Action Alerts

Chris Baker (Harrodsburg, Kentucky)

A nine-year-old Autistic student was told by his special education aide to climb inside a bag that is supposed to be used for sensory integration therapy. She drew the drawstring tightly enough where he could not get his head through or escape, and when Chris's mother arrived, she demanded that he be removed from the bag, which had been left in the middle of a school hallway. Since the 14 December 2011 incident, over ten thousand people have signed a petition on Change.org demanding that the county Board of Education take action to prevent this kind of abuse. The story has received national news coverage after an Associated Press article on 22 December 2011. 

Sign the petition here! 

LEX18, Lexington, Kentucky: Mercer Co. Mother Upset Over Son's Punishment
WKYT 27: Petition calls for response after allegations autistic boy was abused in school
Associated Press: School accused of putting autistic student in bag
CBS News: Ky. mom claims autistic son was abused by school, confined in bag
SFGate: City Brights: Laura Shumaker at SFGate: Boy with autism put in duffle bag at school: Change.org responds
NY Daily News: Autistic third-grader put into a duffel bag by school officials, mom says
thAutcast: See Kind of "Ball Bag" Autistic Boy Was Confined To
WHAS11 Louisville: Nation reacts to boy with autism put in bag at Central Kentucky school 
WDRB 41 Louisville: Online petition protesting alleged abuse of autistic student gains thousands of signatures 

Past Cases

Emily Holcomb (Hamilton, Alabama)

A fourteen-year-old non-speaking Autistic student was physically restrained by her teacher for fifty-five minutes in an October 2011 incident. When she slapped at the teacher and tried to push away, the school had the district attorney's office file felony assault charges. After charges were dropped, the school officials attempted to have Emily return to the same classroom with a special education teacher who had only received one week of training about autism. A petition at Change.org gathering over 1,100 signatures played a part in pressuring the county's Board of Education into acceding to mother Jenny Holcomb's demands in mediation less than a week after the petition went live. 

ABC 33/40: School accuses 14-year-old non-verbal Autistic girl of felony
Support justice for Emily Holcomb, 14 year old Autistic student! (Facebook group) 

Reginald C. Latson (Stafford, Virginia)

An eighteen-year-old Autistic man, who is also African-American, was arrested after a routine encounter on 31 May 2010, and later sentenced to ten years in prison on charges related to assaulting an officer. Neli, as he is called by his family and friends, was sitting outside the library when officers received a call about a suspicious male, possibly holding a gun. By the time officers arrived, Neli had left and headed toward the local high school. The school resource officer, also a county sheriff's deputy, approached him. Neli claims that the officer threatened him, and grabbed and choked him when he began to walk away. The official police version of the story is that Neli assaulted the officer, resulting in him being pepper sprayed. He was re-sentenced a year later to two years in prison with credit for time served. 

A Voice for Neli, the primary support website
Justice for Reginald Latson (Facebook group)
Stafford County Sheriff's Office: MAN CHARGED WITH MALICIOUS WOUNDING
Huffington Post: Ken Reibel: Teen With Asperger's Arrested: Were Callers Racial Profiling?
The Daily Beast: Is Sitting While Autistic a Crime?
The Boston Globe: Va. teen's case focuses on autism, race
Fredericksburg.com: Jury rejects insanity defense
The Washington Post: In Va. assault case, anxious parents recognize 'dark side of autism'
theAutcast: Washington Pots Runs Bigoted, Demonizing Story About the "Dark Side of Autism"
Stafford County Sun: Autistic teen sees sentence reduced
POOR Magazine/Prensa POBRE: Reginald Latson aka Neli's Cultural Campaign for Freedom & Justice

Clifford Grevemberg (Tybee Island, Georgia)

An eighteen-year-old Autistic man was tasered by police officers during a routine encounter on 21 May 2010 and later charged with disorderly conduct, after he had been sitting on a street corner and waiting for his brother to return from a brief foray into the restaurant on the corner. Clifford, who also has a heart condition, suffered a broken tooth during the assault. Police asked for his ID twice, and the second time, Clifford stood to try to walk away. When he did, police tackled him to the ground and tasered him. Clifford and his mother filed a lawsuit against Tybee Island in June, and shortly afterward, Tybee dropped the charges against him in the midst of a Georgia Bureau of Investigation investigation into possible officer misconduct. Three officers and a fourth jailer facing suspension resigned from the force, and later faced a grand jury. Two of the officers were later indicted.

Read the lawsuit here!
New York Daily News: Georgia Police taser Clifford Grevemberg, an autistic teen with a heart condition 
WTOC: Tybee police chief defends actions, apologizes to autistic teen
WTOC: GBI investigates autistic teen Tasing case 
The Florida Times Union: Tybee suspends police chief over stun gun case
Savannah Morning News: Lawsuit filed in Tybee Island Tazing of Clifford Grevemberg
Savannah Morning News: Tybee drops charges against Tased autistic teen Clifford Grevemberg
Savannah Morning News: Tybee Island officers face grand jury in tazing of Clifford Grevemberg
The Florida Times Union: 2 ex-officers indicted in Taser case
Support Clifford Grevemberg, autistic man tazed by Tybee Police (Facebook group)

Mohammad Usman Chaudhry (Los Angeles, California)

A twenty-one-year-old Autistic man was shot and killed by police during a routine encounter on 25 March 2008. Possibly targeted due to ethnic or religious profiling, the Pakistani-American Muslim liked to experience what homelessness feels like, and sometimes slept on the streets. Usman, as he was known to his friends, was approached by two officers. The shooting officer, Joseph Cruz, claimed that Usman had had a knife and lunged at him with it. His partner, who was present, stated that he never saw Usman holding a knife. Later, Cruz was fired in an unrelated incident, and Usman's family received $1.7 million in a 2011 lawsuit against the city for their son's wrongful death after a unanimous jury verdict. 

Read the findings of the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners, which initially found the shooting to be "in policy." This is a DNA report finding that Usman's DNA was not on the knife, but someone else's was. (Cruz refused to submit a sample.) This is an expert report rebutting Cruz's account of the story, based on the angles at which the bullets entered Usman's body. 

Justice for the Innocent Ones: A blog in memory of Usman. 
Usman Chaudhry by Moe: A blog by Usman's brother Umar. 
Los Angeles Times Homicide Report: Mohammad Usman Chaudhry
Los Angeles Times: LAPD wrongful death case: L.A. defends officer who was fired for dishonesty
Los Angeles Times: Ex-LAPD officer found to have used excessive force in slaying
Los Angeles Times: $1.7 million awarded to family of man killed by LAPD Officer