LEAD Initiative Update 12:35 am
U.S. Senator Bob Casey introduced bipartisan reforms today he says will improve the way law enforcement interact with people with disabilities.
“We have to raise the consciousness, uh, across society about the problem we have that we’re trying to solve with these bills.”
The help act, short for the human services emergency logistics program act, and the safe interactions act were introduced by Senator Bob Casey earlier Today.
Senator Casey was joined by a number of guest speakers, including Kevin Ressler, the president and CEO of United Way of Lancaster, who stressed the vitality of these reforms.
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The cellphone recording went viral around the world: a 24-year veteran of the Minneapolis Police Department threatening to break the leg of a teenager if he didn’t cooperate when stopped by police in March 2015.
“If you fuck with me, I’m gonna break your leg before you even get a chance to run,” officer Roderic Weber told one of the four Somali American teens in the car. “I don’t screw around.”
“Can you tell me why I’m being arrested?” one of the teens asked.
“Because I feel like arresting you,” Weber replied.
The video clip drew widespread outrage, and a demand for a federal investigation from the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations but it wasn’t the whole story.