Man with Down syndrome suffocated to death in police custody
A Maryland court has ruled that police are responsible for the death of a mentally disabled man. The homicide occurred after the man refused to leave a movie theater, prompting police to pin him down on the ground until he suffocated to death.
Robert Saylor, a 26-year-old Maryland man who suffered from Down syndrome, was watching the movie “Zero Dark Thirty” on Jan. 12 – the night of his death. After refusing to leave the theater at the film’s conclusion, while demanding to see it again, police were called in to physically remove the man. Three Frederick County law enforcement officers proceeded to handcuff Saylor and hold him face down to the ground.
