'Wish it had never happened,' police chief says of autistic man's arrest

The top officer of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary apologized in person Thursday to an autistic man who was put in the lockup on the weekend after his condition was mistaken for intoxication.

Chief Joe Browne said Thursday afternoon he met earlier in the day with Dane Spurrell, 18, a Mount Pearl man who was arrested Saturday evening when officers assumed he was drunk in public.

"I wish that it had never happened," said Browne, who maintained police officers who cuffed Spurrell before bringing him to the lockup in downtown St. John's, where the Mount Pearl resident spent the night, used appropriate force in the incident.

Browne said the entire incident could have been avoided if the first officer on the scene, whom he described as being a younger member of the force, had done more to understand Spurrell's condition.

"I wish I could turn back time," said Browne, who met with Spurrell and his mother, Diane Spurrell, on Thursday morning.

Diane Spurrell raised the issue through CBC News earlier this week, complaining that she did not know what had happened to her son for hours until she phoned the police for help about 5 a.m. NT Sunday. She learned at that time that he son was held for being intoxicated.

She said police mistook his behaviour and manner of walking as symptoms of being drunk.

Denied opportunity to call mother

Although he asked, repeatedly, in the lockup to be able to call his mother, guards at the lockup refused, informing him he was eligible only to call a lawyer. He was released after his mother informed officials of Dane's condition.

An investigation has been called into how the force handled the incident.

Browne told reporters Thursday that an officer noticed a car swerving on Topsail Road to avoid something, and then saw Spurrell walking on the road.

Browne said she then found that Spurrell was unresponsive to her inquiries. After a second officer arrived on the scene, Spurrell was handcuffed and taken to the lockup, in the base of the Newfoundland Supreme Court building.

Browne said the first officer on the scene was fairly young, and followed standard procedure. In hindsight, he said, the case could have been handled differently from the start.

As well, Browne confirmed that a comment posted to the CBC website late Tuesday night was written by the second officer who arrived on the scene.

In the comment, the officer wrote, "I acted in good faith, and believe that this young man was in need of apprehension, as I believe his actions could have killed him (walking in the middle of the road)."

Browne said the officer was responding to nasty comments that had been posted to the first story on the Spurrell arrest, and that the officer immediately regretted having written it.

In the comment, the officer, who did not identify himself, said the characterization of himself was wrong. "I challenge all you arm chair quarterbacks to spend a week in my job. I have 15 years on patrol, and can spot a person who needs help. This person was a danger to himself and needed intervention. …This monster has three children, and a wife. I have a lawn mower and I like to wash my car. [The] only difference is I deal with stuff most of you cannot even look at."

Browne said the force has offered the Spurrells the opportunity to meet both of the police officers involved in the case.

The RNC's response to what happened has Diane Spurrell's support so far. She said she is waiting for an apology from the RNC officers who arrested her son, particularly from the officer who defended his actions on the CBC website.

Spurrell said despite what happened to her son, she's angry that people have used the incident to publicly bash the RNC.

"The community needs to trust their policing agencies, they need to feel secure. And the police need to know that they have the support of the communities in which they work," she said.

Mother upset with jail guards

However, Spurrell said, she is more upset with the guards at the St. John's lockup.

"It was just, I believe, mean-spirited for them not to let that child phone me," she said.

In another development, Justice Minister Tom Marshall told CBC News Thursday he will have his top corrections officials speak with Diane Spurrell about how her son was treated while in the lockup.

Marshall said that he has asked the superintendent of prisons and the assistant deputy minister of justice to meet with the Spurrells as soon as possible.

Marshall said he is troubled by the emerging details of Dane Spurrell's arrest. 

The RNC is proceeding with a training program it had initiated with the provincial Autism Society before the Spurrell incident happened.