How police violence targets autistic people

Note: a previous version of this piece was published in the Chronicle Herald in Spring 2024.

Image via Unsplash.

Victor Perez, a 17-year-old autistic boy with cerebral palsy, is dead.

The Latino teenager was taken off life support on April 12, a few days after police opened fire on him. At the time, Perez was in the backyard of his home in southeastern Idaho along with two family members. Police say the “risk was immediate,” as Perez was holding a knife and did not comply when asked to drop it. Given his disabilities, Perez likely did not process or understand these commands.

Instead, Perez approached the chain-link fence, where four police officers stood on the opposite side pointing their guns. They shot Perez nine times.

Statistics suggest that autistic people are more likely to encounter police than the general population. Pair this with the systemic lack of understanding of disability and mental illness and these encounters can turn dangerous or deadly. This is especially the case when the individual is an autistic person of colour. In the case of Perez, a witness who called police described the boy as drunk.

There is a video circulating of the incident. Although I watched it, I don’t recommend others do the same so I will not link it here. You may seek it out if you wish. What I will say is this: police shot Perez a mere 15 seconds after they are seen exiting their vehicles. Family members can be heard screaming in the background.

Boys like Perez are more than statistics. They are people. And, tragically, there are more people like him than I can name. Many of them are—or were—just kids.

Such was also the case with the 2024 death of a Black autistic teenager in California. Last year, police scrambled to justify the murder of Ryan Gainer at the hands of law enforcement. According to an article from Reuters, Gainer was “shot by at least one of two San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies dispatched to his home after relatives called 911 seeking help for what civil rights attorney DeWitt Lacy, representing the family, described as a mental health crisis.” Police say Gainer “charged at” an officer with a bladed garden tool. One or both officers present shot at Gainer at least three times. The 15-year-old died of his wounds in hospital.

Truth be told, details such as the garden tool and the knife matter little to me. They perhaps explain why police were called in the first place, but they do not justify murder.

Lest you believe this problem is confined to the United States, consider this: in 2022, Alberta RCMP officers arrested an autistic 16-year-old named Ryley Bauman at a playground in St. Albert. According to CBC, Bauman was playing in the sand and on the swings when police misidentified him as a local drug user “known to police.” Bauman is non-verbal and was perceived to ignore the officers when they asked him questions. Despite subjecting the teen to unlawful confinement and assault, the Crown did not bring charges to any of the three officers involved.

Unfortunately, there are multiple other examples of this kind. A quick internet search shows that autistic people as young as seven years old have been victims of police brutality. This raises a few questions. First, why are parents and family of autistic people so desperate for support that they must turn to police? Where are their options? Additionally—and perhaps more importantly—why are armed officers responding to mental health-related calls at all?

Ryan Gainer was especially at risk due to the intersection of two identities: he was Black and he was autistic. Both Black and autistic people are stereotyped as being violent, but (especially when racist and ableist stereotypes collide) they are often the ones who end up on the receiving end of violence. The issues at play here are multifaceted. However, that doesn’t mean it’s complicated. Police should not be allowed to point deadly weapons at kids—autistic or otherwise.

Until the current law enforcement system is dismantled, such tragedies will only continue.