Mother calls cops on teen son over vapes and is shocked at aggressive response

After finding out that her 14-year-old son had stolen hundreds of dollars worth of vapes from a local convenience store, Cathy Austin of Burlington, VT called the police.

She thought it would function as a learning experience for her son, who identifies as non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, however when police arrived the situation quickly went from bad to worse.

As NBC reports, upon arriving at Austrian's home in May 2021, police went up to her son's room. She was able to go in and gather most of the vapes, however there was one in her son's hand that they refused to give up. Police eventually told the son that they would be arrested if they refused to cooperate, but to no avail.

Eventually, police resorted to force. Bodycam footage obtained by NBC shows officers pinning the teem to the bed as they pried the remaining vape from the teen's hand, who then lunges at the officers.

The officers then pinned the teen to the ground. Paramedics arrived fifteen minutes later, and placed a "spit sock" over the son's head, before injecting the teen with ketamine in an attempt to sedate them.

The treatment of Austrian's son, who suffers from early childhood developmental trauma, ADHD, and an intellectual disability, received criticism from Austrian, and highlights a growing need for police departments to develop ways of handling situations that involve people with mental health issues.

According to NBC, the Burlington Police Department is among the most progressive in the nation, however even it does not have adequate training for such situations. Department policy enacted later in 2021 states that social workers cannot respond to calls involving a potential crime, as was the case in Austrian's son's situation.

The BPD has participated in free training provided by the state, but recent numbers show only twenty-three officers have completed the process in the past nine years, and not one was present at the incident in question.

Austrian says she has called the police on numerous occasions as a result of her son's behavior, and has justified her decision, saying, "It’s up to me, as the adult, to do the right thing, whatever that right thing is."

Nonetheless, she was horrified at the treatment her son received, calling it a "nightmare." She suggested that race had played a factor in the use of force, arguing that the police had treated her son, who is biracial, not as a child, but "as a black man."

Earlier that day, the two police officers were at the convenience store that the teen had stolen from. According to NBC News, cashiers told the officers the teen threatened them with a mallet and a knife. Austrian later said that it was in fact a set of kitchen shears.

One cashier described the 5-foot-8, 230 pound teen as "awkward" and "scary."

The two officers were the same ones that showed up at the Austrian household at around 7:30 pm. Austrian said she has called the police numerous times because of her teen being at risk of hurting themselves or others, with all these instances being solved peacefully.

Austrian told the police that her son had a rough week, and that the teen's ADHD medication had recently been increased, they’d received an MRI for a heart condition, and they had been acting both erratic and distant.

The teen was charged with retail theft, assault of a protected professional and assault with bodily fluids. The total value of the stolen vapes was $808, a police incident report said.

According NBC News, acting Police Chief Jon Murad said the police referred the case to the Burlington Community Justice Center, which provides an alternative path to resolving charges that foregoes the court system.

Murad concluded after reviewing the incident that it constituted an appropriate use of force. He noted that the department is sending 10 employees to Vermont’s crisis intervention training in May, and while he didn't specify who would be attending, records reviewed by NBC News showed that the two officers involved in the Austrian incident are among them.

Not long after the May incident involving the teen, Austrian filed a citizen complaint requesting body camera footage and a review of the officers' conduct.

"The outcome of this incident has placed an even larger divide in my [child’s] lack of trust in law enforcement," she wrote in her complaint. "This is exactly the wrong relationship and is a dangerous precursor for [their] future."

"It is just overwhelming to feel like, where is justice," Austrian told NBC News more than eight months after the incident.