Man stalking woman, excused by saying he must be autistic..

[AutismIsStigmatised]

I came across this video on TikTok today, I'll post the link below but in summary an unknown man posed as an amazon delivery person to get access to a block of flats this woman lives in. He was behaving strangely and wanted to give her a 'gift' which was some sort of cup / candle holder. She confronted him and he left, then came back up again, left again then came back up a third time with his hood up as though he was about to do something sinister. Very bloody creepy.

vm.tiktok.com/ZMNsQfG2W/

The comments are littered with people saying that he's 'clearly autistic'

Take a look and tell me what you think but as the parent of an autistic boy (and wife of an autistic adult) it really upsets me when people assume scary/criminal behaviour is due to autism. I know many people with autism and not one has ever behaved like that..

They would still arrest him if he’d assaulted someone. A carer’s word isn’t enough to stop that. Do REALLY think they’d just walk away from the situation. Why do you think they arrest the man at The state?

Who told you autistic people are immune from arrest?

Do you seriously think they would be taken to court? What do YOU think would happen after the arrest?

This kind of comment irks me a bit.

High functioning Autism that you understand the nuisance of appropriate social behaviours. In fact, it's most often the "high functioning Autistic people" who are ended up in the criminal justice system. I have seen this many times. Young children/teens who are deemed high functioning (are academic, have relatively good academic skills, very articulate) are wrongly assumed that they do not need therapies targeting mental health, consent, appropriate social communication training etc. it's only when they get to adulthood that it all gets tits up. Please don't assume that because someone is "high functioning" does not mean that they won't commit dangerous and inappropriate Autism.

In fact, the person in the video, who is presumably living on his own, maybe has a degree, is articulate may be deemed as high/mid functioning,

Likely female? The majority of carers for autistic individuals I've encountered are male.

Yeah, that's basically what I've said.

Anyhooo.

Back to the actual victim some tried very hard to distract from. Is there any update about police taking an action or was she just told to be vigilant and get security cam?

A profoundly autistic person who presents a danger to others can be arrested. They may not be fit to stand trial, but they be detained under the mental health act and placed in a secure psychiatric hospital.

There's a recent video of him talking to her through the door that he wants her to take her top off. Not sure what else is happening though

Sigh typoS

Just because someone is high functioning Autistic, does not mean that they get appropriate social communication. I see these sometimes with parents, particularly the ones who advocate the Asperger's label and don't want their kids to be put in the same bracket as the severe Autistic kids. These parents often embrace their High functioning DC's (I.e. don't seek help for their "minor" needs, don't work on social communication, academic is primarily their priority).

I used to work in Youth detention centre as part of my training for my job. I can guarantee you that half of the young people I'd come across had high functioning ASD, ADHD, Speech language and communication needs, Learning Disabilities (but something you wouldn't easily notice as they are very functioning) and when you go herb their case history, discuss about what support they had at primary, secondary- it's the same thing over and over again--/ they had no support and once support was offered at secondary, it went tits up and there was no point as the young person did not want to engage.

Take my advice for the parents with "high functioning ASD"- please do not rely solely upon your children academic skills and going to university. That's great and all and I'm all about pushing our kids. But always always work on social communication skills, discuss about relationships, consent, mental health, appropriate:/not appropriate communication...get a psychologist, life coach, Speech Therapist etc etc etc.

A profoundly autistic person should never be away from an adult who understands them and their needs. Can you imagine how traumatic that would be to a man or woman who doesn't understand anything?

Bloody hell😳

@HailAdrian

Do you seriously think they would be taken to court? What do YOU think would happen after the arrest?

Firstly, you said they wouldn't be arrested. They would.

Secondly, after the arrest they would be taken to the station and the custody officer would, as with everyone they process, ask the suspect if they have a disability. Obviously someone non verbal (which was the example you asked about) wouldn't communicate this so they would be assigned an appropriate adult to support them through the interview process. A force medical officer would also be heavily involved.

If a charge is then made as a result of the arrest, their solicitor (a legal aid one if the quality) will usually request to have a longer period to prepare for court in order to get the results of independent assessments from professionals in order to establish capacity.

A magistrate can then decide whether to pursue a criminal case or put into place next steps that involve psychiatric support either as an outpatient or potentially in a facility that meets their treatment needs.

HTH.

She’d locked her front door ad she was trying to leave for the day, and there likely wasn’t enough time to unlock, get in and lock it again before he reached her. Running and screaming for help was 100% the right thing to do. I’ve actually just shown my DD this as an example of what to do in a Similar situation.

And in case you say 'I never said they wouldn't be arrested' here are your exact words:

To be clear, no, the police will not arrest a person who literally cannot understand their rights being read to them. They don't even know what a police officer is.

Do you really think police officers never had to deal with a severely disabled person? That they never arrested one? Do you really think that they’d sit bemused after an arrest? Please do not think they wouldn’t arrest someone or not take it further.

OK well somehow I doubt you'll find many examples of non verbal, severely autistic men and women being arrested..as pp said, they kind of have to be with a carer all of the time.

Why not? It may be obvious to YOU but if we announced that police officers couldn’t ever arrest a severely autistic person no matter what, you don’t think people would try it on?

Being with a carer doesn’t make you exempt from arrest. And it would count for women too

You're hardly worth responding to as you are desperate for a stranger on the internet to believe their child will be arrested eventually but even you must know that the circumstances of a profoundly autistic individual being arrested would be entirely different to most arrests.

Why would anyone care about your son’s trauma if he’s strangling someone?

Neither his trauma nor his ability to remain conscious matter at all at the point he’s trying to seriously hurt someone.

I’m sure they would.

But what would happen before someone realised they’re a ‘lost’ severely autistic person? As I’ve said before they don’t wear badges or have identifiable features.

What I’m saying is, whilst they can’t be without a carer, it doesn’t mean they wouldn’t assault someone. And if they assaulted someone, they’d still be arrested, even when with a carer. A PP has shared her story and helpfully the rights of the arrested person (although no one is entitled to a phone call, no matter their status, just a solicitor).

Actually, @LydiaBennetsUglyBonnet , why don't you bugger off to the special needs board and tell the parents of severely autistic and occasionally violent children the same? Maybe you could learn something.

@HailAdrian

OK well somehow I doubt you'll find many examples of non verbal, severely autistic men and women being arrested..as pp said, they kind of have to be with a carer all of the time.

You keep asking questions then when people answer them, you move the goalposts / deflect.

You said this:

To be clear, no, the police will not arrest a person who literally cannot understand their rights being read to them.

You are absolutely, 100% wrong.

And misinformation like you saying they wouldn't be arrested shouldn't be stayed confidently when it's wrong.

And when you find out it's wrong, it's odd and unfair to not just say oh ok I was wrong about that I didn't realise.

Right they don't. So what's your point in mentioning them?

They may, yes. Just like the man from the Tate. But that’s the point of an arrest - to determine the situation and ultimately pass on a file to the CPS to see if it’s worth charging them.