When 48-year-old Waverly Lucas pulled into a gas station in Wyandanch, NY last summer, he didn’t know why police officers stopped him, demanded he give ID, and accused him of public urination of all things. But it got worse.
Lucas could barely get questions out before one officer handcuffed him and put him in a chokehold with no warrant to arrest him. The officer elbowed him in the eye, leaving him with a serious fracture. Then, they threw Lucas in the police car and RIPPED off his prosthetic leg!
Lucas described the profound pain as like “someone ripping off your skin.”
As for the arrest? The officers finally found something to charge Lucas with – “drug possession” for PRESCRIBED pain medication he took for his lost leg. And when they returned his prosthetic, it was damaged!
25% of Black Americans are disabled – a vast population of our communities deserving of care. And nearly 50% of people killed by police are disabled! Including struggles with poverty and homelessness finishes off the seemingly endless cycle of injustice and incarceration for Black disabled Americans.
We cannot accept a system that allows police attacks on Black disabled people like Lucas, who is now suing. This system viewed him as inhuman and disposable. We have no choice but to fight for a world where that can never happen again!