A Georgia man that suffers from Tourette’s says that police deactivated a device that controls his symptoms and then beat him for their own amusement. He is suing Chatham County Sheriff officials for negligence and infliction of emotional distress.
Upon being brought to the Chatham County jail for processing, Ray alleges that he warned officers that passing through the facility’s metal detector would deactivate the battery-powered deep brain stimulator that helps him control the symptoms of Tourette’s. If the device does not work, Ray is prone to uncontrollable tics and obscene outbursts typical with the neurological disorder.
"Upon being transported to his cell, plaintiff advised the sheriff's deputies which were escorting him that he should not go through the scanning device as it would affect the batteries in his Tourette's device and render it useless," the complaint, filed this week, reads. "The deputies did not heed plaintiff's warning and forced him to go through the scanning device, which in fact did turn off his Tourette's device and cause the symptoms of Tourette's to evidence themselves, including jerking of his arms and legs, facial tics and other neurological actions which evidenced a lack of control on plaintiff's part."
After the device was deactivated and Ray was at the mercy of the disorder, he says that the cops repeatedly harassed him and beat him as “a form of amusement.”
Attorneys for Mr. Ray say that their client was tied to a chair “and made to stay there for hours without benefit of food, water or bathroom privileges.”
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