Diabetic woman settles suit after being shot with stun gun by police, hopes for reforms

Aimee Green, The Oregonian
Oregon Live
Jul. 12, 2010

Michelle Schreiner, who has diabetes, was shot with a stun gun by a Gresham police officer who mistook her as consciously defiant. Schreiner sued in U.S. District Court over the 2005 incident and last month reached a settlement. She received $37,500 and a promise that Gresham will train its officers how to better recognize and care for people in medical distress.

Michelle Schreiner's blood sugar was dangerously low when a friend called 9-1-1 and Gresham police and paramedics arrived to find her holding a syringe full of insulin.

The officer ordered Schreiner -- who was dropping in and out of consciousness and was having trouble speaking or moving -- to drop the syringe. He shot Schreiner with a stun gun before handcuffing her and allowing paramedics to treat her.

Not only was the incident life-threatening, Schreiner said, the stun gun was excruciating, and she was left humiliated, with saliva and mucus running from her mouth and nose.

Schreiner sued in U.S. District Court over the December 2005 incident. Last month, the city and Schreiner's attorney, Beth Creighton, reached a settlement: Schreiner received $37,500 and a promise that Gresham will train its officers by the end of summer in how to better recognize and care for people in medical distress, including those with diabetes.

Schreiner says the training just might make Oregon's fourth-largest city -- population 101,000 -- safer for diabetics. The 37-year-old says she's conscientious about avoiding low blood sugar, but occasionally it happens.

"The first question I've always been asked is: 'Have (you) been drinking?'" Schreiner said.

That's a common perception, said Sally Spaid Norby, executive director of the American Diabetes Association for Oregon and Southwest Washington.

And do people with diabetes worry that police will interpret their low-blood-sugar reactions as intentionally hostile, combative or noncompliant with orders?

"We certainly hear about it from people," Norby said.

Norby said the American Diabetes Association coordinates free training to lifeguards, hotel and restaurant employees and police -- anyone who regularly encounters the public and wants it. The association has produced a video, "Recognizing and Treating Low Blood Sugar Reactions ... Or is it drinking, drugs or diabetes?"

About 23 million Americans -- and more than 10 percent of adults -- have diabetes, according to the association.

Police encounters occasionally makes headlines. In 2003, Beaverton police used pepper spray and a stun gun on a man after he wouldn't pull over as he headed into Portland, drove over a spike strip and wouldn't get out of his car when it crashed. In 2007, Portland police said they had no choice but to use a stun gun on a 26-year-old Northeast Portland woman whose roommate called 9-1-1 for medical help.

Experts say many people blame diabetics for letting their blood sugar drop to levels where they become emotionally charged, hostile or combative.

"It's hard. It's hard," Norby said. "A lot of time low-blood-sugar reactions come on really fast."

Last month, an attorney for a diabetic man who says he was beaten and shot with a stun gun by Portland police July 17, 2008, during a diabetic emergency filed a $75,000 lawsuit in Multnomah County Circuit Court. Leonard Berman said his client, Michael Able, 46, was driving near Southeast 140th Avenue and Powell Boulevard when he crashed into a few parked cars. Bystanders called 9-1-1, and when police arrived, Able didn't comply with orders.

"He was in a daze. He came to after being tasered and punched in the eye," Berman said, alleging that officers gave Able a black eye and broke his teeth. "My client was ill, and the first thing they turn to is force. They were poorly trained."

The Portland city attorney's office declined to comment on the most recent case because of the pending litigation.

According to a police report written by Officer Gregory D. Burn, witnesses and an officer saw Able's car crash into a few cars, including a "stopped Toyota truck" while driving the wrong way down Powell. The rear tires kept spinning because the driver wouldn't take his foot off the gas.

Burn said he opened the passenger door and noticed that Able "appeared to be completely oblivious to my presence."

"I pointed my Taser at Able and gave him orders, but he kept trying to move the car," Burn wrote. Burn said he worried the car would start moving again, so he put the car in park.

"Able didn't fight but was being resistant to being handcuffed," Burn wrote.

Berman, Able's attorney, said police realized only after Able was handcuffed that he was diabetic. He wasn't charged with a crime.

The police report doesn't say that Able was shot with a stun gun and punched, but Berman said he has an independent witness who saw Able shocked and "roughed up."

Berman settled a case of a man in hypoglycemic distress with Portland for $17,500 in 2006.

Bob Day, commander of the Portland police training division, wasn't familiar with the incident and said he couldn't speak to it. He said he found no specific training of officers in how to recognize diabetics with low blood sugar and how to approach them.

Day said the training division is "certainly aware" of the issue -- and that diabetics can easily be mistaken for drunks. Sometimes, Day said, officers have brought people with hypoglycemia to Hooper detox center, where staff members have quickly realized the medical issue.

Day said the bureau might add diabetic encounters to its training or issue a bulletin about hypoglycemic behavior to all police employees.

He's a member of the bureau's tort review committee, which every other month reviews lawsuits filed against police.

"It's more than 'Oh, we're getting sued again,'" Day said. "It's 'Is there something here that needs to be addressed?'"

-- Aimee Green