Question for those who live there/have access to news reports we don't hear:

I heard that this man was a former police dispatcher? Is that correct?

Yes, that is correct.

I live in Australia and this incident was televised here.

It made me wonder about what kind of training the police get. Doesn't seem as though disability awareness is part of it.

What happened was horrible but sometimes people are just NOT aware and if you are a law enforcement officer, a little cynical and burned out, doing a quite dehumanizing job then maybe such behaviour can be understood more objectively. Not justified, mind you. Just understood.

The woman concerned may not be the best person to be a police officer. I would hate to see her go to jail, especially if the victim was not hurt. Maybe she should simply lose the job, especially if she is not suited for it.

I just watched the whole incident on youtube. There's a whole bunch of various videos of this incident. NO sound, (I'd love to hear the audio from that incident).

The deputy has since resigned and offered some lame apology.

I watched as she dumped him on the floor and it took 4 people to put him back in the chair.

What I want to know is "what the heck was her motivation to do such a heinous thing?" She's been on the job for 22 years and now her career is over??

Why on earth would she do such a thing to another human being who is disabled??

I often wonder what is the mind-set of people who can do this to the handicapped.

She won't get jail time. But I do believe she has lost her career in law enforcement. She'll probably wind up as some mean guard in a nursing home.

God help us all!!!

It's awful when people are careless, disrespectful or violent to ANYONE, not just people with a disability.

If people grew up with the sense of basic respect for others, and if society encouraged this, it would be less likely to happen. But often it does for a whole lot of reasons.

Sometimes you can walk down the street and just feel the anger and alienation in others. Last night I walked past a busy intersection near where I live and the blaring car horns told the same story.

At different times in my life, I've felt that same kind of witless anger myself. Fortunately I haven't acted on it - well, not more than a blare of the car horn.

Who knows what was in that police woman's mind? She seems to have paid a price and maybe something can be done about the culture of her work place, training of police officers and so on.

Sorry MrsB. but I can't agree with you on this one.

I also live in Oz and saw the incident televised. I believe this woman deserves more punishment than simply a rap on the knuckles and losing her job. I know darn well that if it happened to me or some-one I cared about, I would not stop pushing until I saw justice served.

I agree. If this has been a woman just walking down the street, who had done this... everyone would be yelling that she should go to jail. There wouldn't have been any other consequence for her.

But, just because she loses her job doesn't mean that should be her only consequence. She of all people knew the consequences of her actions. She should have known what would happen. She should have simply not dealt with him if she couldn't handle it. But, she doesn't look angry to me. She just methodically dumps him out, as if she does it everyday.

I still say, if she did this knowing it was being videotaped...then what has she done behind the cameras?

She needs to go to jail. Maybe the next person will think twice about abusing someone who can't fight back? Maybe not... but at least this person will get justice.

You know what really bothered me after seeing the video (countless times)? It wasn't just the woman who dumped him out of the wheelchair, but after they finally got him back in the chair, it showed an older deputy (or whatever his rank) walking away (toward the camera) laughing, as if it was some kind of joke. I'm glad the woman is being held accountable for her actions, but this is not just a one person thing, obviously..It just hurt to see that..

I saw the video on the commercial news and a very short account of what had occurred. I guess I am little tired of trial by media. We rarely know the whole story of incidents like this. I was not condoning what happened.

I was careful to say that the action was wrong, and there should be a consequence.

Whatever, it does show that police need awareness training around disability issues

Perhaps this story will explain my position a little more.

In the 1990's here in relatively short period of time, there were 28 fatal shootings of mentally ill or disturbed people by police. Some of the shootings were simply not justifiable. By that I mean that other approaches could have been used to defuse situations. It was also questioned whether shooting to death was really necessary.

It was felt that the police involved did not understand mental illness very well and were frightened by it. Or they had strange preconceptions about it. The police also were not skilled in negotiation and defusing of situations. There was also quite a 'gung-ho' attitude about guns, especially with younger police.

So the Government of the day arranged training around mental illness and defusing particular situations. Police procedures around using guns were also looked at.

The outcome of all this was that the fatal police shootings of mentally disturbed people dramatically declined.

So, I am coming from that perspective.

In relation to the incident which sparked this thread, there may have been really insensitivity and even callousness in the deputy's treatment of that man in the wheelchair. There should be appropriate procedures in place to deal with the issue, but probably there are not. I don't know the US system all that well.

If this action was regarded as an assault, would jail be the normal consequence?

Best wishes to all.