AAre the elderly/disabled forgotten?

[michele1999]

My friend is 75 yrs young and was given permission to take q cop's segway for a ride. well he hit a depression in the road and ended up with a severe brain injury. Why wouldn't our local newspaper write an editorial about it? I know they know but this officer has been in trouble before with driving his daughter to school and was suspended but this is being brushed under the rug What as an elderly/didabled communitycan we do to stop this injustice? this officer is a housing officer (public housing) which is where we live in Massachusetts. Now we have to look at him every day. We're angry nothing is being done to this officer.( bellieve me when I say I use the word officer loosely) He wears a helmet but never thought to put it on this man's head.Please any ideas would be appreciated.

[michele1999]

Yes we have helmut lawws here. But the point in fact is that this was a police vehicle it's llike a police officer saying take my cruiser for a ride. See my point.? The police can't have it both ways. My Dad was a cop and he never would have let someone drive his cruiser. Just common sense. Thanks for your interest.

[have 2 kids]

Why do you say he used the police vehicle wrongly?   You stated your friend was granted permission to do this.    Are helmets required by law in your state?    

[michele1999]

So bad that he hasn't spoken to the family since this happened on the 5th. and yes the lpd were going to brush this under the the rug until the local paper got wind of it. Yes I take things personally when you don't have many friends or family left you take it personal. This cop should be made retire it's not his 1st incident using police vehicles wrongly. When cops start running the station and not the chief then you have a problem and our chief is new so the older ones think they have it made. try living in this city and this community for 1 week i think you might change your mind about the cops here. My Dad was a "police officer" this guy is just a cop.

[deebelle3]

Just another comment...I can't imagine how bad this police officer must feel knowing that he was somewhat responsible for someone getting terribly hurt!!!

[deebelle3]

I thought you were writing about injustices and punishing a police officer. It was an accident and again, I felt both were at fault no matter what injuries the man sustained. He could have said no. You cannot completely blame the police officer when the elderly man was competent to choose. What happened was terrible but never the less an unfortunate accident. To blame the cop is out of order. He was maybe morally resposible and only 50% responsible.
I did not miss the point. I am just stating another side if you are objective enough to hear it. You assume I don't care??? I did not say anything bad or offensive. I am sorry you take things so personally.

[michele1999]

Please don't misunderstand me I didn't say my friend wasn't at fault b'cuz of his age. I didn't feel any empathy from you for him. I personally don't care if we have judges far older than he is. That wasn't the point which you missed completely. But we all suffer in this forum and this was my pain. To let you know it did make the papers and the cop is being reprimanded. But you probably don't care about that either. i live with extreme pain every day but I still feel empathy and sympathy for people. Do you? If you haven't anything good to say say nothing at all. That my Mom taught me at a very young age.

[peggy64]

you could write a letter to the mayor and send a copy to the newspaper.

[deebelle3]

I think both people were guilty. The 75 year old man had a choice. He could have asked for the helmet or chose not to ride at all. Just because someone is 75 doesn't mean that they have minimal brain function.You are assuming due to his age he did not fully understand the consequences of his actions.We have supreme court judges far older then he.
Deebelle

[teko]

You could always take out a letter to the editor in your local paper? I would. You are right when you say a lot of stuff gets shoved up under the rug so to speak. You have the power to expose it by simply telling what happened in the local paper or call your local news station to c if they could do a story on it, sort of a fact search if you will.

[ILADVOCATE]

As such the best resource for advocacy for people with disabilities are independent living centers:
http://www.ilru.org/html/publications/directory/index.html
They conduct systems advocacy but are not legal agencies so they could take on a large scale action but if you want specific legal referrals they could tell you where to go. It depends on what action you want to take and they could advise you on that as well.