Was 'Scooter' Steve treated differently?

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Was 'Scooter' Steve treated differently?
Friends, family: Police insensitive to disabled man
By SEAN PATRICK NORRIS, Staff Writer
Published 03/14/09

"Scooter" Steve Marques was driving his scooter, adorned with an "Aruba" novelty tag, back from his regular, five-hour dialysis treatment late last month when he committed a common error.
Sean Patrick Norris - Maryland Gazette 'Scooter Steve' Marques of Glen Burnie.
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He didn't come to a complete stop for the stop sign at the intersection of Elvaton Road and Hidden Brook Drive in Glen Burnie.

Four police officers eventually showed up, and the 42-year-old, developmentally disabled man from Glen Burnie was issued $370 in fines. Police also impounded his only mode of transportation, costing him another $300.

But friends and family said it was when police handcuffed Marques, painfully pinching a shunt used for dialysis, and sent him for a psychiatric evaluation that they began to suspect he was being treated differently because of his disability.

"I honestly don't see it," said Pat Marques, his mother. "I think he should have gotten a warning, not all that stuff they did with him. I'm very incensed about it."

After being issued citations on Feb. 25 for failure to stop, driving without a license anddisplaying a novelty tag, her son was sent for an hours-long evaluation at Baltimore Washington Medical Center after he made an offhand remark about his mistake:

"I guess I'll just go home and kill myself."

Longtime neighbor Robert Stewart saw Marques with police and stopped to help. When Marques was handcuffed, Stewart contacted family friend Linda Polanowski and asked her to meet Marques at the hospital.

She said he was released after a few hours because he had no history of violence.

"I do (think he was treated differently), you know, and why, why? I don't know. I couldn't answer that," Polanowski said. "He's a very nice person and very harmless, believe me."

Marques was born with what his mother called minimal brain dysfunction.

"He can read basic sentences, but not all the words in them, and might not be able to interpret them," she said. "A lot of times he knows what he wants to say, but it doesn't come out the right way."

Police declined to talk directly about the incident, instead releasing a statement about their policy on complaints.

"It is the policy of this department to provide a thorough, fair and expeditious disposition of complaints about the conduct of its employees," Sgt. John Gilmer, a police spokesman, wrote in an e-mail.

"Further, it is the policy to invite individuals to bring to the department's attention complaints about its employees whenever that person feels the employee acted improperly."

The Marqueses said they plan to file a complaint and have reached out to several county and state elected officials for help.
Traffic violations

Marques said he saw the stop sign, but because there was no oncoming traffic he decided to roll through it rather than come to a complete stop.

He admitted his mistake, but Officer Kyle Funk handcuffed him after the comment about suicide.

"I told the cop, I said, 'I'll take (the scooter) with me, you don't have to tow it,' " Stewart said. "And he says, 'I already called the truck.' "

Marques is a lifelong Glen Burnie resident. The 1986 graduate of Old Mill High School still lives in the house he grew up in and holds down a job at J.P. Fuller Inc., a landscaping equipment sales and repair shop in Glen Burnie.

"Practically everyone in Glen Burnie knows Steve," his mother said. "He's a good guy. I just feel that this officer was just a little intense."

Polanowski said Marques has a good sense of right and wrong.

"If the officers would have just told him what he did was wrong, he would have put that scooter out in his shed and wouldn't touch it until he had everything right," she said.

Advocates for the disabled and mental health experts said they trust police to treat people with developmental disabilities appropriately, and officers usually prove to be understanding.

Francis Sullivan, executive director of the county Mental Health Agency, said deciding what to do with a comment about suicide is really up to the discretion of the officer.

"If the officer has reason to believe that the person might be at risk to themselves or others, they have two options: They can call the mobile crisis team and get advice, because they are licensed mental health professionals, or they can take them to the emergency room for a full-blown evaluation," he said.

"Without the particulars of the situation it's hard to comment, but I would say we urge police to use crisis response in that situation," he added.

Marques' mother, who was out of town at the time of the incident, said the officer must have picked up on her son's disability, and suspects that made a difference.

"When you talk to Steve you know he has a problem," she said. "A lot of people are uncomfortable with it and they get into a mode that they don't want to listen."

Polanowski said once she joined Marques in the waiting room at BWMC, Funk discovered he worked at J.P. Fuller.

"He turns to Steve and says 'Give me your number. Maybe you can hook me up with some parts sometime,' " Polanowski said. "Steve was shaking and said, 'I don't know.' "

Several days after the incident, Marques was still shaken.

He and his mother said they were unaware of the change in scooter laws from 2001, when the state began requiring anyone operating a motor scooter with an engine capacity of less than 50 cubic centimeters to have a valid state driver's license. Marques said he bought the scooter prior to the rule change.

"(I feel) like crap, not too good, so stressed out," he said. "He had no right to do what he did to me."

http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/top/2009/03/14-06/Was-Scooter-Steve-treated-differently.html