Police Tasering teen with autism ‘a very big failure’ of the system, says distraught father

Majd Darwich says he's baffled by how his 19-year-old son Abdullah, who has autism and is non-verbal, could have ended up Tasered, handcuffed and in hospital after Peel police officers were called to respond to an incident last week involving the teen.

The Mississauga father is equally perplexed about why the officers opted to use force to subdue the boy when they now have access to crisis services - recently touted by the police as an alternative for people in crisis, just like his son was.

The system showed a very big failure in dealing with vulnerable people," said Darwich.

The incident has left the family traumatized both physically and mentally - and asking questions about the how effective the programs are to deal with people in crisis.

Darwich said his son, who requires around-the-clock supervision, left home Nov. 4 wearing only shorts and was found on their Mississauga street just a few houses down from his address.

Darwich said the neighbours had called the police because Abdullah was not properly clothed for a chilly day. He had also tried to get into a vehicle, but was playing with the leaves on the ground by the time police got there, neighbours told Darwich.

He was naked and he didn't have any weapons and you can see him clear with bare hands," Darwich said.

Once Darwich discovered that Abdullah had left their home, he rushed outside in search of him. He said the scene he found was shocking.

Police had cordoned off a section of the street with yellow police tape. Darwich walked over to find his son face down, handcuffed and surrounded by a team of officers.

There was heavy police presence," Darwich said. I never thought that my son would be in that situation."

Darwich said police refused to let him get anywhere near Abdullah, even after he told them that his son was autistic.

When I looked at his face, it was full with blood," he added. He was looking to me to help him and I couldn't do anything for him."

Abdullah was taken to a nearby hospital, where one of the remaining Taser probes was removed and he was held for several hours before being released.

Darwich said the traumatic effects of that evening have lingered, with Abdullah becoming more jittery and withdrawn since the incident. The scars on his son's face and the bruises on his body are also reminders of the ordeal, he added.

Peel Regional Police told the Star they received a 911 call for reports of a suspicious person in a state of undress, attempting to enter a vehicle and a house.

At the time of the incident, the identity and the condition of the individual was unknown to the officers," the police said in a statement. Upon arrival, officers were unsuccessful in communicating with the male, who appeared to be in distress and was not responding to officers."

The police statement goes on to say that the person was Tasered, apprehended and taken to hospital to receive medical attention.

Police said officers from the Divisional Mobilization Unit visited the family's home to offer supports. Darwich said that meeting has done little to alleviate his current fear of police.

Darwich said examples of vulnerable people continuing to fall through the cracks underscores the need for police to get better training.

Two years ago, the family had added Abdullah to the Peel Police Vulnerable Persons Registry, which allows caregivers to provide critical information about vulnerable persons that can then be accessed by police in emergency and crisis situations, exactly the type of case officers were called about Abdullah, said Darwich.

If they had looked through the system, his name would have popped up," Darwich said. Every single piece of information about him is in the system, but they did not bother to check. They directly dealt with him as a criminal."

Peel police did not respond to questions about whether officers checked the registry in Abdullah's case.

Peel-based crisis service providers say that the safety net designed to prevent the use of force against people in crisis, especially those with mental health issues, is taking time to build and implement across a police force with hundreds of officers.

In September, a group of community agencies announced that they were teaming up with Peel police to launch a new project aimed at taking certain crisis calls out of police hands.

The one-year pilot will see a team of two crisis workers - available 12 hours a day, seven days a week - being dispatched to 911 calls for mental health crisis situations and addictions cases that do not require a police response.

The teams, which include staff from the Canadian Mental Health Association Peel Dufferin, Punjabi Community Health Services and Roots Community Services, are tasked with de-escalating crises and referring individuals to necessary supports.

At the time, the heads of the agencies said the goal is to reduce the stigma and criminalization of mental health.

Although she couldn't speak to the specifics of the incident with Abdullah, Angela Carter, executive director, Roots Community Services, said, these are the type of cases we're working to avoid."

But she said it takes time to shift officers' mindset away from long-entrenched ways of handling certain crisis situations.

There are ingrained ways of doing things that need to change," she added.

She said organizations across the region have met frequently to find ways to further refine and bolster the crisis model, so people can be diverted from a police response.

We want to ensure that we get in front of these things happening, but it takes time," she said.

In addition to the pilot, three crisis workers are currently embedded in the Peel police communication centre to triage calls. The pilot also supplements existing services such as the Mobile Crisis Rapid Response Team, which was formed in early 2020 that pairs police officers with crisis workers, and the Crisis Outreach and Support Teams.

By all accounts, none of those services were used by officers in Abdullah's case.

David Smith, CEO, Canadian Mental Health Association Peel Dufferin, told the Star that the unfortunate incident" with Abdullah shows that the issue of how to respond to individuals experiencing a crisis is incredibly complex."

Smith added, making the system better for people in crisis is challenging and not a quick fix and we continue to work with our partners to improve the process and better serve the community."

Jason Miller is a Toronto-based reporter for the Star covering crime and justice in the Peel Region. Reach him on email: jasonmiller@thestar.ca or follow him on Twitter: @millermotionpic