MS victim accused of 'Irish dancing'

19th February 2010

© Piotrus, www.wikipedia.pl The courthouse in Katowice Share:

The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights has condemned the police as “cold blooded and thoughtless” after a woman suffering from multiple sclerosis found herself on the wrong side of law and ordered to go through psychological testing after a police visit.

Police were called one night to 50-year-old “Danuta’s” flat in Katowice after neighbours, unaware that the lady suffered from MS and had had an attack that affected her balance and required her to use sticks to get around her home, complained about the noise of “Irish dancing” coming from the flat.

Despite an indigent Danuta explaining that she had MS and took medication for the condition, the police, observing her unsteady movements suspected her of drinking and reported a breach of the peace to the court. In due course, and to her fury, Danuta got a court letter telling her to attend psychiatric testing.

“We got a notification about a breach of the peace, we had to intervene, and officials deemed it appropriate to refer the matter to court,” said Jacek Pytel, a Katowice police spokesman.

The fact that the courts had become involved provoked an angry response from the Helsinki Foundation.

“This is a real festival of cold hearted and thoughtless behaviour on the part of the police officers,” said Doctor Adam Bodnar of the Helsinki Foundation in Warsaw. “The machine went into motion: the police intervened, a complaint filed, and then court. But if someone had taken the time to listen to her explanation in the first place, then the matter would have been dropped and there would have been no need to involve the justice system. My hands are full of such cases,” he added.

To add insult to injury, Danuta, when she turned up at a clinic for her compulsory psychiatric evaluation, had to wait four hours because the court had failed to forward on her file. It was also a waste of time for a friend Danuta had enlisted to help as the MS prevented her from travelling to clinic alone.

“The police should immediately drop Mrs Danuta’s case, and the commander should issue an apology and buy her a big bouquet of flowers for accusing an invalid, who is often in a wheelchair, of breaching the peace,” said a shocked Andrej Bogdanowicz, president of the Association of Multiple Sclerosis Sufferers.

Katowice police said that the findings of the psychiatric test will determine their next step.