Police Brutality: Deaf Handicapped Man Tasered & Pepper Sprayed in Bathroom for Taking too long!

Police Brutality: Officers who used pepper spray and a Taser to remove a man from a store bathroom found out only later he was deaf and mentally disabled and didn't understand they wanted him to open the door, police said Tuesday.

A spokesman for the Mobile Police Department said the officers' actions were justified because the man was armed with a potential weapon — an umbrella.

But relatives of Antonio Love, 37, have asked for a formal investigation and said they plan to sue both the police and the store.

"I want justice," Love's mother, Phyllis Love, said Tuesday.

The woman said her son hears only faintly, has the mental capacity of a 10-year-old and didn't realize that it was the police who were trying enter the bathroom.

"He thought the devil was out there trying to get in to get him," she said

Antonio Love, in a written statement and in a television interview given in sign language about the confrontation, said he had a badly upset stomach last Friday and went into a Dollar General store to use the restroom.

Police spokesman Christopher Levy said Tuesday store workers called officers complaining that a man had been in the bathroom for more than an hour with the door locked. Officers knocked on the door and identified themselves, but the person didn't respond.

Officers used a tire iron to open the door, but the man pushed back to keep it shut. Officers saw the umbrella and sprayed pepper spray through a crack trying to subdue the man, Levy said. They shot the man with a Taser when they finally got inside, he said.

Officers didn't realize Love was deaf or had mental problems until he showed them a card he carries in his wallet, Levy said. He was arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct, but officers released him and took him home after a magistrate refused to issue a warrant.

Levy said officers were justified in using force against Love since he had an umbrella.

Phyllis Love said her son, who has worked in the garden department at a Lowe's store for several years, was scared when he realized someone was trying to get into the bathroom with him. He put water on his face and on the floor after being hit with pepper spray, she said.

"He didn't know it was a policeman until they busted the door in on him," she said. "He had a knot on his head from where it hit him."

Levy said police wish the confrontation had never occurred. The internal investigation will include a review of Love's complaints that officers laughed at him after realizing he was deaf, he said.

"We'll make whatever efforts we can to resolve this situation, hopefully so this man will be able to trust police in the future so we can help him. Obviously, it's going to be a rough road," he said.

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[1971SuperLead]

Stuck on the pot with Diarrhea, and then the cops taser you! That's a bad day frickin day!

[metallica76311]

It's not good, but I can't trust the police for anything anymore.

[sbeee21]

@rphinks haha you've got a good point but that dude was scared because the door was banged by the cops and tried to take him down. The black man should have used his common sense when using the bathroom for a long time. I think, in both case, both are fault for lack of communication.

[rphinks]

@sbeee21 what's wrong with taking a poop for over an hour in your own home? drug addicts like to get high in public bathrooms. The dude locked himself in the bathroom for over an hour and didn't answer when people tried to talk to him. The business had a right to have him removed.

[RyanDahlReturns]

@rphinks you must be one of them

[disabilityrights2012]

The man was taking a shit.Oh my god you know just let him be.Ok it takes him a long time.So the cops are so silly.

[sbeee21]

polices need to form a whole new concept of how to identify and how to communicate with deaf people... Whats wrong with taking a poop in the bathroom for over an hour?

[mrkotfw]

I can't believe this. Look at the man, he looks to be completely harmless.

The only thing offensive he might of have done was stunk up the bathroom.

[marco168888]

Racist: only in America

[MrShroomzzz]

that cop was an ass but then he took an arrow to the knee

[kludgeon]

Tasering a guy with bad guts is liable to exacerbate such a situation. I don't know what else to add.. I don't think much of any police officers I know, but that doesn't mean that these guys were "out of control" while trying to deal with an incident for which they probably had no pre-established protocol.

If you have to take an hour-long poop, try to be home at the time. Or go to the local police station and ask to use their can, maybe.

Poor guy, can't we all just poop?