Inclusion Daily Express -- Officers Mistakenly Shoot Young Man With Disabilities As He Lay On His Back

Inclusion Daily Express Logo

International Disability Rights News Service
Click here for today's headlines & home page

Keeping advocates informed, inspired and connected since 1999.
Click here for daily or weekly delivery . . . OR
Try Inclusion Daily Express for two weeks FREE . . .

Officers Mistakenly Shoot Young Man With Disabilities As He Lay On His Back
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
March 9, 2006

SPRINGDALE, ARKANSAS--Mary Hamley called police around 9:00 Tuesday night to file a missing person's report on her 21-year-old son, Joseph Erin Hamley, who had cerebral palsy, an intellectual disability, and "multiple personalities".

She said that she had not seen him since late Monday, when he went for his usual walk.

What she and they didn't know was that Erin had been shot to death at about 7:00 that morning by an Arkansas State Trooper who mistook him for an escaped prisoner.

According to several local news sources, officers were on the trail of Adam Lee Leadford, 18, who had escaped from a corrections boot camp in Michigan. They were following up on reports of a man matching Leadford's description, when they saw Erin Hamley standing near a highway.

Five officers drew their guns as they approached Hamley, who by then was lying on his back on the ground, and repeatedly ordered him to show both of his hands. When Hamley failed to follow their directions, Trooper Larry Norman shot him once with a blast from a shotgun.

Hamley was pronounced dead a short time later.

It wasn't until 11:00 Tuesday night that they realized the man they shot was not Leadford, but was instead the missing Hamley.

Mrs. Hamley told reporters later that her son would not have threatened the officers.

"He never harmed a person in his life, nor would he have a gun or anything like that," she told KFSM News.

"He never would have come at them, but every time he got upset, his hands would go in his pockets," she said.

Trooper Norman is on paid administrative leave pending an investigation into the killing.

Leadford was shot and wounded by a Springdale officer about 6:00 p.m. Tuesday, then taken into custody.

Related:
"Man shot in police shooting had mental disabilities" (KFSM-TV)
http://www.kfsm.com/Global/story.asp?S=4605342
"Mom asks why son killed" (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/148090/
"Mother of shooting victim says young man was 'harmless'" (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
http://www.kfsm.com/Global/story.asp?S=4608100
"Death Of Cerebral Palsy Patient Saddens Area Advocates" (The Morning News)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/06/red/0309a.htm
"Leadford timeline" (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/148103/

Click here for top of this page

Purchase this story for your website or newsletter . . .

Here's what subscribers say about Inclusion Daily Express. . .

Keeping advocates informed, inspired and connected since 1999.
Click here for daily or weekly delivery . . . OR
Try Inclusion Daily Express for two weeks FREE . . .

Get your news here!