Father of austistic boy who was Tasered files federal lawsuit

"I just feel for people with autism," Larry Mathews, 62, said during a recent interview.

[Glen Perry]

Beat him and his lawyer in court and go after them for the costs to defend this frivilous suit. The creep would not be suing except for being able to find a blood-sucking personal injury trial lawyer to buy in on the lottery ticket.

[Mom of Autistic son]

I'll be sure to keep my son out of Hawthorne all together!

[Judy Converse MPH RD LD]

Simply incredible and I do not have words for this. Difficulty coping with a queue of fidgety peers is common for kids with autism spectrum disorders. What aide working with these kids is so badly qualified, so unaware of the realities of autism, that s/he would force the child to stand in line with peers in this way in the first place? No-brainer accommodation is let him go last, or first, or later when it's more quiet. The staff and police response here is egregious, inhuman, incredible, indefensible. This is a child, now brutally traumatized, physically and emotionally, at the hands of people who are supposed to be providing him education and safety. Shame on them and I hope the family prevails.

[hpd]

if the kid is running screaming and spitting and the officer doesnt know that he is autistic than the officer did the right thing by tazing the kid.. sad that it happened but its better than having the officer use brute force to take him down because we all know how officers can go overboard with that.. sad to hear that it happened though

[Come on]

You have to be kidding me with the "I thought he was going to hurt other students" bit. If the officer does not know how to handle autistic children then he needs to go back to school. This is the problem with "mainstreaming" these children. They are not going to act like every other child in every circumstance. How stupid and irresponsible to use a taser on him because at 13 he is still just a child. Fire the officer or make sure he's educated... or the next time there may be an even more undesireable...and there will be a next time with no education.

[Local Yokel]

Glen Perry wrote:

Beat him and his lawyer in court and go after them for the costs to defend this frivilous suit. The creep would not be suing except for being able to find a blood-sucking personal injury trial lawyer to buy in on the lottery ticket.

Did you even read the article? I'm usually one of the first to respond with a comment like yours where a lawsuit is involved but not in this case. Sad part is that the taxpayers will pay and the ignorant people responsible will go on their merry way.

[Happy Hermosan]

I have worked as an instructional aide with preschool through high school autistic students at local school districts for 2 years. It makes me sick that any such student would be tasered. I will volunteer to offer any support the family needs to defend themselves. From personal experience I have found police are rarely found guilty of wrongdoing when in fact they have blatantly been in the wrong. It's got to stop. Enough is enough.

[ARI]

I am not familiar with autism but I do have a 13 and 11 year old. These police officers are trained to handle grown men yet he cannot handle a 13 year old boy that is kicking and screaming? He must not be a parent! Its not like the child had a weapon!! Autistic or not, this is a child!! For you morons siding with the officer, come back and comment after its happened to your child. I know there are always 2 sides to a story but unless this kid had a dangerous weapon, not cones, my full support goes to the family.

[John]

Don't know the size of this kid but it's sounds to me he was obviously out of control because all of the "trained" teachers/aides who ARE educated on the behavior of autistic kids couldn't seem to calm him down. As for the person who thinks that the protection of others is not a valid point, let the out of control kid hurt your child then I'm sure you would have appreciated the fact someone stop the violent outburst. The use of the taser on a 13 year old is not the norm but in this case it obviously ended the altercation. Do I blame the family for being upset no, but do I think the officer was completely out of line NO.

[Marni]

Could you please, please let the family know about the greatest school ever for autistic children - Village Glen? Although this never happened to my son, it could have so easily in the public school system. He is now at Village Glen West where they understand kids like this and make their school experience something wonderful. The kids are their friends, not problems. Because of the disability, the school district will pay for the tuition and the transportation. This boy needs a good school experience.

[Wow]

ARI wrote:

I am not familiar with autism but I do have a 13 and 11 year old. These police officers are trained to handle grown men yet he cannot handle a 13 year old boy that is kicking and screaming? He must not be a parent! Its not like the child had a weapon!! Autistic or not, this is a child!! For you morons siding with the officer, come back and comment after its happened to your child. I know there are always 2 sides to a story but unless this kid had a dangerous weapon, not cones, my full support goes to the family.

Maybe it's hard to think straight when you've been kicked in the nuts. The part that seems bad on HPD is where they arrested him 5 days later. After 5 days has passed, all parties should be thinking straight. Something isn't quite right with this whole story.

[Wow]

If I remember correctly the Columbine killers were just kids. I guess the cop should have called Ms. Cleo on his way to the call and got all the info he needed before he arrived. I doubt the cop knew the kid was autistic and regardless the kid was being violent. It seems like these arm chair experts expect police officers to allow people to be violent as long as they are autistic. If the situation was so easy to handle why did the school officials have to call the cops. I'd like to see any of them go running into this violent situation with little information and "talk the kid down". Tasers are a great tool. They are very effective with zero long term effect. The kid was sudued and no one else was injured, seems like the taser was very effective.

[Jon Quimbly]

A twelve y.o. autistic boy knocked down a cop? A cop armed with a gun, taster, baton and handcuffs.

Yeah, right. Let's hear the witness statements, then I'll reconsider.

Tasering is an all-too-easy solution to every problem for cops. They really ought to be taught simple self-defense and disarming.

[Sylverster Tillingsgrad]

I really like the people who are outraged that an autistic TEEN got tased. It is unfortunate that sometimes it has to come to that, but PLEASE don't try to pretend that some autistic humans are prone to violent outburst. Attempting to restrain a thrashing 5 year old is not the same as trying to restrain a 15 year old.

Let's hear from the parents of autistic children who got their *** beat by simply interrupting their routine.

[Misenthrope]

But how are police or anyone called to a scene to know instantly if someone is autistic just by appearance alone? Some high functioning autistics and Asperger sufferers have normal appearances. And what training do the responders need? It typically can take several hours or days for a highly paid psychiatrist to determine if someone is mentally ill or developmentally delayed. Just how much expertise can we expect from a police officer responding to a one time call? Also are we saying that under no circumstances should an autistic person be tazered; they should have diplomatic immunity to it?

[COVER UP]

Hawthorne cops are thugs in uniforms and the mayor is corrupt. heck all of the council members in Hawthorne are all crooks.
when you people decide to elect the right people you will get the right outcome. It's the old people who cause this cause they vote in all these criminals. The old will no doubt be treated with respect just look at congress.
Old People are the cancer of the USA Economy and the world. If you are dependent on the tax payer and medical IHOP.

[Wow]

Jon Quimbly wrote:

A twelve y.o. autistic boy knocked down a cop? A cop armed with a gun, taster, baton and handcuffs.
Yeah, right. Let's hear the witness statements, then I'll reconsider.
Tasering is an all-too-easy solution to every problem for cops. They really ought to be taught simple self-defense and disarming.

Cops are taught self defense. The fact is tasers cause less injury for cops and the bad guys. I could only imagine the story if the cop went hands on with this kid, self defense techniques are designed to cause pain compliance and tend to cause more injury. Cops are not expected to get hurt during their duties, they have families and careers to maintain. The 5 second ride or two from a taser was appropriate based on what I have seen in the paper. Everyone calls the cops to do a job, but then expects them to throw their bodies at the problem. That's not the way it works and it's not the way the whiners typing here would do.

[bootsysmom]

I see fault on many sides here. If this child has such outbursts and requires special treatment, why was he at school without a one on one aide familiar with his condition? And why was no one at the school trained in how to handle this situation without calling in local law enforcement? And the parents, did they not consider this when placing their son in a public school? Did they not question the staff at the school as to how they would handle such outbursts when they occur? We don't know how big or strong this kid is. He very easily could have injured other students and or staff. School staff does not get paid enough to put themselves in physical danger trying to restrain a violent child. Why were no administrators present when law enforcement arrived to advise the officer of the child's disability? Why were there no other plans in place at the school for handling such an episode when they knew it was a possibility? Why is this parent not suing or holding the school responsible for any of this?

[Al Fansome]

I feel badly for the boy, his family and the police officer. Misenthrope made the right call here. If I had to place blame, it would go to the school staff. Every adult in that school should have been aware of the boy's background.

[Not]

Sylverster Tillingsgrad wrote:

I really like the people who are outraged that an autistic TEEN got tased. It is unfortunate that sometimes it has to come to that, but PLEASE don't try to pretend that some autistic humans are prone to violent outburst. Attempting to restrain a thrashing 5 year old is not the same as trying to restrain a 15 year old.
Let's hear from the parents of autistic children who got their *** beat by simply interrupting their routine.

Actually he wasn't a TEEN at the time, he was twelve, still a child. You can't tell me a 12 year old boy could out muscle a couple cops and whatever school security Hawthorne has. Did they even try to restrain him before tazing and why not let his sister try first before breaking out the tazer?