Md. man with Down syndrome who died in police custody loved law enforcement

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-man-with-down-syndrome-who-died-in-police-custody-loved-law-enforcement/2013/02/19/10e09fe0-7ad5-11e2-82e8-61a46c2cde3d_story.html

Md. man with Down syndrome who died in police custody loved law enforcement
By Theresa Vargas, Updated: Tuesday, February 19, 6:45 PM

Fascinated with law enforcement, Robert Ethan Saylor would sometimes call 911 just to ask the dispatchers a question. He loved talking to police officers and was a loyal follower of the TV show “NCIS.”

Now, his death at age 26 is the subject of a criminal investigation that has left those who knew him in his Frederick County community and those who didn’t around the country wondering: How did a young man with Down syndrome die in an encounter with the very people he idolized?

As officials tell it, Saylor had been watching “Zero Dark Thirty” at a Frederick movie theater last month and, as soon as it ended, wanted to watch it again. When he refused to leave, a theater employee called three off-duty Frederick County sheriff’s deputies who were working a security job at the Westview Promenade shopping center and told them that Saylor either needed to buy another ticket or be removed.

What happened next is the subject of a probe by the Frederick County Bureau of Investigation. The findings are expected to go to the Frederick County State’s Attorney’s Office for review this week.


(Family Photo) - Robert Ethan Saylor died last month in the custody of off-duty Frederick County sheriff’s deputies after he refused to leave a movie theater. The county is investigating, and parents of other children with Down syndrome have voiced concern.

[Ed Suspicious]

1. I guess it's my disrespect for profit motive in general, but I am positive I would have let him

stay and watch a second time. Maybe talked to his health aide for payment or simply have let it slide.

So freaking unnecessary.

[elleng]

3. Of course, so would most of us,

but cashiers etc. are low-paid, low-authority employees, and many probably are afraid of displeasing employers.

This is VERY troubling for us all, and I/we my family is close friends with another Maryland family with a son with Down Syndrome, a few years older than the victim here. They don't live far from Frederick, and are VERY upset, angry, and fearful.

[BainsBane]

2. How horrific

There are far too many stories like this, where people are arrested for minor infractions and end up being killed or badly injured.

[jonthebru]

4. Any frickin' cop who can't tell a downs syndrome person...

Any frickin' cop who can't tell a downs syndrome person when in their presence should resign immediately. And murder is murder, that was murder. They should be dismissed and sent to prison.

[MannyGoldstein]

5. Mind-blowingly awful

Anyone with a modicum of common sense would have just let him watch the second time.

[Ed Suspicious]

6. Right. I think the last thing I would do would be to bring in three dudes to muscle him out. Bad

decision from the get go.

[DebJ]

7. If I was one of those cops, I think I would have handed the movie theatre $11

and said, Resolved!

[peace13]

8. The pack mentality.

It seems more and more that security folks just can't separate their jobs from a Rambo movie. How many times have we seen footage of a gang of cops outfitted with guns, tasers, clubs and radios, beating the crap out of one soul. Really? You guys can't think of another way.

Once again if these thugs would have asked themselves how they would want their family member treated, we would have no story here!

I am so sorry for the loss of this young man. Peace and love to his family and friends!