MOBILE, Ala. -- The Mobile police officers who tried to book a deaf and mentally disabled man into jail after using a Taser and pepper spray on him will report to internal affairs today, department officials said. Pending the preliminary findings, they will either return to normal duty the same day or be placed on administrative duty.

Deputy Chief James Barber said that internal affairs investigators were still gathering evidence in the case, including how many officers and supervisors reported to the scene, and when.

Preliminary results of the findings should be made public today, Barber said, adding that no official judgment on the officers' actions had been reached as of Tuesday evening.

The case against 37-year-old Antonio Love was thrown out by a city magistrate who refused to sign off on the arrest warrant.

Of crucial importance to Mobile's investigation are what the officers knew and when they knew it, Barber said, because officers are judged according to the facts as they knew them at the time, not the facts as they were discovered in hindsight.

According to previous police accounts of the incident, the officers did not know Love was deaf or mentally disabled until after they forcibly removed him from the restroom at the Dollar General on Azalea Road on Friday.

Officers sprayed a chemical irritant into the bathroom, broke the door down and used a Taser in the process of taking Love into custody.

It's not clear that Love, whose family has described him as having the mental capacity of a 10-year-old, understood what was happening. In a handwritten account of the incident, Love repeatedly said he didn't understand what was happening to him or why police were arresting him.

For Love's account of the incident click here .

Love has said that he had gone to the restroom because he was sick to his stomach and didn't think he was there for more than 30 minutes before police arrived.

Police said the Dollar General's manager called them because a man, later identified as Love, had been in the restroom for an hour. They forced their way in when Love did not open the door.

Police have said they discovered Love was deaf after looking in his wallet. They later attempted to book him on resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and failure to obey a police officer.

Barbara Muhammad, a magistrate, refused to sign off on the charges, effectively dismissing the Police Department's case. Muhammad declined comment Tuesday.

J.M. "Pete" Pedersen, who oversees the operations of municipal court, said he couldn't comment on Muhammad's decision specifically, but that her decision was in line with her duties.

"Officers are very educated on what the law is," he said. "Most will have a good judgment on what the parameters are to bring a valid complaint."

Though Love is hearing impaired and mentally disabled, he has led a very independent life in some respects, his family said.

His mother, Phyllis Love, said his counselors have encouraged her to let him do more things on his own. He shops on his own, spends his own money and has worked in the gardening department at a local hardware store.