Stephanie Orlando was on her way to pick up lunch at a restaurant near her home in Chatsworth when she unexpectedly noticed something alarming: two healthcare workers struggling with a disabled woman on the ground.
They were next to a parking lot outside a Smart and Final store in Northridge, as they tried in vain to calm down the clearly agitated woman. Still in her car, Orlando pulled up next to them.
“I stopped and asked if they needed help; they said yes. They told me she was non-verbal and autistic,” Orlando told the San Fernando Valley Sun/el Sol. She parked and went over to help.
The home care workers informed her the woman had recently been discharged from a full-time care facility, where she had spent the previous 11 months. They claimed the woman was being violent and combative, but as the mother of a 10-year-old autistic son, Orlando recognized the signs of someone experiencing a “sensory crisis” who couldn’t communicate her emotions.
Orlando said she spoke with the woman very calmly and eventually slowly walked around with her and the caregivers. Unfortunately, when the workers tried to redirect the woman towards the van to drive her to where she would be staying, she immediately became distraught again.
“The whole issue was that she wouldn’t get into the van, and they were forcefully trying to push her in,” recounted Orlando. “Of course she got upset [and] I actually had to intervene, because she [ended up] on the ground, banging her head on the cement [while] the caregivers watched.”
Orlando said the workers “did nothing to keep her safe.” Meanwhile, Orlando placed her hands under the woman’s head as she tried to bang it on the ground to keep her from harming herself. After the woman calmed down again, Orlando walked and sat with her. Then the police arrived.
That’s when things went from bad to worse, though not right away, said Orlando.
The workers had called the police for help with the woman. Orlando spoke with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers who showed up to explain what was happening.
The LAPD has co-response teams with mental health clinicians that are dispatched to respond to mental health crises involving autistic adults. The teams provide on-scene assessments, de-escalate the crises and connect people to services rather than arresting them and taking them to jail. In this case, the unit – known as the Systemwide Mental Assessment Response Team (SMART) – was not at the scene.
In addition, LAPD officers are supposed to be trained in de-escalation techniques for interacting with individuals experiencing mental health crises or with developmental disabilities, including autism, through a 40-hour Mental Health Intervention Training (MHIT). Some techniques include slowing down encounters, creating space and using verbal communication to try to achieve peaceful resolutions.
Neither occurred – the officers didn’t use de-escalation tactics or contact SMART, according to Orlando.
“They refused to call the crisis line. When I had asked them, they refused,” said Orlando.
The San Fernando Valley Sun/el Sol contacted the LAPD to ask why they didn’t utilize a SMART unit, but did not receive a response by press time.
“At one point [the officers] got too close to her [and] they overstimulated her, and she began to spit, but didn’t directly spit on anybody,” she described. “I want to clarify that she didn’t hurt anybody, but she was so upset. And then she started biting herself. … I was close to her, [and] I said, ‘Do you want to hold my hand?’ Then I asked, ‘Do you want to watch something?’”
Holding hands, they walked a bit away from everyone else and then sat on the ground outside the store to watch the animated children’s series “Bluey” on Orlando’s mobile phone.
“I was doing [exactly what] I would do with my own child in a crisis situation,” Orlando recalled. “I could see her stress response getting smaller and smaller. She actually trusted me.”
Unfortunately, after several minutes, the officers suddenly decided to interject, she said.
“It all happened so fast,” said Orlando. “One of the officers said something like, ‘OK, that’s enough – we don’t have time for this,’ and then [several officers] swarmed around her.
“I stepped aside because I [didn’t] want to get arrested,” she continued. “I have a son, so I have to protect myself so I can take care of him, but I was so distraught. I told them, ‘Don’t do this. This is wrong.’ … And that’s when I started filming.”
The one-minute and 41-second video shows between four and five officers and the two caregivers surrounding the woman, who was being held against the wall outside the store, with her face pressed up against the wall as her arms were being pulled back behind her. The woman then ended up on the ground again and both of her wrists appear to be loosely handcuffed. As she continues to move her arms, officers forcefully pull them back, possibly to tighten the handcuffs.
The woman can be heard yelling out, on and off, very distressed as she continues to struggle. Then a paramedic walks up with a gurney, which is how the video clip ends. According to Orlando, the woman was eventually placed into an ambulance and taken to a hospital.
Orlando said she feels the entire scenario clearly illustrated a “complete lack of de-escalation training” regarding the LAPD officers, and, overall, a “total failure of humanity.”
Orlando wasn’t able to obtain the name of the facility where the healthcare workers are employed, but she did request the bodycam footage of last week’s incident from the LAPD and sent an email inquiry about initiating an internal affairs investigation.
“There are so many instances when excessive police force is used,” said Orlando, adding that she finds it inexcusable when the situation involves someone who is “unable to speak for herself.”
She said the officers’ actions were “traumatic, unnecessary and actually made things worse.”
“As a human being, this broke my heart; as a special needs mother, this broke my heart,” she said. “We need to treat people who are in crisis – who are the most vulnerable members of our communities – with love and care, and make sure we have proper training for police officers.”
Editor Diana Martinez contributed to this article.
It’s troubling to hear about how the situation was handled. What kind of training do you think first responders should have for better understanding?
This woman is absolutely amazing and the universe put her in that young ladies way to help her. God only know what would have happened has she not stopped. Please be kind and don’t look away. Lend a helping hand to those with special needs especially when they have no one.
Rosa, I hope everyone would speak up for a human being in crisis. If we do not stand up and speak for those who have trouble finding words, then we have lost our humanity. Thank you!!! 💕
Thank God for Stephanie Orlando. She was there at exactly the right time and place. We as a society don’t think about the needs of others. We don’t stand up and offer support. Rather, we criticize those that are different from us. The LAPD needs to hire professionals who work with Special Needs individuals to teach and train them to recognize signs of distress. To show them how to
de-escalate a situation so the result is a positive one. They are human just like every one of us. They should also have to call the “CrisisTeam” at every instance. I’m sorry to say but, these officers who were involved should receive consequences. Their lack of understanding and refusal to call in for help, made this situation WORSE. If they would have called for help, this entire situation would have been different. There will be other situations that will arise. I’m gonna pray, that a better decision is made in the future.
Thankful for people like yourself to have stepped in and very clearly informed the officers and staff of their inefficiency to this type of situations which if it was a family member of theirs they wouldn’t approve either…… I have family members on the spectrum and this is my greatest fear!