Deputy suspended after dumping man from wheelchair
February 13th, 2008
From the Tampa Tribune, St. Petersburg Times:
A Florida deputy sheriff and three colleagues have been suspended after a security camera caught her dumping a quadriplegic man from a wheelchair onto the floor. Footage of the incident can be viewed on CNN. Brian Sterner, the former director of the Florida Spinal Cord Injury Resource Center, was being booked on a traffic-related charge. Although he can drive a car fitted with hand controls, he has been using a wheelchair since he injured his spinal cord in a wrestling accident in 1994.
“She said, ‘Stand up.’ I said, ‘I can’t I’m a quadriplegic,’” he told the St. Petersburg Times. “Next thing I know, I don’t see anyone and I feel the wheelchair being pushed up.”
The case has attracted national attention since a local television station aired the tape. Sterner’s lawyer are pushing for criminal charges and Florida’s attorney general has called for a civil rights review. The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office has apologized, labeling the incident “indefensible.”
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February 14th, 2008 at 4:00 am
I was just wondering is there any way to help Brian, his case, media coverage, advocate possibly? I am a disability rights advocate (and paraplegic) and this story is very disturbing to me. I can’t get it off my mind actually. How much this man was degraded and discriminated against… It just happens to be an “undiscussed discrimination.” Please let me know if I can help in any way. I am a public speaker (and travel agent).