one more ‘damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.’ The officers would otherwise have needed to restrain him with ‘excessive force.’ It would be helpful if the article included details of the patient’s behavior that led to needing one or the other.
“Police were called to North Memorial (add: hospital) on the night of July 17, 2015, on a report of an armed man in a car. Powell was detained at gunpoint, but he was black — not the white or light-skinned Hispanic person the caller had described — and he was holding car keys, not a revolver. The nurse who made the 911 call also told officers they had the wrong man.
Officers described Powell, who was visiting a cousin at the hospital that night, as screaming profanities and being “verbally out of control.” After Powell was put in a squad car, officers asked paramedics to examine Powell because of his “uncontrollable irrational behavior,” according to police reports. Paramedics injected Powell with ketamine and brought him to the hospital, where he was intubated. He was never charged with a crime.
The lawsuit alleges the officers violated Powell’s constitutional rights by inappropriately detaining him and inviting paramedics to sedate him.”
Completely different from the “damned if you do; damned if you don’t” situation described above. Powell had been detained; he was restrained and sitting in a squad car.
I can understand Powell being upset over having been detained, but the cops have to do their job. These are trying times for people of color and law enforcement, but going off the rails does nothing but escalate a situation. I also get that the cops asked paramedics to examine Powell – for his safety and that of everyone else involved – but how the hell can you accurately “observe” someone after injecting them with a behavior-changing drug, in this case a dissociative anesthetic?
I think Powell has a case against the hospital, and if he doesn’t, something is very wrong with how our society regards its citizens and their basic rights.
one more ‘damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.’ The officers would otherwise have needed to restrain him with ‘excessive force.’ It would be helpful if the article included details of the patient’s behavior that led to needing one or the other.
From the Star Tribune:
“Police were called to North Memorial (add: hospital) on the night of July 17, 2015, on a report of an armed man in a car. Powell was detained at gunpoint, but he was black — not the white or light-skinned Hispanic person the caller had described — and he was holding car keys, not a revolver. The nurse who made the 911 call also told officers they had the wrong man.
Officers described Powell, who was visiting a cousin at the hospital that night, as screaming profanities and being “verbally out of control.” After Powell was put in a squad car, officers asked paramedics to examine Powell because of his “uncontrollable irrational behavior,” according to police reports. Paramedics injected Powell with ketamine and brought him to the hospital, where he was intubated. He was never charged with a crime.
The lawsuit alleges the officers violated Powell’s constitutional rights by inappropriately detaining him and inviting paramedics to sedate him.”
Completely different from the “damned if you do; damned if you don’t” situation described above. Powell had been detained; he was restrained and sitting in a squad car.
I can understand Powell being upset over having been detained, but the cops have to do their job. These are trying times for people of color and law enforcement, but going off the rails does nothing but escalate a situation. I also get that the cops asked paramedics to examine Powell – for his safety and that of everyone else involved – but how the hell can you accurately “observe” someone after injecting them with a behavior-changing drug, in this case a dissociative anesthetic?
I think Powell has a case against the hospital, and if he doesn’t, something is very wrong with how our society regards its citizens and their basic rights.