Bernard Warner, President of the Antigua and Barbuda Association of Persons with Disabilities (ABAPD), has condemned the recent treatment of 82-year-old Stedman Scotland by police officers during a parking dispute.
Scotland, who was charged with battery and resisting arrest following the incident, was captured on video being shoved, struck, and forcibly thrown to the ground before being placed in the trunk of a police vehicle.
“What I saw and how he was treated is appalling and disgust[ing],” Warner said, describing Scotland as a “selfless servant” who spent decades transporting people with disabilities.
According to Warner, Scotland served as a driver for the ABAPD since 1997 and also drove for the National Vocational Centre for Disability until his retirement.
“Scotty earned the right as a person with respect. He wasn’t [always] a person of disability, but he acquired his disability in his later years,” Warner explained, sharing that many in the disability community had gotten support from Scotland long before he himself became classified as disabled.
The incident occurred when Scotland parked his vehicle, which displayed a disability sticker, on a sidewalk near a barbershop in town.
Warner pointed out that the area lacks adequate accessible parking options.
“The disability parking is a total disaster,” Warner said, criticizing current policies that require persons with disabilities to pay $200 in annual fees for parking permits on top of having to pay for their driver’s license and increasing car licensing fees, despite so few parking spots being available. “In Barbados it’s free… The cost is too much on the pocket of many.”
Warner revealed that the ABAPD has been trying for over six months to meet with the Attorney General to discuss issues related to police treatment of people with disabilities and amendments to disability legislation, but meetings have repeatedly been cancelled.
“We’ve been calling on the Attorney General for quite a while to address some issues when it comes to police abuse towards people with disabilities,” Warner said. “We always get the appointment but the meeting always [gets] cancelled.”
The advocate called for public support and accountability in the Scotland case. “I think all of us – the public – should stand up and call out the police, call on the Commissioner, call on the AG… this issue is too much.”
Warner stated that Antigua and Barbuda has ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and that Scotland “ought to be protected under that legislation”.
He also criticized the handling of Scotland’s arrest: “To drag him and shove him in the trunk of a vehicle like a common criminal… I thought he robbed the place… [but] Scotty is a decent human citizen. I know him for years. He doesn’t hurt nobody.”
Warner also highlighted the urgent need for better training for law enforcement when dealing with persons with disabilities.
“The police definitely need better training, especially when it comes to handling persons with disabilities, both visible and invisible,” he stated.
Warner noted that the ABAPD had participated in justice training in Trinidad and have been working to also share the resources gained in this training with police officers, judges, and other officials, but these efforts have stalled.
Warner called for the Attorney General to examine the case, suggesting that “this man is an honourable man and should not be treated in the manner that the police did.”
