Brickbat: Compassionate Care

Stroke warning signs

The Hillsborough County, Florida, sheriff's office and a private company that provides health care for county prisoners have agreed to pay $1 million to settle a wrongful-death lawsuit by the family of Allen Daniel Hicks Sr. A sheriff's deputy and a Florida State Trooper found Hicks in his vehicle stopped by the side of the road speaking incoherently and unable to move his left arm. The deputy arrested Hicks on charges of obstruction after he did not respond to orders to leave his vehicle. Hicks was booked into a county jail cell and not taken to a hospital until 36 hours later. There, he was diagnosed as having suffered a stoke. He fell into a coma and later died.

Comments

[mnarayan]

This just proves dunphy's point. As long as your polite to the police, nothing bad will happen to you.

[Sy]

+hth USE OF FORCE CONTINUUM

[Atanarjuat]

I knew cops were idiots, but this is Biblical-plague level stupidity.

[Floridian]

The cops in FL really are this stupid. Trying to use logic with them has about the same effect as trying to reason with your dog.

[DontShootMe]

Really!? When you reason with your dog it spread eagles you across your hood, holds a gun to your head, and then cuffs you? If I were you, I think I'd get a cat.

[Doctor Whom]

My cat shot my dog.

[db]

It doesn't take much as far as I know to be able to recognize signs of a stroke. To imagine that these cops couldn't think further than "does not respond to my orders" is also not much of a stretch.

[Hash Brown]

"I SAID PUT YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD, PUNK!"

[Suthenboy]

When you are a hammer........

[Ted S.]

You hammer in the morning,
You hammer in the evening,
All over this land....

[pan fried wylie]

JURISDICTION.

[sarcasmic]

Stroke shmoke. If he had obeyed as he should have, then he would be alive today.

[db]

All we're asking for is a national dialogue on common sense stroke control.

[Doctor Whom]

Exactly. If you're innocent and have nothing to hide, then just don't have a stroke.

[Floridian]

Well if you give criminals the right to FREE healthcare then they will use all kinds of ILLNESS to FAKE their way out of arrest. Do you want murders pretending to have a stroke so the police can't arrest them? Huh?

/law and order dumbass

[Bryan C]

Even if they're telling the truth, why should police have to waste their valuable time and resources giving uncooperative sick civilians special treatment? If these stroke "victims" can't be expected to simply follow orders then they're obviously a threat to society. Selfish bastards deserve whatever they get.

[Fluffy]

Google Images makes it appear that the guy was black, so I assume that the deputies just didn't give a shit.

He should have known better than to have a stroke while not being a nice little old white lady. You know deputies are only going to look for medical distress if they stop a little old white lady. Let that be a lesson to you!

[db]

I love the instruction on the stroke pamphlet to "Call 9-1-1 Immediately." Just make sure they don't send cops.

[Radioactive]

did they shoot his dog?

[Palin's Buttplug]

Fluffy| 7.15.13 @ 8:11AM |#

I want a state just large enough to respond to violent assaults and robberies.

During the 19th century, the state got that done spending less than 5% of GDP.

Is that specific enough an answer for you?

Palin's Buttplug| 7.15.13 @ 8:37AM |#

Then we agree.

'Duke' was implying that conservatives must do something about interracial crime.

What this "do something" is is very unclear. Martial law? Arrest all black people under 30? Duke and the conservative bloc have something in mind.

John? Sevo? Translate for Duke please.

[Jordan]

'Duke' was implying that conservatives must do something about interracial crime.

No he wasn't. Seek help.

[Finrod]

The thing that would help him the most is taking his internet access away.

Oop, I'm mistaken-- that's what would help us the most.

[Floridian]

Damn you Reason! Leave my state alone. There are 49 other states to make look bad. Give one of them a try.

[Lord Humungus]

c'mon, Florida has epic levels of her-de-der.

[Floridian]

Look there are smart Floridians its just the other 19 million make us look bad.

[UnCivilServant]

Living in Florida is prima facia evidence of improper brain function until proven otherwise.

[pan fried wylie]

That's not fair. You're disrespecting people's preferences for huge bugs, disgusting weather and rampant stupidity.

Damn, now I did it....

[Mensan]

Some of us were born here, and have family attachments here, so living here isn't entirely a choice. The majority of the derp is transplanted from Michigan and the Northeastern states.

[Jerryskids]

I like the original story on the lack of prosecution in the Tampa Bay Times:

But in an era when law enforcement officials are not infrequently investigated and punished for such minor infractions as paperwork errors and auto accidents, the lack of individual accountability for deputies whose oversights may have contributed to a prisoner's death stands out as unusual.

I'll repeat that for the hard of hearing:

But in an era when law enforcement officials are not infrequently investigated and punished for such minor infractions as paperwork errors and auto accidents, the lack of individual accountability for deputies whose oversights may have contributed to a prisoner's death stands out as unusual.

[JW]

"To Attack and Ignore."

Thuggish, stupid AND incompetent. It's the LEO Trifecta!

[Rich]

The deputy arrested Hicks on charges of obstruction after he did not respond to orders to leave his vehicle.

*** rising intonation ***

Did he ask Hicks in Spanish?

[Heroic Mulatto]

*sigh*

Listen, civilian, ignorance of the law language is no excuse.

*blam, blam, blam*

[SugarFree]

I think the biggest surprise moment of this case is that he didn't tase the stroke victim.

At least I have being an older white guy on my side when the cops finally find me on the side of the road, deep in the throes of diabetic shock and screaming even more incoherantly than normal.

[Fluffy]

That won't help.

They'll find a syringe on you, scream "Heroin user!" and start tasing you.

Eventually you will be shot.

They will be cleared of wrongdoing after a 6 month suspension with pay.

[SugarFree]

I am careful to make sure nothing in my car or wallet IDs me as a libertarian.

[sarcasmic]

Isn't a Ron Paul bumper sticker probable cause to search for drugs?

[JW]

His Taser was in the shop for refurbishing. Last Sunday's church rush hour was what did it in.

[Greg]

You mean you've never been cuffed and thrown up against a wall while having a hypoglygemic episode? And you call yourself a real diabetic? Hell, even after they rummaged through my pockets and found the emergency card with my wife's phone number they still had great difficulty figuring out why the hell they should buy me a Gatorade rather than just hauling me in.

[Killazontherun]

I always carry around a high protein, high carb bar in case I run into someone suffering from a hypoglygemic attack. To negotiate for sexual favors, of course.

[Mensan]

If you really want to increase your chances of getting beat up by the cops, try having hepatitis or cirrhosis. I've seen a guy in the hospital who got beaten severely by the cops for being hyperammonemic with hepatic encephalopathy.

[Rich]

"If only he had not gotten out of his car, ...."

[Bryan C]

He disobeyed the orders of an officer? Say no more.

[Rich]

It's due to Florida's "One stroke and you're out" law.

[Some call me Tim?]

No, that's the name of their new anti-masturbation initiative.

[Tonio]

My understanding is that police go through some level EMS training. Stroke diagnosis is taught in every First Aid / EMS course I've had; this may even be covered in basic CPR courses. But you never hear about a cop applying this training (either for treatment or diagnosis) when dealing with a civilian; it's only so they can help out the other cops.

[pan fried wylie]

Us Vs Them is a pretty simple concept.

Diagnosing one of Them as a stroke victim would be providing material assistance to The Enemy.

[Mensan]

I've heard from a paramedic about cops performing CPR on a person who had a pulse. Does that count?

[Art Vandelay]

Was it a hot, 16 year old girl?

[Greg]

I suppose, but he was probably drooling on the uniform and the cop just wanted to get him conscious so he could beat him some more for it.