A Cambridge, Ont. father desires solutions after his grownup son, who has autism, was arrested and charged with assault after an encounter with a jogger.
On Sept. 18, at round 8:50 a.m., Soren Martin was strolling on the sidewalk alongside Jamieson Parkway on his strategy to catch the bus that takes him to work.
“I was walking, walking too fast,” Soren recalled.
The 48-year-old then knocked a girl jogging on the sidewalk.
“I tripped her up,” he added.
In keeping with Soren’s father Glaspa Martin, Soren later mentioned he didn’t purposely run into the jogger. Glaspa confirmed Soren walks shortly and would have been targeted on attending to work.
“It was an accident,” Glaspa instructed Ontario Chronicle. “And Soren indicated that, over and over again: it was an accident.”
Soren obtained on his bus, however when it stopped on the Cambridge Centre transit terminal shortly after 9 a.m., he was arrested by officers with the Waterloo Regional Police Service.
“Police officers arrested me. Taken straight to the hospital, immediately,” Soren recalled.
Glaspa mentioned he obtained a name from Waterloo Regional Police at 10:20 a.m. however didn’t choose up, pondering it was a scammer. Twenty minutes later, police referred to as once more, and this time he did reply.
“The person, she identified herself, and said… my son Soren was arrested for assault and he’s at the Cambridge Memorial Hospital.”
Glaspa went to the hospital the place he bumped into Soren’s job coach, who had additionally been referred to as. He discovered Soren in handcuffs, which his father mentioned left marks on his wrist. The job coach then instructed Glaspa that Soren had requested officers to loosen {the handcuffs}.
Soren Martin exhibits his damage from sporting handcuffs throughout his arrest by Waterloo Regional Police. (Krista Simpson/ Ontario Chronicle)
Soren’s father additionally discovered a blood check had been performed on his son, and he puzzled who had approved that process. He believes Soren’s mother and father ought to have had a say.
“Based on the fact that he would not be able to articulate certain things, then of course, an adult or a parent should be called,” Glaspa defined.
He’s involved assumptions had been made about his son.
“My only reason for believing why he was taken to the hospital, which was not explained to me, [was] because Soren walks very brisk and, of course, is not able to articulate well,” Glaspa mentioned. “I believe they thought Soren must be on drugs or he must have been intoxicated.”
Soren was charged with assault.
Glaspa Martin sits along with his son Soren Martin in Cambridge, Ont. (Krista Simpson/ Ontario Chronicle)
Waterloo Regional Police didn’t present an interview to Ontario Chronicle, however despatched a abstract of the incident as reported to them, which reads, partially: “A female was running in the area of Jamieson Parkway and Franklin Boulevard when she attempted to move out of the path of a male who proceeded to body-check her, causing her to fall to the ground. The male tried to kick the female while she was on the ground before being startled by a passerby honking their horn. It was reported that the male laughed and ran away, boarding a Grand River Transit bus.”
Soren’s father instructed police on the hospital that Soren wouldn’t have deliberately knocked somebody over, or tried to kick the lady.
“I said: ‘No, Soren would never do such a thing,’” Glaspa mentioned. “Soren, of course, over the years has shown no sign of being violent at any point in time.”
The household has many different questions, together with why handcuffs had been used on Soren and who approved a blood check.
The household has cited analysis from Britain’s Nationwide Autistic Society, which says utilizing handcuffs needs to be averted when police encounter people with autism.
Cherri Greeno, the director of company affairs for the Waterloo Regional Police Service, mentioned officers are restricted as to what may be mentioned whereas the case stays earlier than the courts. She did, nonetheless, present a listing of eight causes for using restraining gadgets:
To stop the escape of a prisoner in custody When the prisoner has been arrested for an offence involving violence When the prisoner has displayed violent tendencies or is resistive in the direction of any member When the prisoner is perceived to have capabilities superior to these of the member For the security of the general public or members concerned To manage numerous prisoners being transported To stop loss or destruction of proof on or a few prisoner the place a direct and efficient search can’t be made To stop a prisoner in detention from self-injury
Greeno mentioned any medical procedures would have been performed beneath the route of medical professionals.
Ontario Chronicle additionally reached out to Cambridge Memorial Hospital who declined to remark, citing affected person privateness.
Greeno additionally added that officers are supplied with quite a lot of coaching programs, together with an Autism Spectrum Dysfunction course “which outlines some of the indicators that a first responder can recognize as indicative to an individual with autism, as well as some strategies and recommendations that may help first responders adapt or modify their approach to better support the individual in an emergency situation.”
Soren’s father doesn’t consider extra coaching is what’s wanted, however relatively, accountability.
He mentioned he’s talking publicly about what occurred to his son so it doesn’t occur to others.
“I would like to create some kind of awareness about autistic people and, at times, the way they are treated,” Glaspa defined. “Society should know, and equally law enforcement, the vulnerability of these people.”
Soren has a courtroom date on the finish of October. His father want to see the assault cost dropped – together with an apology.
