On September 18, 2024, Soren, a 48 year old man in Kitchener Ontario was late for his morning commute.  He ran to the bus, only to crash into a jogger. Soren got on the bus, but the police arrested Soren at a bus terminal.  He was accused of kicking the jogger and laughing, though there is absolutely no indication that any of this happened.  Soren was taken to hospital, tested negative for any drugs or alcohol, and then charged with assault with hearsay evidence.  Why was he arrested?  https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/what-police-should-consider-when-interacting-with-people-with-autism-1.7063306

Soren is Black and autistic.  I am autistic but have evaded the worst outcomes because I am white.  Soren likely has a co-occurring neurological condition called apraxia, a neurological dysregulation common in autistic people that can cause involuntary muscle movements and poor coordination.  Apraxia could appear like laughter or kicking but it would be involuntary movement and vocalizing.  He also could have a related neurological condition like Tourettes.  The anxiety about being late for a bus could cause a flareup of neurological symptoms that are no fault of his own.  I get anxiety about being late for a bus too, and get neurologically dysregulated.  The other tragic thing about this case is the first thing that comes up when googling Soren’s name is this incident.  For this purpose, I have chosen to only put his first name here.  

We the signers would like the Waterloo Regional Police to drop the charges and apologize.  We would like the Waterloo Regional Police to hire Black Autistic consultants to train every officer on issues surrounding racism and autismophobia.  We would also like a national inquiry into police brutality against Black and Neurodivergent people, and a non police Neurodivergent community service in every city to assist Neurodivergent people when they need help, similar to the Toronto Community Crisis TAIBU program in Toronto.