Last month, a man with a disability named Brian Sterner was being booked into jail on a traffic violation when the deputy, an apparently thoughtless and stupid woman by the name of Charlette Jones, dumped him out of a wheelchair onto the ground. Brian, a quad who has since been on the Today Show and Good Morning America, said she told him to stand up so she could frisk him. He told her repeatedly that he couldn’t and why, and she apparently didn’t believe him. Fortunately, it was caught on the jail’s security camera (to be renamed ‘dumbass deputy surveillance camera’).

Here is one of many news stories about the incident:

This angers me on so many levels. I hope the deputy loses her job (she’s already suspended without pay), and I hope Brian sues and wins big. It’ll be a win for disability rights, but also for common fucking sense.

One thing that amuses me about all the coverage of the incident is that all the articles (like this one) say something like “Sterner, who can drive, was arrested on a traffic violation.” No shit. I’m not sure how exactly one gets a traffic violation without being able to drive. But, as I know all too well, able-bodied people seem to think of driving and disability as mutually exclusive, so I guess reporters feel they have to clarify.

Lots of the Youtube videos about this incidents have comments about how “he moved his arms!! he’s not a quadriplegic!” Now, we all know how dumb Youtube commenters tend to be, but let me take this opportunity to remind you: quadriplegic does not necessarily = Christopher Reeve. It can, in the case of injuries very high on the spinal cord, but it actually refers to paralysis affecting all four limbs, so that many quads have use of their arms. This concludes your spinal cord injury PSA.