Florida wheelchair dumping case goes national
February 13th, 2008Brian Sterner and his attorney were interviewed by Meredith Vieira on the Today show, who showed the footage of Sterner being tossed out of his wheelchair to the floor by a sheriff’s deputy. She called the clip, from a jail security camera, “a video you have got to see to believe, and even when you see it it’s hard to believe.”
Sterner, who is paralyzed as the result of a wrestling accident, said he’s contemplating filing charges against those involved, but he said his hope is to bring about a change in the system. “It’s not about race. It’s not about a wheelchair,” said. “This can happen to anybody at any time.”
Sterner compared his experience to that of Rodney King, the black motorist whose beating by the Los Angeles Police Department after a high-speed car chase was captured on videotape. The acquittal of the LAPD officers involved sparked riots in Los Angeles in 1992. “This happens to people every day, ” Sterner said. “It’s just now that there’s cameras they catch it.”
Earlier post here.
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March 4th, 2008 at 7:25 am
I am so disappointed to see a disability advocate succumbing to the use of the catchy phrase, “wheelchair dumping.” This phrase would be accurate if you were discussing tossing a wheelchair into a trash bin. It is offensive when used to describe expelling a human being from a wheelchair onto the floor.