Disabled man dumped from wheelchair...

Have you seen this video?




The sheriff has apologized.

According to an AP story:


TAMPA, Fla. (AP) Four sheriff's deputies in Florida have been suspended over surveillance footage that shows one of them purposely dumping a quadriplegic man out of his wheelchair. Brian Sterner tells The Tampa Tribune that the deputy was "irked" that he wasn't standing up for a jailhouse search. He was brought in on a warrant after a traffic violation. The department's chief deputy says "anything short of dismissal would be inappropriate" for those involved.


A more complete version of the story.


Good points taken by Tampa Bay Online:

•Why no training on how to frisk suspects in wheelchairs? Col. David Parrish, who oversees jail operations, says deputies are trained to follow the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires disabled inmates to be assessed by a nurse upon admission. But deputies receive no specific training on how to frisk people in wheelchairs.

Parrish may be right that it should not be necessary to instruct someone "not to throw someone out of a wheelchair," but when a 22-year-veteran does just that, it indicates training protocols need to be far more rigorous.

• Has this happened before? Parrish says the jail handles hundreds of people in wheelchairs each year - it currently has 31 - and has never had anything remotely similar occur. But the deputy and supervisors in the video appear awfully relaxed about what's going on, suggesting such behavior is not out of the norm.

Gee's office should review the videos to determine whether other incidents have happened.

• Why didn't the supervisors report the incident? It occurred Jan. 29 when Brian Sterner, who was partially paralyzed in a 1994 wrestling accident, was booked for blocking an intersection with his vehicle and fleeing an officer.