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EVENTS OF SUNDAY MORNING ON OCTOBER 6^TH, 2013

At midnight my cell phone rang, but being asleep I didn’t get to it in time and no message was left so I started to go back to sleep.  At 12:08 it rang again and once more I didn’t get to it in time to answer but turned on the light to see who was calling.  Before I had time to check my phone, it was the sheriff’s office; there was a loud pounding at the door (less than 30 seconds after the 2^nd call).  They said they were police and had received a call from the care center stating our life line had been pushed with no response from us.   I quickly put the dog in the bathroom, Jerry went to the door and as I ran past the door (hurting my already hurt foot by running on it) – I said loudly – just let me get my robe.  Well they demanded to be let in even after Jerry responded, “I am Jerry Mullins and there is no medical emergency.”   Jerry then opened the door and once again said, “I am Jerry Mullins and there is no medical emergency”.  In the 14 seconds (we timed it) that it took me to get my robe and back to the kitchen, the two officers had him on his stomach on the floor and were pulling his hands beyond his back to cuff him (I have photos of the bruises).  I screamed that he has spinal cord injuries and they could paralyze him.  One officers’ knee was on Jerry’s back and Jerry told me later that the officer’s knee had originally been in the back of his neck.  I know Jerry didn’t struggle because I have exceptional hearing and was only about 15 feet away in the next room getting my robe.  He told me that he didn’t resist because he was afraid of getting hurt and had done nothing wrong.  At first they pushed him into the counter where some canning jars I had canned peppers in earlier fell over and then threw him onto the floor.   After I screamed, the officer stopped and got up.  I must have been so traumatized that for a few seconds I mentally blacked out.  How could a police officer be doing this and why?  I don’t remember Jerry getting up but he managed to sit down on the couch and by that time, around 2 minutes after the first 2 police officers arrived, there were 2 more officers present.   They explained that 911 had been called by the care unit stating our button had been pushed and they were unable to get in touch with us.

An officer requested Jerry to produce his ID.  Jerry responded that under the court ruling of Brown v. Texas (77-6673) that he was not required to produce it; that he had identified himself at the door several times.  At that point we were both traumatized.  He continued about 3 more times to state this answer calmly. During this time, approximately 10 minutes after the officers barged in, two paramedics entered and the officers told them that there was no medical emergency and they could leave.  The one paramedic I saw looked extremely baffled. They were not even able to see Jerry from where they were standing.  Jerry began having chest pains and had to take a nitro pill due to the traumatization of the abuse and being threatened he would be arrested.  He was asked if he wanted to go to the ER, after the paramedics had been asked to leave by the officers, but by then we just wanted them out of our home and to be left alone.  By now an additional three or four officers had arrived so there were between seven and eight police officers in our home.    Due to all the fuss and trauma we were experiencing, Jerry said he would get his ID.  Four officers escorted him down the hallway, one was Lieutenant Todd Perry who told Jerry in the bedroom that he we ever called 911 again for any reason that he would arrest Jerry immediately and throw him in jail.  I remained in the living room under three officers’ demands that I stay where I was and to sit down.  I asked can I just stand here which they allowed.  They wanted us separated. 

The four officers in the bedroom checked out the bathroom, opened my closet door, opened the washer and dryer area and looked into my office while one of the three officers remaining in the living room went down the other direction of our singlewide mobile home and opened the three doors there including the bathroom where the dog was staying.  During this whole time my heart was racing, I told them this is my home; they have no reason to search it.  The Lieutenant later calmly said to me that these batteries go bad often or there could have been another problem in the house and that we should read our contract with our Life Line Company.  I was so upset I didn’t say anything.  They eventually left but made it known that we were never to dial 911 again.  In my opinion, they are saying that we lied and pushed the unit’s button those two times while the Lieutenant is attempting to tell me it could have just been a battery issue.  If it were a low batter the care unit always calls us and if it had been malfunctioning, why didn’t the care unit get additional calls from the unit?

I went outside with them in tears and requested the lieutenant’s card which he gave me and I asked him what if I have a medical emergency, who do I call and he responded 911.  I went inside still in tears shaking and feeling I had just been totally violated. 

At NO time were the officers truly polite except the Lieutenant’s attempt when he spoke to me and the officer who searched the bathroom where the dog was waiting.  Even if there may have been more problems at the house, the officers had NO right to throw Jerry onto the floor and begin to handcuff a person simply because he put up his hand and said to the officers, “I am Jerry Mullins and there is no medical emergency”.   To make matters worse, they threw a handicapped individual with heart issues and spinal cord injuries onto the floor with no explanation. 

Since this incident, Jerry has barely slept and does not even want to leave the home.  My blood pressure has increased and I have never had blood pressure issues, I panic when I see a cop and I wake up at night reliving the trauma over and over again.  I can’t concentrate; I am continually shaking and have no appetite.  Jerry is likewise traumatized.  To make matters worse, I am still unsure if they will release the police report to me ( see later - they won't) and no lawyer wants to help us out.  This should never have happened. 

We unplugged the life line since neither of us had pushed it, the cat had been in bed with me and the dog asleep in the chair.  The care unit called shortly after the officers finally left to check that everything was OK.  Jerry responded that we had disconnected the unit and a brief explanation of what happened.  Later that morning around 10 AM, the care unit contacted me to say that at 1:34 AM they were receiving a low battery reading.  I explained to her what happened and why we disconnected the unit and that we don’t want the life line due to how the officers responded traumatizing us.  She said then that would be the reason for the low battery stating it was after we unplugged it!   I was informed that two days prior, the unit had been checked by their automatic system and showed nothing wrong and no low battery signal around midnight.   I was also informed that they received 2 calls from the unit at our home and when there was no response, they dialed 911 and requested a welfare check.  When I called back to find out the times the calls were logged in, they told me that all the paperwork is going to Mountain Home Medical who is supposed to pick up the unit and bring me all the information, though originally was told I wouldn’t be given the logs so I am unsure.  Mountain home medical has not contacted me at this point to bring me that information. 

I was just informed when I telephoned the sheriff’s records department that under the Colorado open records act that records are not released if there wasn’t a crime, no one arrested and no tickets written. When I requested it originally, I was merely told that it was a supervisor decision.  So now, we are left with no report, no life line and threats basically to our lives if we can’t dial 911, as well as the traumatization that we continue to experience.  Next step is to file an official complaint. 

The officers are basically assuming that we DID push the button twice and purposely didn’t respond.  Neither one of us even have a misdemeanor on our records.  When did the entire population become criminals and the police Nazi Gestapo thugs?  Where did our Constitutional rights go and we entered martial law?  No explanations, no manners, just force!