Law Enforcement Officials’ Ignorance About Epilepsy Is Fatal

On September 8^th, 26-year-old Rhyker Earl had a seizure, which led to a fatal encounter with Jasper, Indiana first responders. Diagnosed with epilepsy eight years ago, this was his second encounter with first responders that day: Earlier, Mr. Earl had a seizure at his sister’s home, and she called 911. Paramedics and the Jasper County sheriff came to her home. Rather than go to the hospital, Mr. Earl’s grandmother, Connie Widner brought Mr. Earl home, so he could take his anti-seizure meds and sleep using a breathing machine. Once they were home, Widner said Earl had two more seizures, so she decided to call 911. This encounter with medics got ugly: Bodycam footage shows a deputy arriving as Mr. Earl was getting dressed to go to the hospital.

“Guys, can you leave me the f**k alone,” Mr. Earl asked as responders approached him. In the video, he appears unsteady and confused as he makes his way from the living room to the kitchen.

“Don’t f**ing touch the medic. You’re going to the hospital, alright? Don’t f**ing hit him. You don’t f**ing hit him!” Responders hovered over Mr. Earl, attempting to pin his limbs down, but Mr. Earl resisted.

“Guys, I’m gonna get up,” Mr. Earl said.

“No, you’re not,” a medic replied sharply as they handcuffed him.

“Please guys. Holy f**k What the f**k! Guuuys! Pleeease,” Mr. Earl wailed at them.

“Rhyker, if you just chill out, everything will be alright. Just settle down,” a responder counseled.

“Guys! I’m gonna die!”

“You’re not gonna die. We’re trying to help you,” a medic replied, as Mr. Earl yowled in the background.  A police officer asked the medic if he wanted ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic that is also used as a sedative. Then the medics administered several shots of it, “You’re gonna feel so much better in a second—hopefully.…” the medic said. 

“I think he’s out,” one said to the other. I watched footage that showed the responders resuscitating Mr. Earl, as he had stopped breathing. Apparently, the full video showed Mr. Earl begging for his life for more than 20 minutes, and struggling against the first responders  leaning on his arms and legs as they administered at least four shots of sedatives. The first responders discussed whether Earl had taken illicit drugs because the sedatives were not working. They had to take him to the hospital wearing a breathing ventilation mask, to ensure he had enough oxygen. Two days later, he passed away.

During the CNN newsclip I viewed, the newscaster reported that “Jasper County sheriff’s office say when deputies arrived at the scene, Mr. Earl was demonstrating significant resistance. His family says that he was not fully aware of what was going on following the seizure. Deputies say they handcuffed him for his safety and the safety of medical personnel.” Without looking at any bodycam footage I don’t doubt either statement. Based on all accounts of this story, Mr. Earl suffered multiple tonic clonic (aka grand mal) seizures the same day. I’ve had many tonic clonic seizures and Mr. Earl’s family is correct: one is not fully aware of their surroundings during and following such a seizure. When I recounted my own tonic clonic seizures in my book, Seizing Control, I relied on family and friends for specific details.  

Based on my experience, I also suspect that what the deputies described as “significant resistance” was compelled by fear, embarrassment, and shame. Whenever I came out of focal impaired awareness seizures (aka complex partials), I wanted to run away from whomever was there, especially if I didn’t know them well. Prior to my 2014 brain surgery, that situation occurred hundreds of times over the decades I managed refractory seizures. Passersby occasionally called 911 when they saw me in the throes of a seizure. Luckily, I was never taken into police custody as Mr. Earl was. I was fortunate that when passersby called first responders for me, in my post-seizure haze I didn’t appear dangerous, and they weren’t scared by my reactions to their presence. Sadly, that wasn’t the case for Rhyker Earl. Nor was it the case for Tiara Helm and Robbie Dale Bailey, whom I blogged about in a 2022 piece about police accountability and epilepsy.  

Seventeen-year-old Tiara Helm was attending a rap concert with friends in Rainbow City, Alabama in January 2015 when she had a tonic clonic seizure, causing her body to collapse. Somebody called 911 and when Ms. Helm came to, she was being pinned down by four police officers. Disoriented and frightened, she begged them to let her go and tried to escape. In response, the officers tightened their holds, and a fifth officer was called in, armed with a Taser that he used. Subsequently, she was taken to a nearby hospital where she was treated and released. In 2015 Ms. Helm sued the Rainbow City police for abusive treatment and lost. She appealed to an Alabama federal court, a six-year process that took a toll on her mental health. After three days of deliberations, the eight-person jury sided with the police, stating they “weren’t comfortable destroying a life of an officer.”

On April 15, 2021, Robbie Dale Bailey had a grand mal seizure while walking his autistic grandson to school. A concerned passerby called 911, and by the time police arrived, Mr. Bailey – a 53-year-old African American man – had gained consciousness. Video footage of the incident shows five police officers trying to handcuff Mr. Bailey, including one officer repeatedly punching him, and another kicking the side of his body. After successfully handcuffing Bailey, the police brought him to the ER where he was treated for broken and fractured ribs, and wounds to his neck, shoulder, head, hand, arm, and chest. In April 2022, Mr. Bailey filed a lawsuit against the City of Minden. His case is still pending.

Rhyker Earl’s family is waiting for his autopsy results before deciding the next legal steps and civil rights attorney Ben Crump is representing them. Mr. Crump has handled several high-profile civil rights suits against law enforcement officials, including George Floyd’s case against the Minneapolis police. Crump pledged to “explore every legal avenue to get full justice for Rhyker…. Any time a person is complaining about breathing and saying, ‘I can’t breathe,’ I vow that we will get to the truth of what happened if they die in police custody.”

While there has been much well-deserved attention paid to the strong connection between the high incidences of police brutality and racial bias, these cases demonstrate that bias due to a seizure-disorder crosses race, age, and gender lines, as Mr. Earl and Ms. Helm are both white. Police accountability is important to everybody’s safety. Police brutality against those having seizures is largely prompted by a greater societal problem of ignorance about and fear of those experiencing them. There is also an archaic stigmatization of people with epilepsy: People afflicted with seizures have historically been characterized as being possessed by demons or witchcraft practitioners.

Allison Nichol, attorney for the Epilepsy Foundation of American (EFA) said she receives multiple weekly calls from lawyers and people with epilepsy who have had “adverse interactions” with law enforcement officials following a seizure. “Training of law enforcement and first responders should be a matter of routine,” she said when asked about Rhyker Earl’s case. When I reached out to the EFA’s Indiana chapter to ask whether they offer police training in the region I received a quick response, directing me to a website where one can sign up for free programs: https://www.epilepsy.com/programs/training-education/law-enforcement. I certainly hope that one outcome of this tragic story is that the Jasper Indianna police force is required to take this training. In the wake of his death, Mr. Earl’s aunt, Miracle Gawlinski said, “There is anger and rage that wants justice… For many of us… there is an awakening sense that the personal helplessness that the distant terror we read about in the daily paper can now become terror that we experience in our own homes.”

While nothing will bring back Mr. Earl, my hope is that Mr. Crump’s handling of the case leads to the justice Ms. Gawlinksi seeks and elevates the issue of police brutality against those with epilepsy, resulting in increased training for law enforcement officials.