California Police Respond to a Teenager Having a Seizure By Handcuffing Him

I don’t really understand the world we live in sometimes. Okay, most of the time. For example, why do the police not understand why we have a distaste for them when they turn around and do things like this?

According to NBC News, Lourdes Ponce, a mother in California, is understandably upset after an incident involving Fresno police. Her daughter called 911 for medical assistance as her 16-year-old brother was suffering from a seizure at a restaurant. Body camera footage shows that when an officer arrived on the scene he immediately tries to handcuff the child and put him in a patrol car. Which, you know, is a weird and frankly unnecessary response to someone going through a medical crisis.

The video is pretty hard to watch. The child sounds so freaked out during the incident and the cops do nothing to settle him down or reassure the family. I mean they don’t yell but if a kid is going through a medical emergency you should be doing everything to reassure them through the situation. Especially when it’s a neurological condition. He didn’t do anything, he didn’t hurt anyone and when they found him he was curled up in a bathroom with his mother. He wasn’t a threat. Why were the cops even there? My grandfather suffers from seizures and when we needed to call 911 only an ambulance and a fire truck arrived, no cops. I know that’s anecdotal but that seems to be the appropriate response, in my opinion.

The mother says he’s in the hospital recovering but he’s still traumatized from the event. The Fresno Police Department says that internal affairs are investigating the incident.