Please also see my first reply for a further incident that was definitely autism related. Now I have more time I will write about a few more incidents:
Firstly here is another incident I've already wrote about on another thread, in fact the whole thread is also relevant:
Police watchdog orders force to re-investigate treatment of autistic man
The police sometimes antagonise members of the public, especially younger people and this may or may not be autism related. I'm not sure why I was targeted when I was younger with the following incidents in the UK, perhaps it was my body language which could have been autism related:
Once I'd had a few drinks which I'd done many times before when I was younger, but I most definitely wasn't drunk and was able to walk briskly and talk perfectly fine, I was never ever in the slightest bit violent or aggressive. I left a pub to briskly walk about a mile home, but a police van pulled up about 50 yards ahead of me and a load of police officers got out. As I was walking an officer started approaching in the opposite direction on the pavement on collision course, I went right, he went right, I went left, he went left and so on in order to purposefully block my path ahead. The officer was immediately extremely rude and disrespectful talking to me like I was scum and yet I'd done absolutely nothing wrong, in fact he was purposely trying to bully me and I believe he wanted me to have a meltdown/lose my temper to give him the excuse to arrest me, he even came very close to my face and shouted names at me and he was extremely abusive, I felt like pushing him back out of my space as I felt threatened, but I think that's what he hoped so he could arrest me. He demanded to know my name and where I was going and started threatening to arrest me, I asked what for and he said, "drunk and disorderly" which was totally and utterly false and he kept telling me to "shut up" or be arrested. I asked to see his serial number because I said that I wanted to make a complaint and he threatened me again, then he showed me and shouted in a high pitched voice while throwing himself about like a child, "here you go, here's my number, go on then report me, it won't get you anywhere", he even dared me to complain and he continued calling me nasty horrid names like a childish bully. The very abusive and threatening police officer finally let me go on condition that I went straight home which is what I was doing before he blocked my path and started threatening me for absolutely no reason. I wanted to make a formal complaint and I truly wish I had, but my parents told me that the police would all know and hate me if I did with possible retribution, in fact they went nuts at me telling me to leave it and eventually I gave in.
On another occasion it was early evening and I was quietly waiting for a bus in a local town centre with a friend. I heard some money drop on the floor and looked down to see a 1 pence coin which I didn't touch. A very aggressive police officer came marching over and demanded to know who threw it, unbeknown to myself someone had apparently chucked the 1 pence coin at him and for some reason he was utterly convinced it was me. He went absolutely nuts, telling me I was a coward for not admitting it, I was called everything including scum and much more, he wouldn't listen when I tried to explain repeatedly that I hadn't done it even though there was hundreds of people standing there. He stormed off and started asking everyone nearby, pointing at me repeatedly, then he came back and had another major go at me, again threatening to arrest me for absolutely nothing, he was very abusive and bullying. He came into my face on multiple occasions and was extremely abusive causing a major scene in front of loads of people, again he was desperately trying to get me to react to give him any excuse to arrest me, a lot of people would have lost their temper and at least pushed him back out of their space and he would have then called it assault on a police officer when he was the perpetrator. In the end we was forced to miss our bus and quickly leave the area when he was yet again asking other people for witnesses and this time looked the other way as I am certain he would have found some way of arresting me in the end, he was determined. Again I wanted to make a formal complaint and again my parents went nuts at me not to.
I was waiting for a bus with a small holdall of clothing which I'd had washed at my parents house and a police car slowed down as it went past with both police officers inside starring at me (a man and a women), the car turned around, stopped and both officers approached me. I always remember the first thing one police officer said which was, "have you done any meter readings lately?". Obviously I hadn't got a clue what they were talking about and when I said, "what are you talking about?" one of them replied, "you would say that wouldn't you?". Apparently I matched the description of a criminal who had been scamming and stealing from elderly and vulnerable people and entered their property by posing as someone coming to read their gas/electricity meter. I was going to be arrested because they seemed convinced it was me and I was pretty frightened while repeatedly protesting my innocence. I was searched including my bag and I wasn't allowed to leave when my bus arrived causing me to miss it. After being treated pretty badly I think the officers finally realised they might have got it wrong when they found only innocent clothes in my bag when they expected to find a false ID/uniform and luckily since I had proof of ID including proof of my address on me they did finally let me go, stating that they would visit if they needed to make further enquiries (there was no follow up). I don't think this was directly related to autism, although perhaps my autistic body language made them further suspicious when they noticed me and since I kept repeating myself this probably wound them up the wrong way too. I did however understand that the police officers were trying to do their job on this occasion and simply made a mistake, obviously they were genuinely trying to catch a real "scum bag". I never received an apology however for the way I was treated and I was also greatly embarrassed in front of numerous other people who were also waiting at the bus stop (when the public see incidents like that they tend to automatically assume the person is guilty).
I've also been subject to numerous stop checks with varying degrees of cutesy. I've witnessed and/or heard about a few other horrid incidents involving other people including friends too, but they're not autistic.
