In November 2022, Abdullah Darwich, a nonverbal autistic 19-year-old left his home in Mississauga, Ont. He made his way to a pile of leaves, which he began playing in, dressed only in his underwear. A worried neighbour made a phone call to the police. Despite Darwich being registered to the Peel Police Vulnerable Persons Registry, Darwich’s father arrived soon after to find his son bleeding, terrified and surrounded by police.
When a review was conducted into the incident, the first responding officer explained that he thought Darwich was experiencing excited delirium. As a result of this assessment, the officer thought it necessary to taser Darwich, restrain him and call for backup. The review found no reasonable grounds for misconduct.
How did this happen? At first glance, it may seem unimaginable that Darwich, an unarmed autistic teenager playing in leaves, was perceived as a threat. However, a closer look at the diagnosis of excited delirium and how it shapes police conduct reveals why this incident is not only unsurprising, but predictable.
