How often do you think that police stop someone with HD for drunkeness?

I'm sure my Canadian friends will recognize my friend Stan on my right. I'm the one with the race number who looks a little older than the Carolina Hurricanes players. I won a drawing for a photo-op after a benefit 5K race a couple of years ago.

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I'm retiring from my day job on August 1st. One of the things I want to do in retirement is take up another sport besides running. Hockey. That may sound preposterous at age 62 with the HD gene. I was co-captain of my high school team and played some in college. The last time I played was in 1974 on a club team in grad school.

I started regular skating about a month ago during stick and puck public sessions. The first time I was pathetic. The second time I started to remember how to skate. The third time was a little better, so I went out and bought new skates to replace my 1970's vintage ones.

The new skates made a big difference and after the 4th session I decided the idea isn't so preposterous after all. I won't be trying out for the Hurricanes, but pickup games are doable. HD positive? Who cares.

Will

Will. congratulations on your retirement and go for your dream in playing hockey or any other sport you take on. that will only make you feel better and like you said HD who cares do what you can do and enjoy now. And remember age is only a number and 62 is young. sure wish I was 62 again and no I'm not wishing my life away

Fred, NOT often at all, that does seem to be a concern here tho.

WILL, you GOOOOO I hope you skate fast cus I think all the young female fans will be skating behind you trying to catch you!

Whoops. I meant to post that in the Frenchwoman's thread.

Will

My wife was stopped once by a cop and two concerned citizens called the police. I don't know about what you have experienced with HD... cooperation has not always been a strong suit in mine. You might as well forget about suing anyone. The cops are justified to a point. I don't blame them for not being able to diagnose HD in the field. How can they? I am honestly not overly worried about guns or tasers. But who wants to be cuffed and hauled in? For that matter even detained on the scene for 45 mins while it is sorted out? Those silly things do happen. On all three occasions T was this close to going to jail.

One guy was arrested as a pedophile when following then asking a teenage girl if she wanted a ride. Did he have ill intent? Or did he just focus on a girl needing a ride? Doing a good deed in his mind?

I think a pHD has justified concerns about the police. You can't count on fair treatment although most times you do get it. Heck, Teresa wasn't always treated fairly by me! If I remember correctly Scott was made to lay down spread eagled as the police thought him to be drunk. Gun drawn I think... correct me if the details are wrong there. I do remember him trying to explain but of course he thought he was not having symptoms half the time. I bet Barb remembers that story better than me.

And why suggest someone carry an HD ID card if they are not likely to run into problems? What would be the point of having it? You must think there is some likelihood of misunderstanding. Being stopped and questioned about sobriety can't be an urban legend that came out of no where. I am not aware of any being tased. But we all know the difficulty of HD as a defense once you are arrested.

Flattery will get you nowhere eric heeheehee. Yes i do remember that story for sure, and yes, i think you got it all right.

Actually people with HD are frequently stopped by the police on suspicion of drunkenness. I hear about it all the time. The worst was the poor man a couple years ago at Universal. Security called the police and they held him for FIVE DAYS until his family tracked him down. A regular reader's wife was taken to the police station to prevent her from driving when a security guard at her children's school insisted her gait problem was alcohol and not HD and even though her doctor had cleared her to drive. Scott was stopped at least twice that I know of.

And people are tazered for noncompliance, not just doing something threatening. I can very well see a Phd getting confused and unable to comply with a police request.

Eric, I mentioned the HD ID because it's on the HDAC site and it's been asked about. I think it's a good idea to hand it over with regular ID, what harm can it do? Maybe if it's not already on there we should add to it, " I may be confused and not follow directions correctly"

Eric, I'm sorry T went thru all that with the police it must have been frightening.

There are more, MANY more good cops than bad cops and cooperation along with a simple explanation of HD with the ID could be helpful, and it certainly could not hurt. Pat

Eric's post was for the id, not against it. And it is a good idea. I had an unfortunate incident a couple of years ago, and after that i phoned my hd clinic and asked for some hd id, and they sent me several in the mail, but uhmmm, i think i was sent about a dozen, and have lost them all lol. Gonna have to get some more Tazers have been a problem lately, there have been too many deaths from them, especially the one here in vancouver, the guy at the airport, he was alone and afraid at the airport, cus he didnt speak english, and was agitated after several hours of nobody helping him, when the rcmp showed up, they were told he didnt speak english, but they did not try to find a translator, he was not a danger to anyone, they just ran in and tazered him, and he died, it was all caught on video, and is uncer investigaqtion. Actually i'm not sure if it was the rcmp or the vancouver police, but either way. The big problem is that their have been too many deaths lately, and they are not being used in extreme circumstances that they are meant to be used for. Here in vancouver, the security guards at the skytrain station have tazer guns, and they even tazered someone for just not paying their fare. And so, it's been on the news a lot here lately, because the last few months there have been a ton of tazers being used when the person was not posing a risk to anyone, and way to many people have died from them the last few months. And for the end of my rant, i also say, whatever police have to do to protect themselves and the public, i am also for, soooo, the use of tazers just needs to be fine-tuned a bit

Maybe either I didn't understand or am being misunderstood.

Yes, I do understand why some police may stop to question our Phd's. If their gait gives the appearance of a drunken gait and if they are alone, I can understand it. They are there to protect and serve. Believe it or not, Steve has gone on calls where the police requested them to come check out a very drunk man riding a bike. Yes, riding a bike drunk can be a hazard to others, weaving in and out on a road, just as driving a car or walking.

Barb I had NO idea Canada was having so many issues with Tazars.. It does sound like there needs to be some guidelines. Sometimes too we don't know the whole story and it's possible they thought he was running from something other than just not paying. I absolutely agree there must be guidelines on proper times to use a tazer.

Fred, my husband gave the information to the RCMP willingly. The doctors are not allowed to provide that information to his employer without his written consent...privacy laws here are REALLY strick on that sort of thing. What I meant by him having to qualify for his gun/tasor like a "regular member" was that he does not have to qualify more often than anyone without HD and they have to upgrade their training every year. It isn't a one time thing for him getting tasored. As far as promotions go, he wants to be part of what they call the "CFL" or constable for life. He does not want to be a "paper-pusher" and get promoted. He loves the street work. When he is no longer able to do it, it will kill him. The RCMP is also not allowed to hold him back for that reason. He had to indiciate on his original application that HD ran in his family and they accepted him based on that.

I personally think the tasor situation in Canada is getting a bit carried away. There have been about 20 deaths since 2003 related to tasor usage by police offiers. That is about 4 per year. Yes, it would be nice if these deaths could be prevented, but if the tasor wasn't around and police officers had to use their gun, there would be alot more than 20 people dead.

I think I'll stop agruing on this topic now. Kind of sorry I started it...must have been having a bad day.

Will, thanks for throwing that message in there even if it belonged in another thread! I was going to ask an Eric question "what does that have to do with this thread?" Thanks for telling me

The problem with that Sally is if you take Barbs airport scenario. They wouldn't really shoot the guy dead. But because they have the taser they feel its a non lethal option so choose to use it, rather than just arrest the guy.

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Everyone is entitled to their opinion

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