The family of a 17-year-old who has autism says police officers who forcefully arrested him, rendering him unconscious, should have recognized he was disabled when they talked with him. They are calling for better training.
Two Metro Transit police officers wrote in reports that the St. Paul teen, identified by his family as Marcus Abrams, resisted arrest and tried to strike an officer. They took him down to the ground and, when he was kicking at and trying to punch officers, put him in a neck restraint, the reports said.
Abrams had two seizures when police used force against him at the Green Line’s Lexington Parkway Station, his lip was split, and he has cuts on his face and head, said Maria Caldwell, his mother.
A Metro Transit police sergeant wrote in his report that the officers’ use of force complies with department policies. Police are reviewing the case “to ensure all of our standard policies and procedures were followed,” said Metro Transit spokesman Howie Padilla.
Abrams has Asperger’s syndrome, which is considered on the high-functioning end of the autism spectrum, his mother said. He also has seizures, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and other disabilities, Caldwell said. Because he has touch-sensory problems, he doesn’t like people to touch him or be in his personal space, she said.
“He has the mind of a 12 year old … even though he doesn’t look like that,” said Caldwell of her son, who is 5 feet 11 inches tall and slender. Caldwell said it should have been obvious to officers when they talked to Abrams that something is different about him. He is also legally blind, Caldwell said, and wears glasses that are obviously very magnified. The glasses were knocked off and damaged during the struggle with police.
“If they had training with dealing with an autistic child or someone like an Alzheimer’s patient … it would seem they would have known how to handle him better than they did,” Caldwell said Wednesday.
Speaking generally, Padilla said officers continue to undergo training in working with individuals who have “emotional-behavioral issues” and in crisis intervention.
The incident happened about 7 p.m. Monday. Abrams and friends who were with him are apprentices with Urban Boatbuilders, a youth organization, and they had been demonstrating their work at the Minnesota State Fair. They were heading home from there, waiting for a train, when Abrams jumped onto the tracks. The teen said Wednesday he was “mostly playing around, like play fighting.”
Abrams was on the tracks for about 10 seconds, said his 15-year-old friend, who was helping Abrams get home; Abrams usually has someone to help him wherever he goes, his mother said. Abrams had just returned to the platform when officers approached.
Metro Transit reports released Wednesday give the following accounts from officers Richard Wegner and Peter Buzicky:
The officers were driving by when they saw a male on the tracks, leading Wegner to shout “Hey!” out the window. The male ignored him. As Wegner started to get out of the squad, the male jumped back on the platform and they followed.
Wegner and Buzicky asked for Abrams’ identification, but he said he had done nothing wrong and did not need to identify himself. Wegner told him it was illegal to be on the tracks.
“He responded loudly, ‘I’m 17!’ ” Wegner wrote. Abrams “again made no movements to retrieve any ID” and Wegner told him to put his hands behind his back, but he would not, the officer wrote. Buzicky grabbed Abrams’ other wrist and tried to pull it behind his back.
Abrams started backing up and Wegner grabbed his vest. Abrams put up a hand to him and the officer grabbed it to prevent him from striking him.
“He continued to refuse to comply,” Wegner wrote. “In fact he was able to cock his left hand by his left ear while looking right at me telling me not to touch him.”
Wegner told Abrams he was under arrest, but said the teen continued resisting. The officer used a “leg sweep takedown” because he “felt that it would be easier for us to control him on the ground,” he wrote. Abrams was on his back and Wegner landed on top of him.
Buzicky was trying to hold Abrams down, but he “continuously was kicking me and hitting me with his hand,” the officer wrote, and Wegner said Abrams tried to punch him. Wegner used his arm to encircle Abrams’ neck and put him into a “neck restraint,” saying he added compression when Abrams kept kicking and trying to hit the officers.
They got one handcuff on Abrams when he began kicking again. Wegner then used his knee to pin Abrams’ head down to the ground to control his upper body.
The officers got the second handcuff on Abrams and Wegner wrote he “released the suspect completely.” Wegner said Abrams seemed semiconscious; Buzicky described him as unconscious in his report.
Police said they called for paramedics, who took Abrams to Regions Hospital.
Abrams was released early Tuesday morning and said Wednesday that his upper body, jaw and head remain sore.
Caldwell told police at the hospital about Abrams’ disabilities and that “was one of the determining factors” for officers to release him to his mother and not take him to the Ramsey County Juvenile Detention Center, Padilla said. Police don’t plan to present the case to prosecutors to consider charges against the teen, he said.
Abrams’ family is working with attorney Paul Applebaum and he met with the teen Wednesday.
“I think it’s clear that he’s got disabilities and, in my estimation, they would be apparent to an officer who was dealing with him,” Applebaum said.
He is investigating what happened to determine their next steps.
Abrams’ autism makes it difficult for him to tell people his feelings or to interpret the intentions of others, Caldwell said.
“He’s not out to harm anybody,” she said. “He’s just like any teen, trying to find their place in the world, but needing just a little special help.”
