Video Shows Deputy Smash Autistic Man’s Skull into the Ground, Killing Him for Joking Around
Surveillance footage raises questions over officer's actions


by Mike Agorist | Free Thought Project | May 12, 2015


A Knox County deputy is now being investigated after he fatally assaulted 33-year old David Dehmann on April 21. Dehmann was autistic and had Tourette’s Syndrome, and this was well-known by the local law enforcement.

Mount Vernon police picked up Dehmann on the 21st for being intoxicated but was released within a couple hours after being cleared by a hospital for release. At 7:43pm that same day, he was arrested near a public school for disorderly conduct – harm to self, at which point he was taken to Knox County Jail by MVPD Cpl. Travis Tharp when things took a turn for the worse.

During the booking process, Dehmann would not make it 15 feet into the station before his life would be ended.

The sickening surveillance camera footage of his killing was released last week which showed this deadly act of police rage.

The video starts out showing Dehmann being completely cooperative. He maintained this cooperation throughout the entire process.

He’s seen helping the deputies to remove his clothing and his shoes. At one point, he even playfully pats one of the deputies on the back; something a child might do.

Most of the deputies in the room seemingly laugh it off as an innocent autistic man being silly because he’s drunk. This was apparent by the lack of restraints on Dehmann.

However, Deputy Chase Wright was not enjoying Dehmann’s shenanigans.

As Dehmann is walking past the officers, either drunkenly or playfully, he points his finger at them; never making actual physical contact. When he gets to deputy Wright, he points just like he did to the first, but he is swiftly met with physical retaliation. His hand is slapped and deputy Wright proceeds to slam the autistic and impaired Dehmann to the ground with so much force that when his head hit, it killed him.

Prior to the body slam, Dehmann can be seen with his arm up in what seems to be some sort of physical move. However, his fist is not closed and is fingers are out. He was obviously not trying to punch nor was he in any capacity to cause harm to Wright.

Dehmann’s family is left devastated. Dehmann’s step-mother Melissa spoke on the tragedy, saying “He might have had his issues in the past and everything, but he didn’t deserve to die because of this.”

The original statement by the KCSO stated,

“While Dehmann was in the jail’s intake area he became aggressive with the jail staff making an aggressive move towards Deputy [Chase] Wright. Mr. Dehmann did attempt to hit Dep. Wright in the face causing Dep. Wright to place Mr. Dehmann into a take down hold, taking him to the ground to get control of him. Once control was gained it was found that Mr. Dehmann had hit his head on the floor during the incident. Mr. Dehmann was transported to KCH ER by Mount Vernon medics for a medical evaluation.”

When you watch the video below, it is all too clear who “became aggressive” in this situation.

http://www.infowars.com/video-shows-deputy-smash-autistic-mans-skull-into-the-ground-killing-him-for-joking-around/

more abuse of authority on the part of police. cop slams an autistic man to the ground for pointing at him. resulting in the mans death. its unclear how long it took them to contact emergency responders, but from the look of it they just stand there looking at him for about 10 minutes. like i have said many many times before not all cops are bad but there definitely is alot of bad ones out there. and the use of force in this video is in no way justified.

There are bad cops and this was one.

guess it wasn't the time for a pull my finger joke ?
or did the cop think that his finger was loaded ?
just sad really

i agree. i take alot of heat sometimes about police related topics because i seem to defend criminals alot. but its not that i am necessarily defending criminals, i just try to look at things from both points of view. the guy who shot the cop in the face in new york was definitely wrong, while i dont agree with simply stopping someone for adjusting their waistbands, that doesnt change what that guy did, he was wrong for sure. same with the 3 people who killed the 2 cops in was it missouri? they were wrong also, very wrong. but this one is pretty clear, if your a cop and you fear for your safety that much when somebody points a finger at you, than you shouldnt be a cop. i see videos like all all the time of cops escalating the situation and then performing "take downs" on people most of the time resulting in injury and not death. like just recently there was a woman who was arrested for public drunkeness or something and when they took her to the station you see on video the cop performs a similar takedown on her smashing her first first off the ground. she broke multiple bones in her face and had several teeth knocked out, all of which was in no way justified but the cop was cleared on any wrongdoing. this was a similar instance, the guy in this video should not have been taken down, let alone with that much force that it killed him. these bad cops need to be sorted out from the good cops so that good cops dont get the bad recognition from it. and in no way do i think federalizing the police will help at all. that will only create more problems as we can see from the DEA,IRS and secret service of where there is never any accountability.

Why was he unsecured in that staging area? Seems they let him begin walking by himself with a lapse in supervision....a short lapse, but that all it took. Very preventable IMO.

This is going to get very ugly before it is over..
sad really sad

is it a must to have someone secured? or is it up to the cops judgement? like if someone is fully cooperative is it a rule that they have to have him secured? im not sure, seems to me like they figured they didnt need to restrain him since he was being cooperative.

I dont know.....Ive been in a cpl of different jails as a part of my past job and all arrestees came in from a car straight to a cell....uncuffed, and eventually brought to booking. Dont know this depts policy though.
That being said, there shld be a set policy that applies to all arrestees...whether they are known or not. And notice, where the guy points at one guy, then the other that slams him.....for a brief period, he was unsupervised...shldnt have happened IMO.
By "unsupervised", I mean not controlled.....lapse in judgement on the dept to me.....Wish there was a broader view of video, mainly as the arrestee first walked out of frame.....hopefully there is and it will come out somehow.

guess we'll have to wait and see, obviously the guy shouldnt have been sticking his finger at the cop but to use that kind of force for something so petty is just ridiculous. that cop should be charged with homicide.

In this case, I hope it does.
Abuse of the disabled, is inexcusable.
I have an autistic cousin.

Thoughts and prayers for the families.

not all autistics are the same, some high function and you wouldnt even know it,

in any case, disabled or not,,if police use excessive force causing death,, they should be held accountable

You know, it kinda looked like a setup. JMHO