WATCH: Boy Speaks Out About Being Attacked by Police for Being Autistic

After Body Camera footage was released that showed a 14-year-old boy with autism being assaulted by police in Arizona, his story went viral, and the public was reminded that individuals with disabilities are often targeted by police, no matter their race, age or gender.

As The Free Thought Project reported, Grossman took the boy, Connor Leibel to the ground after attempting to place the 14-year-old in handcuffs, arguably for being “jumpy”—as many autistic individuals are. Grossman claimed that because Leibel was “stimming,” or playing with a string to help calm his nerves, that the young man must have been under the influence of some sort of drug and this gave him reasonable suspicion to act in the manner that he did.

Grossman, reportedly a drug recognition expert, could not tell the difference between an autistic individual and someone who is on drugs. Now, Connor is speaking out about his frightful interaction. He told AZFamily in Phoenix:

“He pushed me down on the grass and he just hit me on the tree and tackled me and then he didn’t stop, It made me feel sad.”

As the video, which has now gone viral, demonstrates, Leibel was minding his own business on the corner of a city park when he was approached by the officer. Reporters at a press conference with the Buckeye PD, asked how a reported drug recognition expert couldn’t tell the difference between a drug user and a person with special needs.

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Connor’s mother, Diane Leibel, can hardly watch the bodycam footage, which has now been made public. “It was really hard to watch that, that’s my, that’s my baby,” she told AZFamily.

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Tamela Skaggs, spokesperson for the Buckey Police Department made a statement on behalf of their officer as well as the department:

“I hope the family sees that we will learn from this incident. We are human and things are constantly evolving and changing and it’s almost impossible to know and understand every single little piece of every single disorder.”

Grossman was cleared of any wrongdoing in the violent takedown that left Connor cut, bruised, scraped and emotionally traumatized. The department also claimed there was “no use of force” implemented in the contact with the autistic child. One might be hard-pressed to find very many who would agree with the department’s explanation or resulting investigation.

In fact, Danielle (Conor’s mom) seems perplexed by Skagg’s comments, and she said they are conflicting.

“They say nothing was wrong, he (Grossman) didn’t do anything wrong, but ‘we’re going to make sure we handle it differently.’ Why would you need to ‘handle it differently’ if everything was done correctly the first time,” Danielle Liebel said.

The interaction with Grossman, the resulting takedown of a young teenage boy with special needs, and the head in the sand denial by the police department has left many people scratching their heads in bewilderment, wondering how an autistic boy can be violently assault, and how the officer’s actions can be justified by the police department.

As TFTP has consistently and faithfully reported, few police departments will every acknowledge responsibility, yet they are in the business of keeping citizens accountable for their actions. All of which has led many to conclude there’s a double standard at work for police.

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Flipping the script may help the average police apologist understand why so many are outraged. If Grossman had been standing on a street corner, and Leibel had approached him, attempted to place him in handcuffs, and then thrown him to the ground when the officer pulled away, the young autistic boy would more than likely be facing assault charges. That is, of course, if he lived through the beat down Grossman and his fellow officers would dish out for laying a hand on a boy in blue.

Connor now knows the difference between an officer he can trust and one like Grossman, who injured him. “A different kind of police officer makes me feel happy…The one police officer was mean to me and made me feel sad…He pushed me down on the grass and he just hit me on the tree and tackled me and then he didn’t stop. It made me feel sad,” He said.

Now, Connor Leibel’s family has stated they only wants three things: They want a personal apology from Buckeye police officer David Grossman, they want him to help serve the autistic community, and they want the entire department to receive training on how to deal with autistic individuals.

However, in true obstinate fashion, the police department has acknowledged receipt of the requests but said they can’t say when, if at all, they will even respond.

School Cop Honored for Bully Prevention, Caught Bullying & Terrorizing Autistic Child

Pinellas County, FL — As TFTP has reported, it is extremely difficult to fire a police officer. Officers not only get paid time off when they’re being investigated for departmental infractions or illegal behavior, but, are more times than not, given their jobs back when the investigation is complete. However, one Florida police officer’s actions were so terrible that he was fired after he was caught on audio threatening and taunting an autistic student.

A Pinellas County school resource officer, serving in Osceola Middle School, was caught on audio recordings abusing a student who suffers from autism. Ironically, the officer, Ural Darling, had been celebrated as one of Florida’s top school resource officers for his work in preventing bullying. All that has since changed now that Darling has been found to be the bully, caught by the student’s mother verbally torturing the child.

Megan Dowdy, the student’s mother, said her son had been having night terrors. She suspected something wrong was happening at school, so she placed a recording device in her son’s pocket. Her child, who’s 13-years-old, has the cognitive skills of a first-grader and the communication capacity of a kindergartener. She said his behavior at night led her to believe something terrible was happening at school. She said, “He kept getting up during the night having night terrors, screaming, having meltdowns for no reason.”

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After the audio recording came back with her son, Dowdy said she was horrified at what she heard and realized her son had experienced. Officer Darling can be heard saying, “Now let me start throwing books. You want me to throw books at you? How ‘bout if I throw books at you? Huh? You want me to throw these handcuffs on you? Well, I told you to stop. I am not playing with you anymore.”

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Dowdy said her son was forced by Darling to stand and hold books in his arms as punishment for throwing books in class. Darling was heard threatening the student and using language prohibited by any teacher or school employee. He said, “You know goddamn well not to throw those books while I’m here…Well, I told you to stop. I am not playing with you anymore.”

Officer Darling even threatened to send the boy to a mental institution, separating the child from his family, a threat which surely caused even more emotional harm to the student with special needs. Darling threatened, “Is that where you want to stay for the rest of your life? Because if I take you, they’re going to keep you there forever.”

The entire incident has left the child’s mother practically speechless. Choking back tears she told reporters “It’s disgusting and disturbing that a police officer, or  anyone who is supposed to be taking care of children or keeping them safe can treat a child the way he did.”

In 2011, Darling was named the top school cop in the entire state of Florida. That designation was not lost within Dowdy’s criticisms.

The understandably angry and disappointed mother explained, “It made me sick. This is not a deputy of the year. This is someone who should have never been a police officer and should never be allowed around children. There’s no words to express just how awful this is and what he doesn’t understand is how much he’s put our entire family through.”

It is the firm position of many that police officers simply do not belong in schools. They’re not educators, do not understand behavioral psychology, nor do they know theories of learning in which nearly all educators are trained. Also, they have a tendency to beat, choke, torture, and otherwise violate the rights of countless school children.

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Not only can all school personnel be trained in hand to hand combat, gun, knife, and stick disarms, but together they can more effectively secure a school than one lone gunman with a badge.