An elderly Missouri man dialed 911 and asked for an ambulance to come and help his ailing wife. Instead, the police showed up, threw him to the ground, sat on his head and handcuffed him.

He later received stitches for his injuries.

“I never had anybody jump on me for doing nothing,” said the man, Elbert Breshears of Humansville, Missouri, in a statement to KSPR 33.

The trouble began after Breshears called to get help for his wife, who suffers from dementia. He asked for paramedics to come provide assistance to her after she knocked out one of their home’s windows.

The Humansville police arrived first, however.

According to Breshears, an officer tackled him right away, and then barked at him to stand up.

“He told me to get up,” recalled Breshears. “I told him I couldn’t.”

Officers then threw him into a pile of gravel and sat on his back and head as they attempted to handcuff him. Breshears pleaded with the officers to get off him.

“I told them I can’t get my hands up to wear you can handcuff me, if you let me up you can handcuff me,” he said. “I got no objection to being handcuffed.”

A doctor had to sew up his head and remove gravel from his wounds.

Breshears said that he has had trouble with police in the past. A spokesperson for the police declined an interview with local reporters, but did say that the man is facing charges for abusing his wife, resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer.

Breshears said the charges were ridiculous.

“I don’t hit my wife,” he said. “I’ve lived with the woman for 47 years. I love the woman.”

“I can’t help what she does,” he added, referring to her dementia.

The wife was taken away from her home and is now under professional care. Breshears plans to sue the police.

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