In The Politics of Autism, I discuss interactions between first responders and autistic people. Police officers need training to respond appropriately. When they do not, things get out of hand.
It would be hours before 60-year-old Gladys Soto learned the truth: Her son, Arnaldo Eliud Rios Soto, had wandered away from his North Miami group home. His behavior aide, a man Rios loved, had been shot by police as he desperately tried to warn them that Rios had autism, was not a danger to anyone, and was wielding a toy truck, not a gun. As Charles Kinsey lay on the ground, hands raised above him in a sign of abject submission, a bullet from a police sniper pierced his leg.
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Rios, 26, was diagnosed with a complex and disabling form of autism as a small child. He is largely non-verbal, though he can use a handful of words — “police” and “blood” and “hate” are among them. He’s big and he’s tall, and all that bigness can be a danger when Rios loses his temper.
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On Monday, Rios decided to remain home from a day program he usually attends. Kinsey stayed home, too, to supervise him. When Rios left the group home — his toy truck, which he clings to for comfort, in his hand — Kinsey followed him. “We can’t prevent people from going out the door; they have rights,” said MACtown’s director, Clinton Bower. “All we can do is try to ensure their safety.”
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After Kinsey was shot, the caregiver was rolled onto his belly and handcuffed — an image that badly exacerbated the public relations nightmare North Miami police faced. But Rios, too, was treated like a criminal, said both his mother and Bower.
For at least three hours, the young man remained handcuffed in the back of a police squad car. Soto’s church friend begged officers to see Rios, as did Bower. But officers kept Rios under wraps until about 9 p.m., Bower said.
Police told Bower that Rios “was acting loopy,” Bower said, adding Rios kept talking about Disney characters. “They clearly couldn’t see he was a person with autism, or another disability.”
Dietz, the family’s lawyer, said Rios’ three hours in a police car might have been nearly as traumatic as the shooting. “This is a person who calms himself by slapping his hands and rocking,” Dietz said. But he could do nothing as waves of anxiety cascaded over him in police custody.
