A video of the Louisiana police arresting a man in a wheelchair has sparked public outrage. The video shows an officer wheeling away the man and then dragging him to the ground while the people present at the scene try to argue with them.
A nearly minute-long video of a man in a wheelchair is going viral on social media. Tyler Ladlay, the man in the clip, was arrested on December 1, after allegedly receiving “multiple warnings” from the authorities.
According to Lake Charles Police Chief Shawn Caldwell, they received a call complaining about Ladlay and a group of his friends who were “being loud, disruptive, and disturbing them,” the caller said.
In a conversation with KPLC, the police chief claimed that the group was “given multiple warnings to tone it down and to leave.” Ladlay, the man in the video, on the other hand, claims that he and his friends were heeding the warning and leaving when things escalated.
“They walked up to us, he asked us, ‘Could y’all leave this parking lot because y’all trespassing.’ We started walking off,” he shared while recalling the conversation moments leading up to his arrest.
The video that has gained significant traction picks up from the moment the cops decide to wheel the man away from his group. Moments later, he can be seen being dragged to the ground by one of the officers.
The abrupt move sparked pushback from bystanders. “You’re on camera,” one bystander warns them. “I don’t care! Would you rather he get arrested or just leave?” one of the cops is heard countering.
The man who is now on the ground yells at the officer while the situation continues to escalate. “He was like, ‘Put your hands behind your back.’ How do you expect me to put my hands behind my back? I’m in a wheelchair,” Ladlay noted while talking about the arrest.
He claims that he told the cops to put his cuffs in the front while denying putting his hands behind his back. Ladlay then recalled how the officer allegedly “grabbed” him, “threw” him to the ground, and “twisted” him up as the arrest unfolded.
The clip posted online has evoked a strong backlash from netizens. “I seen the video and they was so wrong how they handled that man in a wheelchair!!!” one user noted. “I’m floored,” a second added.
Chief Caldwell, who addressed the video following the public outrage, admitted that it didn’t look “pretty.” He also claimed that the officers are expected to follow the same protocol regardless of whether the person they are arresting is in a wheelchair.
“Sometimes it isn’t pretty, the job that we do. That’s why if people comply with what we’re asking, everything goes much easier,” The chief noted.
Ladlay disputes how officers handled the situation. He notes how wrong it was for the authorities to handle the situation the way they did. He added how it wasn’t like he could have “jumped off” the wheelchair he was in.
“How can I resist y’all? I’m in a wheelchair, I’m not going nowhere, y’all didn’t have to do it like that,” the 22-year-old noted after he was charged with disturbing the peace, trespassing, resisting a police officer with force or violence, and battery of a police officer.
