Kevin Colindres “humanely restrained” or “hogtied”?
December 19, 2006 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
The family of Kevin Colindres, the 18-year-old autistic man who is in a coma and has suffered “irreparable brain damage” after he was restrained by Miami police on December 12th, are suing the city of Miami. The December 19th Miami Herald notes that the accounts of Police Chief John Timoney and of Melvin Colindres, Kevin’s father, and Stuart Grossman, the family’s attoney, differ “markedly.”
Police Chief John Timoney:
Timoney acknowledged that Kevin had calmed down, and was sitting on a couch with his mother, by the time the first officer arrived. But one of Kevin’s sisters insisted Kevin be taken to a crisis center to be stabilized, Timoney said, and the officer requested backup. When other officers arrived, Kevin bolted from the couch and slipped on the floor, Timoney said. The Colindreses’ suit says officers grabbed Kevin and threw him to the floor when he started to rise from the couch.
……….
”We tried as much as possible to humanely restrain Kevin,” Timoney said.
Melvin Colindres and Stuart Grossman:
Said Grossman: “The people who needed to be restrained that night were the city police officers. That’s the sad thing about it.”
In their lawsuit, which names the city of Miami and Timoney individually, parents Melvin and Alma Colindres called the officers — for whom Timoney provided only surnames — “belligerent and confrontational.”
Colindres and Grossman have insisted that Kevin was hogtied by officers, who then put their weight on his back, shoulders and legs. In an interview last week, Colindres said police for 10 minutes ignored his demand to call an ambulance after it appeared Kevin had stopped breathing.
According to the lawsuit, many police departments have banned hogtie-type restraints, which can cause brain damage and death when detainees are deprived of oxygen for prolonged periods.
“Humanely restrain” and “hogtie” are terms that do not belong in the same sentence—that indeed have little, if nothing, to do with each other.
Again these stories of restraint bother me..
I feel Autism population needs another area of advocacy.. For every one who does public service to be educated with intense training on Autism.
And teach them tools on how to help them in crisis. It seems all these people feel restraint is the answer. It’s not!!!
I agree more than 100%………saw my son go through some difficult experiences with this.
Sue Kevin’s sister. Or hog tie her for a while. Her butt belongs in a cell. She is SO lucky I’m in Montana (how often do I say that?)
There is no such thing as humane restraint. Especially not with items or multiple people.
Restraint is a last resort, not the first.
It was stated in another article that the police had received training and they are the officers in a task force for these situations. That is another disturbing part of this case. The grief and guilt of his family must be intense and I pray they win this case and set a precedent for victims of police violence all over the country.
I can’t imagine what the Colindres family is going through now–there’s too much tragedy in this story.
I find it interesting how the news stories say one thing that the police spokespigs don’t challenge before Kevin died…then suddenly “oh he hit his head” when their butts are on the line.
There’s no excuse for this. It’s a tragedy with many responsible parties, IMHO, but cops beating up on an 18 year old developmentally disabled kid is utterly detestable. I still think the sister is culpable in part-the family, for using police as a ‘behavior plan’, really made some bad choices-but the police department REALLY screwed up.
The kind of screwed up that should get verdicts against you and badges removed.