A wheelchair-bound man with a terminal disease was arrested last week in the UK for pulling one last prank: mooning a police speed-trap camera.
But no sooner did he scratch the item off his bucket list when multiple officers forcibly toppled the crippled man over to the ground and handcuffed the 55-year-old with multiple system atrophy (MSA).
Darrell Meekcom, a father of two from Worcestershire, has already been diagnosed with heart disease, kidney failure and Parkinson’s Disease as a result of MSA, a rare illness affecting only two to five people out of every 100,000, according to the US National Library of Medicine.
Meekcom told South West News Service that he was “gobsmacked” by what he called a “disproportionate” arrest.
“I didn’t think anything of it,” he said of the mooning. “It was a good laugh.”
Meekcom decided that some mischievous payback was in order after West Mercia Police had slapped him with fines in the past over “silly” charges, he explained, such as breaking the 35 miles-per-hour speed limit on his home street by just 5 m.p.h. over. “And it always bugged me,” he said.
“I was simply gobsmacked that I got arrested for mooning a speed camera,” he added.
Shortly after baring his bottom for the traffic cam, about six officers arrived at his home to make the arrest, asking to be let inside his home, Meekcom claimed. When he refused, he said police knocked down the gate to his garden to reach him, then pushed him face-down to the ground outside his home.
Meekcom tried to explain that he was ill and struggling to breathe under their weight. His wife filmed the “frightening” incident, during which he apparently suffered a blow to the head.
“I did not resist arrest,” he claimed.
Meekcom was later seen by a doctor following his release from police custody, and he subsequently filed a claim with Independent Office for Police Conduct.
A spokesperson for West Mercia police confirmed the arrest due to a report of indecent exposure on Stourbridge Road at about 8 a.m. on Nov. 5. According to police records: “A 55-year-old man from Kidderminster was arrested on suspicion of public order offense and released on bail.”
Said Meekcom: “I felt the response was completely disproportionate in the circumstances.”
