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Why would a cop handcuff someone having a seizure?
Today is the first anniversary of a friend of mine having a seizure which lead to his diagnosis of a brain tumor (he's actually doing very well, had the tumor removed, and prognosis is excellent). On his blog, a friend posted her eyewitness account of his seizure.
Someone had called 911 and a cop was the first on the scene. Shortly after the seizure, with an EMT present, he actually handcuffed the person who'd had the seizure (and was apparently not quite back to normal, was still out of it).
My question is this: is this normal/standard practice? Is it done to prevent them from hurting themselves and/or others? I question this, because it seems that they could very easily hurt themselves more if restrained during a seizure. As long as people stand back and there are no dangerous objects in close proximity (this was in an office/cubicle setting), I can't imagine this being a good practice.
Any EMT's or medical/law enforcement professionals out there care to shed some light on this?
3 Answers
- CDCLv 61 decade agoFavorite Answer
I've worked in medicine over 40 years & during that time also saw cops work in the ER. They are taught to do 2 things for everyone's safety when they come upon an emergency that may cause danger to themselves & others. First to take the person to the ground and second to handcuff them. Then and only then they assess the condition of the patient. Their primary concern is that even though it may look like a seizure, the person may be faking & when the cops get near, they will grab the officers gun or cut them with an unseen knife.I don't know all the details of the incident but if the person was handcuffed then turned on his side during a seizure, I don't see how the handcuffs would have caused him harm. The officers then could have helped restrain him, kept him over, keeping the airway open so he didn't choke. The decision as to use handcuffs has to remain with the officer at the scene. They don't have medical training but I'm sure once he went to a hospital & was assessed by a MD, the cuffs were removed. We all have procedures to follow in all professions even though at times they seen wrong at first sight. Good luck to your friend.
Source(s): NJ RN - ZachLv 51 decade ago
Law enforcement is trained to protect the public and they would attempt to do that. Especially since he is NOT trained in medical procedures regarding seizure patients he may not know normal procedures for seizure patients. Depending on the situation, the EMT may have requested it for his safety in treating the patient, may not have known it was a seizure (for there is no visible outside evidence usually, correct?) And the law enforcement deal with criminals, drug users and addicts who strike out randomly to inflict maximum damage before being subdued... it could be a reaction of his post which is very stressful.
I would take their professional level training as priority to what may or may not have been safe in the situation and assumed that what they were doing was in the best interests of others. To belief that they were purposefully behaving miscreant is to undermine the whole reason we have emergency personnel.
- Anonymous1 decade ago
I asked my mother, who was a cop in the 1990's, she said it's just a safety precaution. But I don't know, I mean I am not a cop. Ask the cops why.
