I always hate to see items like this but it is flashing all over online news sites about this horrible shooting of a diabetic whose girlfriend had called for medical help. This is from huffingtonpost but it is also on a link at cnn, etc.:
Police in Georgia say they had no choice but to shoot a man who was, according to his family, experiencing an adverse reaction to medication he took for his diabetes. The family of Jack Lamar Roberson claims they called 911 on Friday for medical help and that the 43-year-old was not a threat at all. Police say Roberson was armed.
"They just came in and shot him," Alcia Herron, Roberson's fiance, told First Coast News. "He didn't say nothing, the police didn't say nothing, anything, it was like a silent movie. You couldn't hear anything, all you could hear were the gun shots go off and I seen them going into his body and he just fell down."
Waycross Police Chief Tony Tanner said Monday that authorities responded to a suicide threat and that Roberson approached them “aggressively armed with two items used as weapons," according to the Florida Times-Union.
The chief refused to specify what those weapons were, according to the Associated Press.
Roberson's mother insisted that her son was unarmed and that there were "no weapons in this house whatsoever."
"I saw my son shot down," she told the newspaper. “It was ‘Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom."
The officers involved were placed on administrative leave as the Georgia Bureau of Investigation reviews the case. [end news report]
Another site said that 911 was called for medical help and that the police showed up instead. The man's small son, mother, and girlfriend were all in the room. My suggestion: We should all perhaps put a big sign on our door such as "Diabetic inside. May behave erratically when blood sugar is very low or very high. Do not harm!"
What is going on with so many police shootings of unarmed people? Or barely armed, like with a homeless man with a small pocketknife.
That is really sad--breaks my heart. But every diabetic needs to be smart.
When you call 911 you must be specific: "I have a T1 (or T2) diabetic who is experiencing a very low blood glucose and needs immediate assistance. He/she may exhibit signs of aggression. Responding units need to be aware that this person is not drunk or aggressive due to other factors (if that is true...)."
Also, those family/friends on the scene need to understand, again be educated and advocate for the diabetic. Without that luxury in home the diabetic needs to wear medical alert jewelry that provides salient points to the responding teams.
It is self preservation. And a fantasy of mine. Education is a huge key to survival.
Let us not blame the victims for not being supremely articulate in a medical emergency. Regardless of how they described the diabetes emergency, I am as sure as I can be that they did not ask for the police.
I can't know what happened but I can't imagine that the girlfriend said anything other than that the guy was in diabetes "shock" a typical lay term. I don't know what she said, of course, although she reported that she asked for help for a diabetes reaction. And why would the police should a suicidal person anyway, if that is what they thought? With his hands in the air!
The first time the fire crew showed up at my house many years ago, I was basically flopping and throwing my self all over the room. It woudl have been easy in retrospect for a police officer to regard my actions as both combative and suicidal. I have only heard what it looked like, I of course so far under there was no hope except for a glucagon injection. Certainly police would have never known that I was anything other than out of my mind.
I am so sorry what happened. I do think this needs to be a warning to carry diabetic ID, and let those around us know that we are diabetic. When I was taken off the USAir plane with a low, my necklace saved me.
