Two police officers are being investigated after an autistic man who became the "face of looting" was allegedly beaten up while in custody.
Cornelius Arie Smith-Voorkamp, 25, was arrested for stealing two light bulbs and an antique light fitting from a damaged home after last month's devastating Christchurch earthquake.
He has Asperger's syndrome which compels him to take light fixtures.
When he was arrested he was left with a black eye after two police officers beat him up, his lawyer Simon Buckingham told the New Zealand Herald yesterday.
"He had no intention of committing a crime, but for years he had been going around abandoned buildings, asking permission to go in and going and getting the fittings because he has a real fixation with being a sparkie."
"There was also a bit of an issue with the army poking their head in and taking the mick a little bit out of the looter, but that was just verbal."
Buckingham said Smith-Voorkamp was "extremely remorseful" for what he did but at the time he did not understand what he was doing was against the law.
Sacramento area community musical theater (esp. DMTC in Davis, 2000-2020); Liberal politics; Meteorology; "Breaking Bad," "Better Call Saul," and Albuquerque movie filming locations; New Mexico and California arcana, and general weirdness.
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
A Bad Time And Place To Be Autistic
Troubled Christchurch:
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