Arrested in silence: Police use Taser, pepper spray on deaf man
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
By ROBERT McCLENDON and MARK R. KENT
Staff Reporters
Mobile police used pepper spray and a Taser on a deaf and mentally disabled man Friday after they were unable to get him to come out of a bathroom at a Dollar General store, authorities said.
After forcibly removing Antonio Love from the bathroom of the Azalea Road store, officers attempted to book the 37-year-old, on charges of resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and failure to obey a police officer, but the magistrate on duty at the jail refused to accept any of those charges.
Love's family members said they had no idea where he was during the time that police had him in custody.
Brodrick Love said the officers dropped his brother off in the parking lot of their apartment building without saying what happened or why his brother had been missing for six hours.
Love's family members have filed a formal complaint against the officers.
Christopher Levy, a Police Department spokesman, said the officers didn't find out that Love had a hearing impairment until after they got him out of the bathroom and found a card in his wallet indicating he was deaf.
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