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Sergio Hernandez
Professor, Batty
English 113B
April 6, 2016
Brutality against Disables
Individuals with mental and physical disabilities are victims, towards police brutality.
Although law enforcement are trained to handle certain cases, they lack the skills to take on
cases with individuals with disabilities. The disabled group lack the abilities to follow basic
police commands due to their conditions. Individuals with disabilities are at a disadvantage
towards police brutality, because of their physical and mental conditions. There is an
organization that provide law enforcement with special training and different techniques to help
enhance their performance out in the field.
Law enforcement are trained to handle cases in various ways, but not all police officers
have the proper training to make the situation any easier. For example, in the year of 2011, a
forty-five year old disabled man, named Charlie McGillivray, was shot by police officers for
being unable to answer their interrogations. Charlie had experienced brain injuries as a result he
lack the ability to speak. Being unable to speak, the defenseless man was shot multiple times.
After he was shot the tragedy was not over, he was then tackled to the ground. As a result after
he arrived to the hospital he instantly died. This isnt the only case that police officers have used
brute force. Law enforcement have training, but their lack of patience and communication affects
people with mental and physical problems. Police officers have brutally tackled, shot, pepper
sprayed, tazed and killed innocent victims. As quoted by Joe Swanson Just because you have a
badge doesnt mean you can treat people any way you like In this quote Joe Swanson points out

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that a badge is not a pass towards police brutality. Furthermore disabled victims have a
disadvantage towards police brutality, due to their conditions.
Individuals with mental and physical disabilities lack the ability to perform certain police
commands due to their conditions, because of this they are abused by law enforcement. For
example in an article by The Daily Beast talked about a twenty-six year old men named Robert
Ethan who was killed by law enforcement because he wanted to watch a movie more than once.
The individual had Down syndrome which caused the victim to be unable tell from right and
wrong. Due to his condition the police used brute force to remove him from the theater. As a
result the law enforcement crushed his larynx which caused Mr. Ethans life. Police officers
dont understand the situation that is going on due to the fact that they dont know what type of
disorder they are dealing in daily basis when they are called for help.
This lack of skills cause brutality and death. As quoted by Morgan Freeman Attacking
people with disabilities is the lowest display of power I can think of. What is indicated in this
quote is that causing harm or any type of violence towards the disabled group is inhuman and it
shouldnt be done by anyone. As from all the people in the world disabled people have a higher
risk of police brutality and being killed then those that dont contain a disability. The disabled
group are always victims, because law enforcement dont ever sit down and try to reason with
them. If they did they would be able to understand more and know how to make the situation
better to the point that no one will get hurt in the end. As quoted by Jean Vanier Those we most
often exclude from the normal life of society, people with disabilities, have profound lessons to
teach us what is being explain in this quote is that people with disabilities can teach us many
different lessons in life. For example they can teach society to not see the disabled group as
different from others, but instead teach the world to accept them for who they are and to

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understand them. As a matter of fact polices dont have the knowledge to understand people with
disabilities. There are organizations around the world that provide special programs to law
enforcement to serve them with the training they will need to handle cases in a more proper
matter without using brute force.
The basic training that officers receive in their daily basis are used to handle a crisis, such
as to use commands, for example Get down on the floor, put your hands up or dont move.
This training doesnt always work with disabled people, thats why when there is a crisis that
involves an individual with a disability officers dont know how to respond. Some law
enforcement are so impatient that they result to violence and brute force, but not anymore
because, there is an organization that wants to make a difference from this happening. One of the
biggest organizations around the country is the Crisis Intervention Team Training (CIT) which
help prevent tragedies with individuals with disabilities.
This organization trains and shows strategies to law enforcement. As quoted by Charlie
Pardo We all signed up for this to help people, and CIT helps us do our jobs a lot better the
Article indicated in this quote, that the CIT organization has helped law enforcements improve
their way of helping the people in a way that they wont cause any harm to individuals with
disabilities. There are many ways that this organization helps train officers to do their job better.
There are different methods that (CIT) uses to train officers, for example knowledge, plans, and
experts are the three that I found the most effective methods towards this problem. In the CIT
organization website they have used experts to help law enforcements in the field when
encountering someone with a disability. This organization hires specialized people that major on
the field of disabilities by doing so they instruct officers on what to do to handle the situation in a
proper matter. Although its an effective method there isnt always an expert available. The 2nd

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method that law enforcement are trained is knowledge. Officers are trained to learn about
different disorders and also to know about different techniques when approaching an individual
with a disorder. For example, when officers approach the victim they listen to them, ask
questions and make them feel comfortable. The CIT organizations provides officers with
knowledge that can enhance their performance in the field by doing so they are able to plan out
on how they are going to handle the crisis. For example, as said by the CIT organization when a
crisis rises they make sure that law enforcement leaders always know what type of disabilities
they are dealing with first. Also to make sure that the safety of others around is their main
priority. If the situation is escalating officers make sure to listen to the disabled victim stories and
avoid stereotypes. As quoted by CIT Its more than just training what the quote is indicating
that the organization is not just about training, but instead is a different lifestyle of learning.
When officers go to CIT they dont go just for training instead they go there to make a difference
to help improve the lifestyle of the disables.
As a final point, the lives of the disabled matter and law enforcement should make a
difference from ongoing tragedies of abusing disabled individuals. The CIT organization can be a
changing point towards all this crisis that are occurring. Just think about the differences that
youre able to learn from this organization such are learning new things and understand the
disabled group. They are no different and they shouldnt be mistreated or abuse just, because
they lack the ability to follow basic commands, give this organization a chance to make a
difference and help out those in need and help save a life. CIT will make a change we just have
to give them faith and make the street safe again

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Works Cited
"CIT International." Resources: Presentations. Crisis Intervention Team Training. Web. 06 Apr.
2016.
"How Police Can Stop Shooting People With Disabilities." American Civil Liberties Union.
Claudia Center, 20 Mar. 2015. Web. 15 Mar. 2016.
"Police Brutality's Hidden Victims: The Disabled." Daily Beast 8 Sept. 2014. Opposing
Viewpoints in Context. Web. 15 Mar. 2016.

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Professor Batty Comment
Sergio, You have some good point here. Your thesis needs to be more argumentative. You are just
saying that there is training available, but what do you think about the training. If this issue is
still a problem, then do you think that the training is good enough? You also need to be careful
not alienating your audience. Right now it seems like you are suggesting that all police officers
are bad people who enjoy getting away with brutality. Any time you make generalizations about
people, you run the risk of offending and, thus, losing your audience. Perhaps focus just on their
insufficient training. You have a clear organization. You need to introduce your quotes more
state