Tucson, AZ — In a state-run boys home in Tucson, a teenager who was also a quadruple amputee, was roughed up and cussed at by a Pima County deputy. Most of the incident was caught on film and both the teen, as well as his friend who was filming the police contact, were arrested on disorderly conduct charges. This was the first time TFTP has ever reported on a police officer beating a quadruple amputee. As we predicted back in November, despite the horrific video, the cop who attacked the teen got off Scot free.

The Pima County Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday, March 10, it won’t file excessive use of force charges against Deputy Manuel Van Santen.

In regard to the incident, Chief Trial Counsel Nicol R. Green stated there was not “sufficient evidence” to prove excessive force was used:

Such charges would have to be predicated upon evidence sufficient not merely to demonstrate probable cause, but to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the level of force used was excessive. The evidence here is not sufficient to meet that high burden of proof. For these reasons, the Pima County , who came and promptly put an end to the tirade.

Joel Feinman, Pima County Public Defender

While this was the first time TFTP reported on the abuse of a child quadruple amputee by police, abuse of amputees by cops is not new and is not limited to law enforcement officers in the United States. As TFTP reported a French triple amputee was also humiliated when cops insisted on searching him while he was waiting for a train.

In that instance, police took off all of his prosthetic limbs and then left him on the floor of the train station to put his legs back on. Abusing amputees is one of the actions one would think is preventable. After all, for the most part, amputees are incapable of jeopardizing officer safety. If cops cannot handle amputees without abusing them, they just need to quit, be fired, or be arrested. Sadly, this did not happen in Tuscon.

Article posted with permission from Matt Agorist