the stun gun was excruciating, and she was left humiliated, with saliva and mucus running from her mouth and nose.
Schreiner sued in U.S. District Court over the December 2005 incident. Last month, the city and Schreiner's attorney, Beth Creighton, reached a settlement: Schreiner received $37,500 and a promise that Gresham will train its officers by the end of summer in how to better recognize and care for people in medical distress, including those with diabetes.
Schreiner says the training just might make Oregon's fourth-largest city -- population 101,000 -- safer for diabetics. The 37-year-old says she's conscientious about avoiding low blood sugar, but occasionally it happens.
"The first question I've always been asked is: 'Have (you) been drinking?'" Schreiner said.
That's a common perception, said Sally Spaid Norby, executive director of the American Diabetes Association for Oregon and Southwest Washington.
And do people with diabetes worry that police will interpret their low-blood-sugar reactions as intentionally hostile, combative or noncompliant with orders?
"We certainly hear about it from people," Norby said.
Norby said the American Diabetes Association coordinates free training to lifeguards, hotel and restaurant employees and police -- anyone who regularly encounters the public and wants it. The association has produced a video, "Recognizing and Treating Low Blood Sugar Reactions ... Or is it drinking, drugs or diabetes?"
About 23 million Americans -- and more than 10 percent of adults -- have diabetes, according to the association.
Police encounters occasionally makes headlines. In 2003, Beaverton police used pepper spray and a stun gun on a man after he wouldn't pull over as he headed into Portland, drove over a spike strip and wouldn't get out of his car when it crashed. In 2007, Portland police said they had no choice but to use a stun gun on a 26-year-old Northeast Portland woman whose roommate called 9-1-1 for medical help.
Experts say many people blame diabetics for letting their blood sugar drop to levels where they become emotionally charged, hostile or combative.
"It's hard. It's hard," Norby said. "A lot of time low-blood-sugar reactions come on really fast."
Last month, an attorney for a diabetic man who says he was beaten and shot with a stun gun by Portland police July 17, 2008, during a diabetic emergency filed a $75,000 lawsuit in Multnomah County Circuit Court. Leonard Berman said his client, Michael Able, 46, was driving near Southeast 140th Avenue and Powell Boulevard when he crashed into a few parked cars. Bystanders called 9-1-1, and when police arrived, Able didn't comply with orders.
"He was in a daze. He came to after being tasered and punched in the eye," Berman said, alleging that officers gave Able a black eye and broke his teeth. "My client was ill, and the first thing they turn to is force. They were poorly trained."
The Portland city attorney's office declined to comment on the most recent case because of the pending litigation.
According to a police report written by Officer Gregory D. Burn, witnesses and an officer saw Able's car crash into a few cars, including a "stopped Toyota truck" while driving the wrong way down Powell. The rear tires kept spinning because the driver wouldn't take his foot off the gas.
Burn said he opened the passenger door and noticed that Able "appeared to be completely oblivious to my presence."
"I pointed my Taser at Able and gave him orders, but he kept trying to move the car," Burn wrote. Burn said he worried the car would start moving again, so he put the car in park.
"Able didn't fight but was being resistant to being handcuffed," Burn wrote.
Berman, Able's attorney, said police realized only after Able was handcuffed that he was diabetic. He wasn't charged with a crime.
The police report doesn't say that Able was shot with a stun gun and punched, but Berman said he has an independent witness who saw Able shocked and "roughed up."
Berman settled a case of a man in hypoglycemic distress with Portland for $17,500 in 2006.
Bob Day, commander of the Portland police training division, wasn't familiar with the incident and said he couldn't speak to it. He said he found no specific training of officers in how to recognize diabetics with low blood sugar and how to approach them.
Day said the training division is "certainly aware" of the issue -- and that diabetics can easily be mistaken for drunks. Sometimes, Day said, officers have brought people with hypoglycemia to Hooper detox center, where staff members have quickly realized the medical issue.
Day said the bureau might add diabetic encounters to its training or issue a bulletin about hypoglycemic behavior to all police employees.
He's a member of the bureau's tort review committee, which every other month reviews lawsuits filed against police.
"It's more than 'Oh, we're getting sued again,'" Day said. "It's 'Is there something here that needs to be addressed?'"
Study up on diabetes. I have a coworker who monitors his blood sugar every two hours. He even wears a insulin pump. However, he sunk suddenly into a hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) state that caused him to start talking with slurred words. When he started saying some crazy things to his supervisor, we knew he was having a reaction. His head was bobbing and he could hardly stand up and we had to hold him up until we found a chair. We were just getting him a can of Coke when he went unconscious. It happened real fast. We called 911 and the fire department came and administrated a life saving shot of glucagon.
This was all a result of his insulin pump putting too much insulin into his body. He may have set it wrong when he was at a low sugar level and not thinking well.
There’s not a single situation that can’t be made worse by adding a cop.
“That was 30 years ago. I have no idea what the protocol calls for now. I do know they now do finger stick blood sugar readings, but don’t know if they are expected to use the findings as a basis for giving insulin.”
They’ll use the results to detirmine whether to give dextrose 50 percent solution, or glucose in a tube if a line hasn’t been established yet.
“That was 30 years ago. I have no idea what the protocol calls for now. I do know they now do finger stick blood sugar readings, but don’t know if they are expected to use the findings as a basis for giving insulin.”
They’ll use the results to detirmine whether to give dextrose 50 percent solution, or glucose in a tube if a line hasn’t been established yet.
Her failure to provide for her own health and welfare is what caused this in the first place.
She was providing for her own health and welfare when the cop interfered.
It seems we have arrived in a place and time where the stun gun has replaced negotiation, diplomacy, tact and discretion with some law enforcement types.
As long as a bully can hide behind his badge, these tactics remain. This is not an indictment against all police - merely pointing out that when the only tool you use is a hammer all problems look like a nail.
So the Police Officer should have allowed himself and the Paramedics to be put at risk with a women not in her right mind and a syringe full of insulin? Horseshit..
Sorry for the lady to have this problem. Doesn;t mean others should be placed at risk because of it.
You ARE a thug aren’t you?
Shoot first ask questions later... I think the NKVD had the same philosophy
“Doesn;t mean others should be placed at risk because of it.”
These are not some random “others” risk comes with the job. So much for “heros” huh?
Good post! I worked in a facility that catered to mostly the mentally ill. Many of them had been tasered at one time or another, so we worked with law enforcement, to ease the problem. LE came to our place, and we served coffee and donuts, and they had meetings with the clients. Each told their story, and how they would like to be treated, and how the cops could avoid unnecessary roughness. Each described their mental illness, and the affects outsiders have on them, mostly by the way they talk to them. To make a long story short, both sides discussed the problem, and each came away with a new understanding of how to treat the mentally ill, as well as how to behave towards the police force. The way you approach an ill person makes all the difference.
A gun and a badge does not make one an expert in all things.
No. Dotcha know they get that from the GED it took them to get hired as a cop, and the night class on criminal law they took at ITT Tech to get promoted to Lieutenant.
No, but most firemen, policemen and security officers are trained as medical first responders and he should have known better.
I don't know what requirements PD's across the country have, but I do have an idea of what training first responders get. I volunteer as an instructional aid for a lady who teaches a course for first responders and EMT(B)'s.
He ignored what should have been obvious signs (in most cases, anyway). He, instead, thought "She isn't doing what I tell her, I'm gonna taze her @$$!" How much threat did she pose to him, even if the hypodermic was loaded?
What I see here is another sign of the increasing "Us against them" mentality increasingly common in PD's. That mentality alienates those of us who would otherwise be predisposed to be supportive of LEO's which increases the "Us against them" mentality etc.
Taser happy law enforcement officials should exercise some better form of discipline, because in short order quite a few people will realize how easily they can shield themselves from being tasered, one easy way is to simply have an umbrella.
And for every handgun sized taser an LEO has someone will build a home made rifle version, with a semi auto fire capability, I can already imagine how to manufacture such a “taser shotgun” with “taser mags” of at least 4 shots each.
Being a hobbyist gunsmith and a developer of an LED flashlight business combined with my extensive machine shop skills I know I can build such a home defense weapon.
And if I can...so can others.
That is the problem in a nutshell. EMT's (of my acquaintance, anyway) call police officers blue canaries. The police officers are supposed to go into potentially bad situations. If the blue canary doesn't fall down, it is safe to enter. EMT's are trained to back out if the threat level increases and let the canary calm things down.
The police officer should have brought the EMT's in before using the tazer. They may not have been on the scene, but I suspect he just didn't want to look weak or incapable.
I don't know why the PD responded to what was strictly a medical situation in the first place. Perhaps the 911 protocols need review?
Perhaps a good way of getting around this problem would be to have an identifier, like a MedicAlert bracelet or necklace, but more openly displayed. Once a local identifier had been selected for use by patients and medical facilities in the area, then a brief meeting with the local police PR office should both prevent misunderstandings, and get faster treatment if the patient is unresponsive.
This is the “two way street” approach. If you have such a medical condition, it is to your advantage to get help faster, and with more understanding.
There are lots of drunks in the world, and it’s a shame to be injured or die just because the police think you are one.
“What about people with heart conditions. Some people experience electrical misfires in their heart and a taser can affect them adversely, even causing death.”
So far about 400 people have been killed by tasers.
Robotic cops with human cattle prods (tasers) helping citizens become more compliant.
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