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God, now people have to worry about being Tased for having a low blood sugar reaction.
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.
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.
More than 10% of adults have diabetes, and there are more than 23 million Americans living with it. And a lot of people are on insulin therapy, so that means that there’s always a possibility of a rapid-onset low blood sugar instance, particularly if a person’s regimen is tightly controlled.
For police, there is no excuse not to recognize the signs when the American Diabetes Association offers free training and has a video – “Recognizing and Treating Low Blood Sugar Reactions … Or is it drinking, drugs or diabetes?”
Certainly pulling out the Taser should not be the first option.
4 Comments
Like “ICE”, but more proactiveUsually, when we need to call the ambulance or police we call our family and friends after the fact. These days, I wonder we shouldn’t call them to the scene itself. Tell them to get there as quickly as possible and to come with some kind of camera. Hopefully at least two of them will make it there before the police or paramedics.
These days, getting solid pictorial evidence seems to be our only defense against abuse.
Whaddayamean, “These days”?I don’t think there’s more abuse than their used to be, we’re just more likely to hear about it due to the ubiquity of cameras. With any luck, there’ll be less of it once petty authoritarians realize they’re being watched and that gratifying their personal power-trips isn’t as easy to sweep under the rug as it once was.
A “Regiment” is a military unit.A course of treatment is a “regimen”, no “t”. Now that I’ve got the pedantry out of my system: WHAT THE HELL?!?! Since when is it a valid first assumption that someone in a medical emergency is going to be shooting up with something illegal? I know MY first assumption seeing someone having a seizure attempting to inject themselves with something, would be that it was something prescribed to them. Wow, that cop must have been an idiot.
Need to take classesI think police needs to take classes in how not to behave rudely and treat other people with dignity. The responsibility of law and order is in their hands and they must behave more responsibly, maturely and politely as well.
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