Disaster Parents Claim Death of Teenage Son with Autism Was Caused by Deputies Who Sat on Him for 9 Minutes - He was a big guy

Parents Claim Death of Teenage Son with Autism Was Caused by Deputies Who Sat on Him for 9 Minutes: Lawsuit

Eric Parsa died nearly one year ago after being restrained by sheriff's deputies

people.com

https://archive.li/s8zkL

The parents of a teenager with autism have filed a lawsuit against the sheriff's deputies who detained their son, alleging that they sat on the 16-year-old for a combined total of nine minutes.

Daren Parsa and Donna Lou are accusing Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joseph P. Lopinto III and seven deputies of negligence and excessive force in addition to violating their son's rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the New York Times reported.

Eric Parsa, 16, had severe autism. He died nearly one year ago on January 19, 2020.

According to the lawsuit, Eric had a "meltdown" as he and his parents were leaving a laser tag center in Metairie, Louisiana, the Washington Post reported. He reportedly slapped himself and his father, prompting the laster tag manager to call reserve deputy Chad Pitfield who was providing security to the shopping center where the incident took place.

Pitfield and the other deputies who eventually arrived on the scene allegedly pinned Eric to the ground and later bound his hands and feet. Lou and Daren's lawyers reportedly said that the deputies who responded had been told Eric had autism.

Pitfield sat on Eric for about seven minutes, the lawsuit said, according to the Washington Post, and then another deputy took over. The lawsuit reportedly said that seven deputies ended up "sitting on, handcuffing, shackling, holding down, or standing by E.P. as he was restrained and held face down on his stomach against the hard surface of the parking lot."

Eric was allegedly held down for a total of nine minutes and six seconds, during which "there were several clear and distinct opportunities, when E.P. was secured, was calm, was not actively resisting."

"They should've taken the weight off of Eric Parsa's back," said William Most, one of Eric's parent's lawyers, per the New York Times. "They should have rolled Eric Parsa on to his side to ensure that he could continue to breathe."

But they didn't, according to the lawsuit, until the teenager had gone limp.

"By then it was too late. E.P. was dying," the lawsuit said, according to the Washington Post.

Lou, a doctor, tried to help resuscitate her son, but was reportedly told to "stay back and let them do their job," the Washington Post reported.

Eric was eventually taken to East Jefferson Hospital, where he went into cardiac arrest and died, the New York Times reported. His death was declared an accident by the Jefferson Parish Coroner's Office, but said his prone position had been a factor.

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff's office did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment, but disputed the lawsuit's claims in a statement to the New York Times and the Washington Post.

"While the Sheriff's Office understands that all deaths are cause for sadness and a time for grieving, this lawsuit is rife with false claims and malicious accusations against the first responding deputies," the statement said.

Lou said in a news conference Thursday that "not a day goes by" that she and Daren "don't yearn for Eric and grieve the loss of his life and the future he would have had."

"Never did we ever think that our 16-year-old son with special needs would die in front of our eyes at this age and in the hands of law enforcement," she said. "Unfortunately, it is our reality of a nightmare."



The grieving mother added that she and Daren "bring this lawsuit in hopes that Eric's death will not be in vain and no other families will have to go through the same horror, loss and shock that we are experiencing."

The couples' lawyer did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.
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I'm torn on this, because the parents brought him to a laser tag place which would hype up anybody, let alone a severely autistic person. Really unfortunate situation but I don't think the cop should be charged particularly because the parents were there watching.

 

[Honored guest]

So you have a massive tard who towers over his elderly parents having a meltdown in public and getting violent. This isn't something that just starts suddenly, they knew beforehand he could get violent and that they would have difficulty controlling him. Its like taking a large dog that you can't control out for a walk, sooner or later someone will get hurt. It may sound heartless but don't bring a tard into the public if you can't restrain him. Really shitty parent who deserve some of the blame for what happened.

 

[D_Tractor]

They should be suing the kike lawyers who got the state asylums shut down.

 

[Chicken Picnic]

So you have a massive tard who towers over his elderly parents having a meltdown in public and getting violent. This isn't something that just starts suddenly, they knew beforehand he could get violent and that they would have difficulty controlling him. Its like taking a large dog that you can't control out for a walk, sooner or later someone will get hurt. It may sound heartless but don't bring a tard into the public if you can't restrain him. Really shitty parent who deserve some of the blame for what happened.

The parents didn't call the police tho. The manager of the Lazer tag place apparently called the security, who I guess asked for back up.

As someone who's been on the recieving end of sped-rage, the last thing you need is unfamiliar people in close proximity to someone having a meltdown. It should have been left to the family to deal with and the manager should have known he was special needs already. Unless the kid was attacking the manager, which there doesn't seem to be any evidence of since he was having this episode in the car park, there really was no need to get even one officer involved, let alone multiple.

He wasn't even hitting that hard by the looks of things, which is usually the case with meltdowns. He was slapping him, not punching closed fists. The use of restraint was just completely unnecessary. I've had my hair almost ripped out in clumps and even come close to being strangled by sped rage and in none of those moments did anyone need to restrain the kid doing it to me. I've had past colleagues held underwater, by force, and still to stop the offending kid no one even considered pinning them to the ground after moving them away.

I honestly believe there is no circumstances where, when it comes to special needs, that level of restraint should be necessary. I don't even agree with them holding him on the floor before they sat on him, but the parents should know what works best for their kid so I'll hold my judgement on their methods.

A meltdown is a complete overload of emotion- it could be sensory triggered but it could also be from just an inability to self regulate feelings of happiness or anxiety. What won't ever help though, is a complete stranger raising their voice and getting into physical contact in the middle of a state where the autistic person is already in the middle of a meltdown. More stimulation will just prolong the event. Everything about this incident just screams out as handled poorly and I really feel for the kid. No one deserves to die like that, especially someone who might not even have had full understanding of what was happening to them at the time

 

[Aidan]

The censor blur in that video makes it look like the cop was butt naked and putting on a shirt for some tard wrangling.
Also
>"They should have rolled Eric Parsa on to his side to ensure that he could continue to breathe."
I guess extreme fatties really are beached marine mammals, and will suffocate under their own weight.

Fats can die from sleeping on their stomachs, especially when they're older. One reason doctors often recommend not sleeping on your stomach is because for a lot of people it makes it harder to breathe.
Imagine being that fat.

Back in the day we'd call this kid retarded because that's what he almost certainly is. A violent brute who exists only because of his parents feeding him, often to pacify his fat ass. Is there even help for someone like that?

 

[Burd Turglar]

or they're lying about their son being autistic.

You're going to spend as much time as you do on a website that tracks autists, by autists, for autists....and you can't tell from the picture that the big galoot is autistic as fuck? The fuck is wrong with you?

 

[big ups liquid richard]

That autist (like most) has never done anything with their life so as far as I can tell its not even murder. Its just a very late abortion.

 

[kcbbq]

The parents didn't call the police tho. The manager of the Lazer tag place apparently called the security, who I guess asked for back up.

As someone who's been on the recieving end of sped-rage, the last thing you need is unfamiliar people in close proximity to someone having a meltdown. It should have been left to the family to deal with and the manager should have known he was special needs already. Unless the kid was attacking the manager, which there doesn't seem to be any evidence of since he was having this episode in the car park, there really was no need to get even one officer involved, let alone multiple.

He wasn't even hitting that hard by the looks of things, which is usually the case with meltdowns. He was slapping him, not punching closed fists. The use of restraint was just completely unnecessary. I've had my hair almost ripped out in clumps and even come close to being strangled by sped rage and in none of those moments did anyone need to restrain the kid doing it to me. I've had past colleagues held underwater, by force, and still to stop the offending kid no one even considered pinning them to the ground after moving them away.

I honestly believe there is no circumstances where, when it comes to special needs, that level of restraint should be necessary. I don't even agree with them holding him on the floor before they sat on him, but the parents should know what works best for their kid so I'll hold my judgement on their methods.

A meltdown is a complete overload of emotion- it could be sensory triggered but it could also be from just an inability to self regulate feelings of happiness or anxiety. What won't ever help though, is a complete stranger raising their voice and getting into physical contact in the middle of a state where the autistic person is already in the middle of a meltdown. More stimulation will just prolong the event. Everything about this incident just screams out as handled poorly and I really feel for the kid. No one deserves to die like that, especially someone who might not even have had full understanding of what was happening to them at the time

If you can't go out in public without becoming an uncontrollable rage monster you shouldn't be out in public.

 

[Übertroon]

This is just another Eric Garner. A obese person decides to resist arrest, and has his body finally give out during the struggle.

Parents are accessory in the death for feeding their big manatee

 

[cactus]

Why does this shit always happen on my birthday? The kid dying, I mean.

 

[whatever I feel like]

Ahh gee, the whole of the Sonic and Thomas fan communities is mourning the loss of this hulking menace.

 

[Underestimated Nutria]

How else do you record their screams?

 

[Your_Fairy_Wish_Prince]

If you can't go out in public without becoming an uncontrollable rage monster you shouldn't be out in public.

Going to have to agree with this one, what if he had attacked someone besides his parents? I know plenty of people that would have given him the wet-work if he had laid his hands on them or a family member.

It just seems like they were asking for trouble, kinda reminds me of the dog analogy from The Green Mile regarding negros . It seems more and more that the police are being involved in incidents in which someone with special needs, or who is mentally ill is either injured or killed. While I don't think that sitting on someone is the best idea it seems like people just don't understand when a cop rolls up on an incident and there is absolute bedlam, they are only told what dispatch tells them, you don't have time to hold someone's hands and ask if their kid either has, 'autism please be gentle with me' or is a tard or not. Especially if there have been reports of assault and its still happening. A policemans job is to keep the peace not make sure that you or any one else is protected. (DeShaney vs. Winnebago and Town of Castle Rock vs. Gonzales)

Recognizing autism isn't part of basic police training, and cops shouldn't expected to be tard wranglers. I know it sounds beyond stupid to say this but there are people who will lie about such things just to avoid being arrested and yes, there are people who look like spergs who aren't, just look at Dusty from the Amberlynn thread. The point that I am trying to make is just because you have autism doesn't mean that you aren't dangerous (look up Ryan True) or don't have the ability to kill someone, and just because you are acting like you have autism doesn't mean that you do.

I don't agree that he should have been killed, but it always seems to me no one thinks of the far larger picture of the future. What was going to happen to him when his parents eventually died, who was going to take care of him and his chimp out sessions? My guess would be the state and the tax payers literally paying for his parents bad decisions. So, at best, he would have spent the rest of his earthly time on this mortal coil sitting in a festering diaper so doped on tranquilizers he is would have been the equivalency of a house plant.

As for the kiwi who had their hair pulled out by the roots and knew people who were basically sperg-water-boarded and no one stepped in to help...Jesus Christ I don't know what company thinks that the life/well being/feelings of a ree-ree is more important than that of their employee but it seems like an organization that has their priorities crossways.

Don't get me wrong, most life is worth something, but lets lets cut through the bullshit, there are some lives that are worth more than others. Rabid behavior is often met with euthanasia, whether that's a mercy or not I am not drunk enough to pontificate upon.

 

[Maggots on a Train v2]

Fats can die from sleeping on their stomachs, especially when they're older. One reason doctors often recommend not sleeping on your stomach is because for a lot of people it makes it harder to breathe.
Imagine being that fat.

Back in the day we'd call this kid retarded because that's what he almost certainly is. A violent brute who exists only because of his parents feeding him, often to pacify his fat ass. Is there even help for someone like that?

It's so pathetic that people who should be in their primes have to take even more precautions than a 70 year old in physical therapy. Might as well tell the cops to turn him every 30 minutes to prevent bed sores.

You're going to spend as much time as you do on a website that tracks autists, by autists, for autists....and you can't tell from the picture that the big galoot is autistic as fuck? The fuck is wrong with you?

He's got a perfect example of autism hippo face.