- ORLANDO, FL (AP) -- A police
officer twice used a Taser stun device on a drug suspect who was restrained
to a hospital bed because the man refused to give a urine sample to medical
staff, authorities said.
-
- Antonio Wheeler, 18, was arrested Friday on a drug charge
and taken to an emergency room after telling officers he had consumed
cocaine,
police said.
-
- Because Wheeler said he had used the drugs, Florida
Hospital
officials wanted a urine sample. A police affidavit said Wheeler wouldn't
provide a sample on his own, so workers tried to catheterize him to get
one.
-
- The police document said Wheeler was handcuffed to a
hospital bed and then secured with leather straps after he refused to
urinate
in a cup. When medical staff tried to insert a catheter to get the sample,
Wheeler refused and began thrashing around, the affidavit said.
-
- At one point, police officer Peter Linnenkamp reported,
he jumped on the bed with his knees on Wheeler's chest to restrain him.
When Wheeler still refused to let the catheter be inserted, Linnenkamp
said he twice used his Taser, which sends 50,000 volts into a
target.
-
- "After the second shock (Wheeler) stated he would
urinate and calmed down enough to be given the portable urinal,"
Linnenkamp
wrote.
-
- At the request of Police Chief Michael McCoy, the Florida
Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the incident.
-
- Linnenkamp, who has more than 18 years on the force,
has no history of disciplinary problems, said Sgt. Barbara Jones, a
department
spokeswoman.
-
- He has been relieved pending the investigation's outcome.
Jones said officers in such suspensions usually are paid.
-
- In a Tuesday interview at the Orange County jail, Wheeler
acknowledged that he aggressively resisted efforts to insert the catheter
because he was scared it would hurt. He said the police officer told him
the catheter would be necessary if he wouldn't or couldn't urinate on his
own.
-
- "I feel I was basically raped," Wheeler
said.
-
- Said Amnesty International USA spokesman Edward Jackson:
"If this had taken place in China, it would be an egregious violation
of human rights, and the public would be outraged.
-
- "I hope that they don't allow the fact that it
happened
on U.S. soil deter from the fact that this may very well be a case of
torture."
-
- Florida Hospital spokeswoman Melanie Trivento said in
a statement Wednesday that hospital officials wouldn't be able to comment
on the case until they have thoroughly reviewed it.
-
- "This is a very unusual situation and we are
examining
all of the circumstances surrounding the incident," the statement
said.
-
- Earlier, another hospital spokeswoman, Samantha O'Lenick,
said she could not speak specifically about the Wheeler case but said
hospital
protocol calls for urine samples whenever patients say they have taken
drugs or alcohol.
-
- Wheeler was being held on $7,500 bail on charges
including
possession of cocaine with intent to sell, escape and resisting without
violence.
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