A service of Salisbury University and University of Maryland Eastern Shore
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Disability Awareness Training for Law Enforcement After Death of Down Syndrome Man

facebook.com

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - A governor's commission created after the 2013 asphyxiation death of a Maryland man with Down syndrome has released a report highlighting changes in disability awareness training for Maryland police agencies.

The Frederick News-Post reports that the Maryland Commission for Effective Community Inclusion of Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities released its report to the public online last week.

Twenty-six-year-old Robert Ethan Saylor suffocated in January 2013 as three Frederick County sheriff's deputies, moonlighting as mall security officers, tried to forcibly remove him from a movie theater.

In 2015, the commission helped create a training program for all entry-level cadets in the state. The commission also crafted a shorter four-hour training program that will be provided to veteran law enforcement officers beginning in January 2016.

Don Rush is the News Director and Senior Producer of News and Public Affairs at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.