The College of Policing’s National decision model for professional practice enjoins Police Officers to put the Code of Ethics at the heart and centre of their decision making and quite correctly highlights respect and empathy as core principals – “Encouraging, listening to and understanding the views of others and seeking to recognise and respond to the physical, mental and emotional challenges that we and other people may face”.
Autism, or Autism Spectrum Disorder, is a condition now understood to be widespread amongst the population and which can affect people to a greater or lesser degree; it is not an impairment of intellectual function but rather of communicative ability, body-language cues and ease of social interaction. As a result, autistic people often seem to be on a different ‘wavelength’ than others and have to cope as ‘outsiders’ in social situations, particularly stressful public ones, and should be accorded the time, space and compassion to allow them to do so on their own terms. The National Autistic Society offer guidance for Police officers dealing with autistic people, which includes the following key recommendations –
- Allowing the person time to process information, and not demanding an immediate response to instructions;
- Being sensible and sensitive about the reasons someone may be avoiding ‘normal’ eye contact – not jumping to a conclusion of guilt or ‘obstructiveness’;
- Not shouting at the person;
- Not subjecting them to emergency lights and sirens;
- Avoiding physical contact if at all possible.
That is surely what the National decision model would also require of the ‘platonic ideal’ of a Police Officer; unfortunately, the treatment that my client Daniel received from an Officer of Lancashire Constabulary in the incident which is the subject of today’s blog post, was very far from ideal because those vices which so often underpin what we might call the ‘Nasty Decision Model’ of policing – egotism, anger and insensitivity – caused this Officer to treat my client as though autism itself was some sort of crime.
One afternoon in the autumn of 2021, Daniel, a middle-aged man with autism who works as a civil servant, was asked to collect his elderly mother from the Royal Preston Hospital. In accordance with instructions which he had been given, Daniel parked up outside the main entrance of the hospital, on an internal road. He waited several minutes, but his mother did not appear and so he called her on his mobile phone. Daniel’s mother explained that there had been a delay in her medicine being prepared and that he would now have to park up in the main car park whilst he waited for her.
A nurse who was with Daniel’s mother then began giving Daniel directions, over the phone, as to where to drive in order to re-enter the internal road system of the hospital so as to access the main car park. Because the road which Daniel was currently on was one way, he could not just turn around; he had to exit and re-enter the hospital grounds.
As Daniel was engaged in this conversation, he saw a male Police Officer in uniform arrive outside the hospital, and walk towards the main entrance. As he did so the Officer shouted at Daniel “Get off that fucking phone and move that fucking car now”.
Whilst it was true that Daniel was in a restricted parking zone, he was focused on the call he was participating in and on his duty to collect his mother. Daniel continued to receive instructions from the Nurse, whereupon he terminated his phone call. At this time, he saw the Officer leaving the hospital and approaching the driver’s door of his car.
Conscious of how aggressive the Officer had been before, Daniel did not want to engage with him, and now pulled away, scrupulously following the directions he had been given to navigate the internal road system of the hospital.
After a short distance, Daniel became aware of the Officer following him in an unmarked car – but which had Police lights flashing and claxons activated. He did, not at first, appreciate that those lights and siren were intended for him, rather than the Officer being on another ‘emergency call’. Furthermore, he did not want to deviate from his task of collecting his mother.
Driving in a normal manner, Daniel exited the hospital grounds, intending to circle back around on the public roads to the main entrance (so as to gain access to the car park, as instructed), but before he could do so, was obliged to stop at a zebra-crossing, whereupon the Officer drove ahead of Daniel and pulled up sharply in front of his car, boxing him in.
Matters now escalated dramatically; the Officer alighted from his car and ran towards Daniel’s car. On reaching it, without any warning or notice, he smashed Daniel’s window with his baton.
Bear in mind that the maximum that Daniel could have been suspected of at this stage was a minor motoring offence – and in driving out of the hospital grounds he had in fact been obeying the Officer’s initial instructions.
Daniel was now frozen in a state of shock and did not move as the Officer reached in, snatched his keys from the ignition, and opened the driver’s door. The Officer undid Daniel’s seatbelt and forcibly extracted my unresisting client from the car.
The Officer – disproportionality enraged with Daniel, and taking no time to draw breath, assess the situation and recognise those differences in Daniel’s demeanour which would have explained everything – now threw Daniel up against the side of his car and repeatedly shouted at him “You’re a fucking dick”.
Many people would be frozen with fear by this point, and Daniel’s autism only placed him more at the mercy of the Officer’s road- rage.
The Officer forced Daniel to the ground – which was scattered with glass from his shattered window, thereby causing Daniel to sustain cuts to his face and hands and damage to his trousers. He then pulled Daniel back up onto his feet, again pushed him against the side of the car, and handcuffed him with his hands behind his back.
The Officer then marched Daniel to the rear of his own vehicle and called for ‘back up’.
During this process, the Officer had seized Daniel’s mobile phone which was now ringing almost continuously – Daniel’s mother, and also his sister, having become anxious as to his whereabouts.
The Officer refused to allow Daniel to answer, and instead eventually answered the phone himself, speaking to Daniel’s sister, who explained that Daniel was autistic.
‘Reinforcements’ then arrived and Daniel – still unresisting and uncomplaining – was moved from the Officer’s car to a van, whereupon he was transported to Preston Police Station.
Daniel was taken before the Custody Desk, where he was searched and his handcuffs were finally removed. The Officer claimed that Daniel had been arrested for “Failing to Stop When Directed”, contrary to S.163 of the Road Traffic Act 1988.
Thankfully, the Custody Sergeant reacted appropriately to the situation in front of him – refusing to authorise Daniel’s detention and directing that he instead be provided with immediate medical attention. The Custody Record entry stated as follows –
“Detained Person [DP] presents at the custody desk with blood drips across his forehead and blood covering his hands… DP does not appear to be under the influence and is autistic with a warning card in his property outlining this. DP requires medical treatment and the matter can be dealt with another time – happy with identity and necessity no longer met.”
A decision was soon made to fully release Daniel on the basis of ‘no further action’, and the Officer who had so brutally assaulted him outside the hospital now drove him back to that very hospital so that his injuries could be treated.
The Officer then drove Daniel to his mother’s house, where in front of Daniel’s mother and several of her neighbours, the Officer conceded that he had handled matters “badly”.
Regrettably, Lancashire Police Professional Standards Department (PSD) were not of the same view. Whilst Daniel’s mother filed a complaint on his behalf within days of the incident, it was not until almost two years later that she finally received an investigation report, which not only purported to determine that the Officer’s conduct was “acceptable” but which actually praised the Officer’s “robust actions.”
Daniel had to pay a release fee to the compound where his car had been taken following his arrest, and also for his window to be replaced.
Although his physical injuries healed relatively quickly, he was understandably emotionally traumatised by what he had gone through and further distressed when, around a month after the incident, he received a letter from the DVLA stating that the Police had reported that he might be unfit to drive and might have to surrender his licence on medical grounds. Daniel was caused worry and concern about this until the Spring of 2022 when the DVLA finally wrote to inform him that their medical investigation had cleared him to keep his licence.
The Officer’s intemperance, ego and anger management issues caused him to bulldoze through the obvious signs of Daniel’s autism, which to any reasonably minded objective observer would have excused his conduct in parking outside the hospital entrance, and in failing to immediately respond to the Officer – if any such excuse was required.
Indeed, the Police received a complaint about this matter not only from my client’s mother, but from a concerned member of the public, who had witnessed the Officer dragging Daniel out of the car. This witness reported that he could hear the Officer shouting at Daniel “Fucking move again and I will break bones!”, whereas it was immediately apparent to the witness that Daniel had ‘mental health’ issues (in the witness’s words) and should have been treated with care and compassion.
The Officer assaulted and traumatised my client, but, as usual, his colleagues in PSD completely failed to hold him to account.
Likewise, Lancashire Police Legal Services could have agreed an amicable compensation package for Daniel without the need for Court proceedings, but declined to do so.
In the face of the Police denial of liability, and refusal to negotiate, Daniel courageously authorised me to issue Court proceedings on his behalf and I am pleased to confirm that after their receipt of my detailed pleading of his claim, Lancashire Constabulary agreed to settle Daniel’s claim for wrongful arrest, assault and battery, and interference with his vehicle, in the sum of £6,250 plus legal costs.
In the case of ZH v The Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis, which dealt with Police mistreatment of a young autistic man at a public swimming pool, the judge Sir Robert Nelson found that the Police had manifestly failed to make “reasonable adjustments” in their approach to him – and after cautioning that the “need for a calm assessment of the situation and the acquisition of knowledge of how to deal with the autistic man before taking any precipitate action was essential” (paragraph 139), went on to conclude that “[This] case highlights the need for there to be an awareness of the disability of autism within the public services. It is to be hoped that this sad case will help bring that about.” (164).
The Police owe an imperative duty to respect the full contours of society; not to impose a flatline approach which disrespects and victimises the vulnerable; but over a decade after the judgment in ZH, autistic people are still being victimised by blinkered, brutal, and blowhard Policing.
The name of my client has been changed.
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