Autism advocate surprised police tasering of teen happened in Mississauga

Mississauga | Community | Health | Police |

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Published November 22, 2022 at 3:52 pm

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Autism advocates called for additional training for first responders in the wake of a police encounter that left a nonverbal teen injured and traumatized — and one wondered how it happened in Mississauga in the first place.

On Nov. 4, Abdullah Darwich, 19, who has autism and is nonverbal, left his house in Mississauga. He walked through his neighbourhood wearing only shorts until he settled in a neighbouring yard where he sat peacefully playing in the fallen leaves.

Peel Regional Police said they got a call about “a suspicious person in a state of undress, attempting to enter a vehicle and a house.”

When officers found Darwich, they couldn’t communicate with him and somehow they ended up tasering him. He was left with six possible Taser injuries in addition to cuts and bruises all over his body. He was also traumatized by the encounter.

“There was more than just one kind of injury on him so it’s very distressing,” Margaret Spoelstra, executive director of Autism Ontario tells insauga.com. “And for families, it’s their worst fear that their child may be caught in this situation.”

Both Autism Ontario and Autism Canada spoke out shortly after the incident, calling for increased training for first responders. Marvel superhero star Simu Liu also called for more training. 

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“Events like these, happening all across Canada, emphasize the importance of mandatory training for all first responders when dealing with autistic individuals,” Autism Canada wrote in a statement.

But Spoelstra says she is surprised this happened in Mississauga as the Peel Regional Police were among the first groups to really to take the issue seriously.

“They, in fact, had been on the forefront of providing that training for their officers,” she says.

And the training remains important for Peel Regional Police, according to a spokesperson.

Police wouldn’t comment on if they have increased or reviewed training as a result of this incident. But Peel Regional Police Sgt. Jennifer Trimble tells insauga.com they are continually reviewing all of their training to update and enhance those offerings.

“Our officers receive hundreds of hours of training every year to maintain and enhance their learnings and skillset to provide service-excellence to our community,” Trimble says in an emailed statement.

“We continue to work closely with the academic community, Child Psychologists, and other subject matter experts to develop training that increases an officer’s knowledge, skills, and abilities.”

Trimble adds that they have three separate components on their four-day Mental Heath Awareness Course that speak to autism.

“This includes a member of the community who lives with autism who speaks with our officers and provides perspective on what it’s like living on the spectrum,” she says. “Our mental health awareness course offers de-escalation techniques when engaging with persons on the autism spectrum.”

They also have a member from Peel Crisis Capacity Network who addresses dual diagnoses and developmental disabilities.

“This training covers autism in detail, offering skills, techniques and supports on how to respond and engage with persons living with autism,” she says.

Spoelstra says training helps police officers and first responders understand that a person with autism may not respond in the expected way. They might not respond to instructions or have the words to describe what’s happening to them.

A person with autism may also become very stressed and anxious.

“And so then we get unusual responses from autistic folks due to a sensory nature, due to that anxiety, due to a lack of understanding or social requirements of that situation.”

It’s difficult to know what happened in Darwich’s case.

“I just don’t understand how they got from person in a pile of leaves to tasering,” she says.

In situations where a person is not responding as expected, this is the time when police should pause and think.

“So that if you’re not getting an immediate response, why would that be? Does this person have something that seems to be threatening? Are they carrying anything that could harm someone? And if they’re not, what can they do?” she says. “I’m really thinking about what are the responses that police officers may take to defuse the situation rather than escalate it?”

Trying to control the situation can actually make it worse, she adds, pointing to a case where officers in British Columbia tasered a Polish man in Vancouver airport who couldn’t speak English. He ended up dying.

Also, it’s not unusual for a person with autism wander in the community, or be outside without appropriate clothing, she says. Sometimes people with autism do things that aren’t expected such as looking in cars but it’s out of curiosity.

“These things are not appropriate from a societal perspective,” she says. “But there’s no intent here or a mindset of something like theft.”

Racism could make things worse of an individual.

“All of these things are added factors that makes someone who’s nonverbal even that much more vulnerable, that intersectionality of situation that may be true for that person,” she says. “So the training really needs to take all of these things into consideration.”

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