Link to story here
I have to say I was more upset by some of the negative comments people have written. It is frightening to see what a poor attitude towards and understanding so many people have regarding autism.
How can we every make them understand and respect us?
Deputies hit autistic teen with stun gun
15-year-old boy hit with Taser after officers say he ran in and out of traffic in North Tustin.
By GREH HARDESTY and RYAN HAMMILL
The Orange County Register
TUSTIN – Taylor Karras didn’t want to go home.
The 15-year-old autistic boy didn’t want to deal with his parents, his case workers at the Regional Center of Orange County or anyone else.
So Monday around 11:30 a.m., he bolted from the social services center in Westminster and started walking.
He walked for 15 miles down a busy boulevard, picking up snacks he found on the ground. The sun turned his cheeks and forearms pink.
Somewhere along the way, as Karras headed down 17th Street in the direction of his house in North Tustin, he found a shopping cart and fashioned himself as a homeless person.
After going missing for 10 hours, Karras found himself, around 9:30 p.m., lying face down on Newport Avenue, across the street and within eyesight of his home.
He was handcuffed from behind after being felled by a Taser gun, and surrounded by sheriff’s deputies.
Tuesday, Karras was back home after being released to his parents with no charges filed and suffering no serious injuries.
But Karras’ parents believe deputies overreacted when they responded to reports of a suspicious person near a bus stop – that they had no reason to fear the neatly dressed, unarmed teen who, at 5 feet, 11 inches and bearded, appears older.
Karras’ parents say they are mystified that deputies did not seem aware that he was the focus of a missing-person’s report that day.
“I was afraid of something,’’ Karras said Tuesday when asked why he ran from a deputy.
A sheriff’s spokesman said deputies possibly saved Karras’ life by using nonlethal force to stop him from running into traffic. They said a deputy fired the Taser when Taylor ignored their orders and started running.
A deputy sent a jolt of electricity into Taylor’s back a second time when the boy didn’t respond to orders to show his hands, They feared he might have been concealing a weapon.
The incident underscores both the unpredictable nature of police work and the challenges people with mental disabilities like Karras face when caught in situations they cannot comprehend.
Sheriff’s officials said, the moppy-haired teen with wire-frame glasses and a near-constant grin is lucky to be alive.
“It (deputies’ action) was necessary,’’ sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino said.
INTERNET ISSUES
Karras was diagnosed with autism at 5½. Years of professional intervention have developed him into a high-functioning autistic teen. He just started classes as a sophomore at Foothill High School.
Monday’s meeting was prompted by Karras’ refusal to stop harassing a person online, his parents said. His mother took him to the social services center to get an aide to monitor him at home when they were busy with work and their other children.
At first, Doriss Karras thought her son had gone to the bathroom when he went missing at the Regional Center of Orange County, at 13950 Milton Ave.
A missing person’s report was filed, Westminster police Lt. Bill Lewis said.
Sheriff's deputies received a call around 9:30 p.m. about a suspicious person at Newport Avenue and La Loma Drive in unincorporated Santa Ana. A deputy saw Karras pushing around a shopping cart.
The teen ran across Newport Avenue, and two cars swerved to avoid him, Amormino said.
Asked Tuesday about what happened, Taylor Karras said he fell to the asphalt in the middle of Newport.
A Sheriff’s Department official showed up later that night at Doriss and William Karras’ house to apologize. But the official told them the deputies had the right to subdue their son.
His parents disagree.
“They (deputies) should have been on alert that there was a missing autistic teenager in the area,’’ William Karras said.
Thanks erkolos - I didn't think to just paste the story!
What I want to know is this. They mentioned the boy apparently harrassing someone on the Internet.
Why?
As the boy is HF, there had to be a reason. He may have felt that the harrassment was justified (we can speculate forever as to whether it was or not as we don't know the details) in which case the mother's reaction was wrong and the boy's runaway was understandable. Far better for a 15 yo to be given more detailed information as to why it's wrong to harrass - but at the same time listen to him as to why, and maybe if there WAS a problem at the other end deal with it in a better way than with harrassment. The boy would learn something from that because it makes sense to him.
The above is my take on the situation.
I wonder what's with the eye in one of the pics in the article.
It's possible somebody had been stirring him on the internet. We can have this tendency to react rather strongly to insults upon our personal ideals.
And a lack of respect when we respond in kind, Tenacious.
Wait a minute...the article says that they tasered him to stop him running into traffic, but they tasered him on the road? Wouldn't that be more dangerous?
Maybe the kid was a nasty piece of work and maybe he was a saint. Maybe he was in the right or in the wrong. I think that biasing for or against him because of his autism is a waste of time.
What I want to know is where cops get off electrocuting people as a first option and children at that.
"Hey that kid looks weird! Hey weird kid come here now! He is running from us like he is frightened let's electrocuted *** out of him"
That attitude is really worth examining.
Of course bringing up the fact that he is autistic does make the cops look worse and less unjustified and I think it better makes the policing procedure look shameful as it *** should.
I agree with you Riddler about the unreasonable prejudice. Of course this is only some people not all. There are some specific individuals who seem to have rather an anti-NT agenda and others that are quick to support views that autistics are better than NT's. Hopefully most of us are a little less biased.
I can understand the tasering if he was running out in the street. The main issue with this it seems to me is that they were suspicious of him for doing absolutely nothing wrong. Now, it's typical for police to check out individuals who are waiting at bus stops, walking the sidewalk, and such - my dad gets stopped by cops every so often, as he can't drive and so walks and takes buses. The key issue is that police be informed about autism, so that they may recognize that someone who behaves "oddly" is not the same as someone who is "suspicious" - so that they keep in mind that it may not be wise to expect them to speak, or speak readily, that this is not necessarily indicative of noncompliance.
At my high school even, I have had security personnel try to take me against my will to the offices when I'm on my way to class because I "don't look normal" - even when I repeat again and again that for me, it is normal.
BEARDED 15 year old!?
Maybe they thought he was older or something, I dunno.
My little boy is turning 11 soon. He is a boy. In 4 years time he will be a boy. He is tall and big for his age and is already up to my nose in height. "Hardly a child"? OK let's run with that for a moment and not contest it any further.
"Without causing any real injury, nobody was hurt"? Electrocution not harmful and does not hurt? OK. That Polish fella at the Canadian airport who was tasered and died as a result of harmless tasering recently probably thought it hurt a bit.
He did not understand English or what was being asked of him.
But OK whatever. Tasering is fine. Tasering big kids is cool. If people are upset it is unreasonable. If they die as a result it is acceptable in the scheme of things. I guess we see things differently but you are more than entitled to a difference of opinion,
That was too harsh...
EMO!
The poor kid was probably overloaded and overwrought so was therefore unable to comply with the police's instructions.