After being questioned in regard to the alleged vandalism incident, it was obvious which neighbor was the complainant. This neighbor is a renter, but is a relative of the owner of the unit, who is very vocal about what awful parents we are and coincidentally works for our village police department.
The detective I spoke to was incredibly rude. He made me feel like I was a murder suspect on a TV show. He stated he “knew I did it” because I obviously cannot handle my special needs children and “snapped.” He basically said if I admitted to something I didn’t do and paid to fix the car, nothing would happen, but if I told the truth and continued to deny I did this, terrible things would happen to me.
My husband and I went to look at the “vandalized” car, which looked like it had been in an accident. My husband and I suspect the car owner may have been in an accident, fled the scene and was now trying to blame the damage to her car on someone else. Frame us into paying for the damage to the car, intimidate us out of the neighborhood, kill two birds with one stone! All this because one neighbor finds my special needs children annoying!
Finally, something good happened. I received a phone call from our village police chief. He was very nice and apologetic and wanted to get together and talk about the insensitivity of his officers. The meeting was very positive. I brought printouts through links from Autism Speaks that specifically address autism awareness among first responders. We came home with a bag of toys for the kids and a much higher opinion of the village we live in.
Yesterday, May 29th, I received a phone call from a disability rights specialist at the Attorney General’s office. I told her at this time, I did not want to pursue any action against the police officers who treated me poorly, at least right now. We’ll see what happens. What this taught me was that there are still people out there that feel it’s socially acceptable to mistreat special needs families and that we somehow ask for it. I am even more motivated now to spread awareness and provide support for all special needs individuals and their families!
No comments:
Post a Comment