Hagerstown nonprofit helps build ties between people with disabilities, law enforcement

WASHINGTON COUNTY, Md. (DC News Now) — A special event was hosted in Hagerstown on Wednesday to build trusting relationships between people with disabilities and local law enforcement and first responders.

The midweek gathering grew out of a tragic interaction in western Maryland 12 years ago involving a young man whose disability was wrongly interpreted as a defiance of authority.

Ethan Saylor lost his life to excessive force while leaving a Frederick movie theatre in 2013. He had Down syndrome, a developmental disability.

“We’ve learned that people with disabilities want to feel safe, included and understood in their communities,” said Jennifer Eastman with the Maryland Department of Disabilities.

“In situations of crisis,” explained Eastman, “people with disabilities aren’t noncompliant and defiant. They are shut down and scared.”

Which is what brought Hagerstown firefighter John Murray to the Arc of Washington County, a nonprofit serving those with disabilities in the region.

“We’re learning, for example, when someone is nonverbal, they are able to point to answers on a sheet for us. It’s just one example of what we’re doing here today,” he said.

Though education was a goal of the gathering, so, too, was bonding between community members and officers with the Hagerstown Police Department.

“We see a lot of these individuals out on the street during our daily work,” said Officer Amanda Boyle with the Hagerstown Police Department. “And it is just great to cultivate this relationship with them.”

The Arc of Washington County said the event goes a long way to open the lines of communication between those with disabilities and local officials.

“It takes a certain kind of approach and it takes a certain kind of officer in that moment to diffuse the situation,” Eastman said.