Blogger Mike Henle, left, is shown with neurosurgeon Thomas Waltz, center, and neurologist Andy Aung at Scripps Hospital north of San Diego, Calif.

When Southern Nevadan Adam Greene was kicked and beaten by members of the Henderson Police Department during a traffic stop in 2010, video of the sad event created endless shock waves.

Law enforcement personnel stopped Greene thinking that he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

In fact, Greene was in a diabetic shock. For that, he received a beating that has been seen endless times. The sight of Greene being kicked and manhandled by so-called highly-trained police officers that also included the Nevada Highway Patrol was both wrong and sad.

However, it wasn’t the first time that law enforcement officers have wrongly confronted the driver of an automobile thought to be under the influence. Several years ago, a UNLV medical student from Idaho died after being tasered by a Nevada Highway Patrolman who apparently thought the driver was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

The UNLV medical student wasn’t under the influence of anything. He was having an epileptic seizure.

Welcome to Las Vegas.

 Both incidents struck very close to home considering my past experiences with epilepsy which I battled for more than 40 years. Thankfully, my own struggles with epilepsy were removed from my life through brain surgery Dec. 6, 1994 at Scripps Green Hospital in La Jolla, Calif.

Only hours before neurologist Andy Aung and neurosurgeon Thomas Waltz went to work removing five centimeters of the right temporal lobe, I was facing endless epileptic seizures. In fact, I had four seizures the day before the surgery.

 In what became a compelling chapter for my book “Through the Darkness: One Man’s Fight to Overcome Epilepsy,” the last seizure I had was while standing in the parking lot of Scripps only minutes after having blood work for the surgery.

I vividly recall stumbling as I walked through the parking lot. As hard as I tried to hide the seizure, everyone in our family could see the affects the seizure had on me.

The day had been frightening especially considering that the seizures came in clusters. On this particular day, the first hit while we were headed for the airport in Las Vegas. Two more took place on the plane en route to San Diego.

 I will never forget the final seizure because it actually signaled somewhat of an end to my own personal war that started when I was bitten by a mosquito carrying the encephalitis virus in 1951.

 I was nine months old when the mosquito wounded me so badly that I slipped into a coma for a week. I recall that my first seizures hit when I was about five years of age. While it was more than 55 years ago, I still remember the day on a playground in Atherton, Calif. when a seizure sent me reeling.

Until I was about 26, the seizures were termed to be petit mal, which means I simply encountered a few minutes of being disoriented. When the attacks became full-blown grand mal seizures, I’d drop to the ground convulsing and out of control.

Epilepsy was winning the war. Thankfully, doctors Aung and Waltz sent the enemy packing on that historic day in December. I haven’t had a seizure since.

In fact, I don't even have to take medications anymore. In the eyes of many, I am a medical miracle.

But I was lucky in more ways than one and I realized that again when seeing the video of Adam Greene being beaten by members of the Henderson Police Department. I always worried what would happen were I to have a seizure behind the wheel of a car.

 Thankfully, I dodged countless bullets for many years while battling epilepsy. I often think about a man in Austin, Tex., who had a seizure while driving a car and killed someone in an oncoming car. Thank goodness, I never had to face such a tragic situation. Many have told me I had an angel on my shoulder watching over me.

In my case, no one was hurt. However, the threat was always there and I worried how law enforcement officers would handle the situation. I was never handcuffed and I was never brutalized by anyone after a seizure. Everyone treated me with respect and helped me recover.

I never had to experience what Adam Greene did in Henderson in 2010; nor was I ever tasered by anyone while having a seizure. After having a grand mal seizure while covering the Long Beach Grand Prix in the early 1980s, people rushed to my side before calling emergency medical personnel which transported me to a local hospital.

Adam Greene received nearly $300,000 for the beating he received; with $158,000 coming from the city and $35,000 from the state. His wife received another $99,000.

Greene responded by saying that he still respected police officers even after being mistaken for driving under the influence.

Greene’s story should be used by law enforcement agencies everywhere for educational purposes.

Not everyone who has an issue while driving a car is guilty of a crime. It just might be that the individual had a heart attack; or a diabetic shock; or an epileptic seizure.

The key is knowing what to do when arriving on the scene – and using excessive force isn’t always the right thing to do.

No comments have been added to this post yet. Be the first to add your comment below.