A teen with autism gets arrested for violence: This didn’t have to happen

I read a disturbing post on a Facebook friend's page yesterday. Someone in her circle has a 14-year-old brother with autism who was taken into police custody on Thanksgiving Day. The girl noted that her brother was charged with assault, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and harassment with a bodily substance.

The story made headlines in their area. The boy's mother, Lisa Berner, called the police after he tried to cut himself several times with a knife then took off. He kicked one officer and fought them as he was put into the car, spitting and attempting to break the car's windows and partition. He was taken to a juvenile detention center, Lisa was told, until he could be taken to a residential facility. At his hearing last weekend, she said he was being treated like a criminal, complete with handcuffs and a jumpsuit.

"I have never been so sad in my life," his sister wrote on Facebook. "He has no idea what any of that means. He has no idea what is going on. Ehren is only 14 years old and deserves a chance.... It took charges being pressed against him for the county to start taking this shit seriously. [They told] my mom to call the police when he started having violent and destructive behaviors, that was the best 'crisis plan' they could offer, in case anyone is wondering why the police were involved in the first place. It should never have went this far."

This is heartbreaking, awful, maddening and downright terrifying if you have a child with autism or other cognitive disabilities. A new analysis by Cornell University published in the American Journal of Public Health, based on data from 8,984 people, found that people with disabilities had a 43 percent higher chance of being arrested by age 28 than those without. One report in 2015 by the National Disability Rights Network found that children with disabilities are disproportionately placed in the juvenile justice system. A data analysis by NBC News this past February found that both black students and ones with disabilities were referred to police at rates disproportionately higher than their white and non-disabled peers.

The need for first responders—police, EMS personnel, firefighters, nurses—to receive training for working with people with disabilities became tragically clear four years ago when Robert Ethan Saylor, a 26-year-old man with Down syndrome, died after being handled by police when he got upset outside a movie theater. It changed how Maryland trains law enforcement officers. As this recent police-teen encounter illuminates, though, youth with autism around the country can run a real risk of arrest depending on who shows up at their home.

There were some solutions mentioned on my friend's Facebook page. One woman noted that Phoenix has a social service agency that sends an ambulance and trained therapists to a scene, and transports a person to a facility if necessary. Another pointed to a dedicated psychiatric emergency facility in Oregon that opened in January of 2017, which provides care for people experiencing a mental health crisis.

Meanwhile, a pair of Ohio lawmakers have proposed a voluntary registration for individuals with autism, speech impairments or other disabilities that hamper communication. Law enforcement officials could only see the information when they looked up a driver's license or license plate. While this may appeal to some parents and family members concerned about safety, it's not hard to understand why some individuals might be opposed to making their disabilities known in a database.

Of course, options for helping individuals with autism in crisis and averting police involvement or arrest is one thing; finding behavioral support to avoid crises in the first place is another, as many parents know all too well. The sad truth is, parents of youth with autism who are acting violently may be left with no choice except to call the police on their own children.

For a year now, Lisa Berner said, she has begged for services to help her son with his violent behaviors. "The minimal services organizations offered us have been inadequate and inappropriate for our situation," she told a reporter. "I don't see a light at the end of the tunnel."

Autism Speaks has information for parents and individuals with autism on creating a handout for emergency situations, plus teaching children and teens how to interact with first responders. There are also law enforcement crisis intervention teams nationwide to call when there is a psychiatric or neurological crisis; their main purpose is pre-arrest jail diversion for those in a mental crisis (click here for a map to find one near you).