Shaquille Dukes, a 24-year-old black man recovering from pneumonia at Freeport Network Memorial Hospital in Freeport, Illinois, says he was told by his doctors to take a walk outside the hospital while wearing his hospital gown and attached to his IV machine. Not too out of the norm, right? Unfortunately, things did not go as planned.
“I was stopped by an overzealous, racist, security officer, who claimed that I ‘was trying to leave the hospital to sell the IV equipment on eBay,'” Dukes wrote on Facebook.
A white security guard and police officers allegedly racially profiled Dukes. In short: They accused him of trying to steal his hospital IV and sell it on eBay. After what might have ended at a miscommunication, it escalated into him being arrested and placed in a cop car.
"As they began to take me to the car, I told them ... I never left the hospital property. And that's when he [a police officer] turned and said, 'Well you're off hospital property now,'" Dukes told ABC News in an interview.
When Dukes was guided toward the security officer’s car, he was technically no longer on hospital property—which technically violated the rules he’d been given from the hospital. According to Dukes, the security officer then called the police. While being arrested, Dukes says that the cops took his inhaler from him.
“While in transit I began to have a seizure, and subsequently an asthma attack. I pleaded with officers for almost four minutes to retrieve my inhaler from the transporting officer, and finally, when I became unresponsive, it miraculously appeared,” he explained on Facebook.
“I make this post not for pity, but as a beacon of hope for all black and brown minorities dealing with the City of Freeport, we do not have to take this shit any longer!” Dukes continued on Facebook. “This ends today, anyone who sees this, and has been served an injustice or was a victim of a crime initiated by Freeport PD, please reach out.”
"It was determined that he was likely not trying to steal any of the property. But the charges were supported for disorderly conduct with their actions toward the security guard," Todd Barkalow, the Freeport Police chief, told ABC News.
Here is his original Facebook post, including cellphone video footage:
This occurred on June 9, but video of the incident has recently gone viral on Twitter, leading to more national attention. In the end, as reported the Journal-Standard, Dukes was charged with disorderly conduct. Two men (also black) who were with Dukes were also arrested on charges of disorderly conduct at the time.
Dukes has filed a formal complaint with the city.
The hospital has yet to release a public comment.