High school kid shot 5 times by SC police had autism: report

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And? He stabbed an officer. He knew what he was doing, and he got what was coming to him.

Um.... the guy stabbed him. Several times. First, that means there was probably plenty of contact, and the taser would have incapacitated him as well. Second of all, THE GUY WAS STABBING HIM.

I think we're all overlooking the fact that you don't think in those sorts of situations: You react. The cop probably pulled the gun and fired off the 5 shots in a few seconds.

I think the issue here should be why his first instinct was to pull his gun, not how many shots were fired or the fact the kid was autistic.

It's unfortunate, but that's it. And the comments on the first page are justified. Making a massive deal out of an unrelated issue is just going to cause problems for the rest of us.

"The incident took place on Friday morning at Carolina Forest High School in Conway, South Carolina, when Varinecz is said to have pulled a knife on Officer Rhodes and stabbed him several times."

Why wouldn't his first instinct be to pull his gun? If someone's stabbing me and I have a gun, my first reaction isn't going to be "hey, cut that out!"

I find it troubling that the article makes a big deal of the fact that this kid was autistic, and doesn't say a word about what led him to stab the security guard in the first place. When one considers how uninformed the general public is regarding ASDs, this article could easily be interpreted to indicate that stabbing someone multiple times is perfectly normal behavior for someone with an ASD.

Last edited by OuterBoroughGirl on 14 Feb 2010, 9:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I agree. Something about this story is fishy.



The conspiracy theorist with in me believes that that was the intention of the article.

It's just unfortunate to see a teen killed, AS or not. He was in the wrong, but teens are known for being impulsive. Those with AS have difficulty seeing the outcome of their actions. I'm not saying AS is an excuse, but it's unfortunate nonetheless. He doesn't get to learn from this mistake. And I doubt this is typical behavior for him. Most people with AS don't carry a knife around, it's obviously not a symptom. Some people just snap...for whatever reason.

I highly doubt the officer knew of the kid's AS during the heat of the moment. From the officer's perspective, he was a psychotic teenager.

As for the article, I agree that it is very fishy. There is no mention of the assailant's motives, just that he had AS. I am sure uniformed individuals will assume AS was the cause of the violent behavior. From my own experience, I am too concerned with the feelings of others and the adverse consequences of attempting to kill another human being to commit such an act.