Walking around with your IV stand while black

Man wrongfully accused of trying to steal his IV stand still charged with disorderly conduct for objecting

Quote:

Dukes, 24, who has lived in Freeport for about a month, said he had been in the hospital for two days with pneumonia when his doctor cleared him to go for a walk outside, as long as he didn’t leave hospital property. Dukes, his brother and another person went for a walk just after 4 p.m. on June 9, but were stopped in the parking lot on their way back into the hospital, Dukes said. The security officer, who has not been named, demanded that Dukes and his companions walk over to his vehicle parked on the side of the street. The security guard, employed by FHN, then accused Dukes of attempting to steal the hospital equipment, according to Dukes. “He had gotten out of his vehicle and said, ‘What are you going to do, steal that and sell it on eBay?’” Dukes said. “I told him, ‘This machine is pumping fluid into my veins as we speak.’” After some banter back and forth, the security officer radioed Freeport police, who were dispatched to the hospital around 4:40 p.m. Dukes said his brother was arrested soon after police arrived and he was arrested a few minutes later. A third man, who recorded the arrests on video, was arrested later. Dukes said he was told by police that he was under arrest for attempted theft, since he was off hospital property with the medical equipment. He contends that he only left hospital property to make his way to the security officer’s vehicle when ordered to do so. On Monday, police said Dukes, his brother and the other individual were arrested only because of their conduct toward the security officer and the police officers once they arrived. Dukes was ultimately charged with disorderly conduct, after an investigation revealed he had no intention of stealing the IV stand, said Freeport police Lt. Andrew Schroeder. Police have not been able to confirm whether Dukes had permission to walk outside of the hospital. “The issue here is that his actions were why he was arrested,” Schroeder said. “Had they been able to engage in a civil discourse with hospital security, we wouldn’t have been called at all.” “As far as the video goes, all you are seeing is a snippet of a longer incident. I think people need to be careful about rushing to judgment against the police without all the information.”

After arresting him police had a paramedic remove Dukes' IV and confiscated his rescue inhaler and began to transport him to jail, but had to return him to the hospital when he began having an asthma attack in the back of the police cruiser.

Welcome to black America, where police can accuse you of something absurd on its face, and then later fully acknowledge you didn't do it but still charge you anyway for complaining too strongly about the interaction, arrest your brother for agreeing with you, and arrest some random bystander for getting it all on video.

via International Skeptics Forum https://ift.tt/31WHMod