Thirty-year-old Dmitri Blake remembers walking home on a hot summer evening last August.

But he doesn’t recall what happened just before he found himself under a pile of Denver police officers and paramedics.

Blake remembers being in a hospital bed with an IV needle in his arm and deputies guarding him.

But he does not remember spitting at the firefighter who came to help him as he was emerging from an epileptic seizure — an involuntary action that led him to be charged with second-degree assault.

The charge not only caused problems for Blake in the weeks and months to come, it was unfounded, say close friends and advocates for people with seizure disorders.

“It creates a sense of bias,” said Cassandra Kirsch, an attorney and friend of Blake’s who helped him cope while the charge was pending. “They treated him as if he was on drugs and alcohol instead of someone having a seizure.”

Under Colorado law, anyone who spits, throws bodily waste or hits a police officer, firefighter or other emergency worker can be charged with second-degree assault.

It took months, the work of a private attorney and a letter from Blake’s doctor to get the charge dropped. Blake says the incident caused him to lose faith in the criminal justice system and has led him to be more leery about leaving the house alone for fear he might have another seizure in public.

Blake hopes that by sharing his story with others police will receive better training on how to deal with people having seizures.

“To me, it’s proof the police victimize the weak,” Blake said. “The thing I’ve heard time and time again is, ‘How do we know you aren’t faking it?'”

Blake’s arrest because of his behavior during a seizure is not uncommon. Doctors who treat patients with epilepsy and representatives from the Epilepsy Foundation say it is not unusual to hear from someone who has faced similar circumstances.

In 2013, Aurora agreed to a $100,000 settlement with the family of a man who was assaulted by three police officers who responded to a 911 call the man’s relatives made during one of his seizures. The Aurora Police Department also agreed to train its officers to identify and handle people suffering seizures.

More and more, police departments are training officers on how to deal with people who are having a crisis — whether physical or mental — but the training isn’t mandatory at all departments.

The Denver Police Department and Denver District Attorney’s Office could not comment on Blake’s case. The criminal record has been expunged, and it would be a violation of court rules for them to discuss it.

But Doug Schepmann, a Denver police spokesman, said in an emailed statement: “The Denver Police Department committed 15 years ago to provide officers with de-escalation skills to help navigate interactions with people in crisis – and those efforts have expanded in recent years. Officers are always facing different circumstances, and the Department’s goal is to resolve crisis encounters safely and appropriately, whenever possible. ”

Dr. Mark Spitz, a University of Colorado Health neurologist who specializes in epilepsy, is Blake’s doctor. He can rattle off a list of patients who have been arrested during, or in the minutes after, a seizure.

“The big question you have is, ‘How often does it happen?’ I don’t know,” Spitz said. “I have many anecdotes.”

Most people think a seizure only involves convulsions, but they are much more complex, Spitz said. During a seizure, it is as if a fire breaks out in a person’s brain. The excessive, abnormal activity lasts about a minute but the recovery time takes longer, he said.

“The brain is exhausted,” Spitz said.

Patients often are non-responsive, meaning they aren’t able to answer questions or respond to commands.

When interacting with police, that can lead to an escalating situation, especially if officers think a person is intoxicated and purposefully combative, Spitz said.

“Before you know it, the police put handcuffs on them and are trying to restrain them,” Spitz said. “It’s like a stray dog. Leave it alone and you’re OK. Walk up to it and you’ll probably get bit. It gets out of hand.”

Some people with epilepsy, like Blake, react to stress after a seizure by spitting. In a letter written on Blake’s behalf, Spitz told police and prosecutors that Blake has been observed in the Colorado University Hospital’s epilepsy monitoring unit and doctors have verified that he may become aggressive, compulsively spit and be unable to control his behavior or unable to remember what happened during the episode.

The key, Spitz said, is to educate police officers how to respond.

“Police officers, and I understand it, they’re always thinking the worst,” Spitz said. “Their first response is ‘This person is intoxicated or they’re on drugs.'”

He recommends officers receive training on what epileptic seizures look like and how they affect people. He also suggests officers step back and talk to bystanders once arriving on the scene.

In Blake’s case, the person who called 911 reported that a man was suffering a seizure or stroke, said David Lindsey, Blake’s defense attorney. When first responders arrived Blake’s seizure had ended and he was able to tell them he had experienced one.

Related Articles February 5, 2013 Aurora police to receive seizure training as part of $100K settlement

But police and other first responders mishandled Blake’s case from the beginning, Lindsey said.

They insisted he ride in an ambulance to a hospital when it was unnecessary, Lindsey said. When Blake refused, the confrontation escalated and the medical crew gave Blake the sedative Ketamine, which has an opposite effect on epileptic patients, making them more agitated, Lindsey and Spitz said.

Police and emergency workers also restrained Blake, according to police reports provided by Lindsey.

“It was at this point that the spitting conduct occurred,” Lindsey said.

There was a series of improper actions, said Steven Owens, vice president of programs and services at the National Epilepsy Foundation.

“We would like to see standardized training throughout the country,” Owens said.

If police and emergency workers had done a proper assessment, they would have learned Blake’s medical history and the effects a seizure has, Lindsey said.

“The entire event could have been avoided,” he said.