A deaf man in Mobile, Alabama cannot sue the police officers who pepper sprayed and tased him at a Dollar General store because he didn't obey their orders to come out of a bathroom. A federal judge has ruled the officers were acting in their official capacities when they confronted Antonio Love and cannot be taken to court. Love was inside the bathroom for a half-hour and was having hallucinations because he did not take his medicine before coming to the store to buy chips. The officers were suspended when it came to light they had used a stun gun on a mostly deaf, mentally ill man who had committed no crime, but the county personnel board overturned that decision. The federal judge ruled that the officers acted "reasonably" since they did not know Love was deaf, despite the fact that even after they became aware that Love was deaf, they arrested him on disorderly conduct and resisting arrest - charges a magistrate judge refused to declined to sign off on. His family worked out a confidential out-of-court settlement negotiated this month with Dollar General and the store’s manager.
Below is surveillance video from the store the day of the event.
