Liverpool Police Investigating After Youths Pour Ice Bucket Over Homeless Man In Wheelchair
You can watch the ten second video here.
A gang of youths posted a video of themselves chasing a homeless wheelchair user and pouring a bucket of ice water over his head.
The video, which has since been removed from YouTube, depicts one of the gang talking to the camera, declaring “I nominate a smack head in a wheelchair” before another youth chases the man down an alleyway and pours the ice water over his head when he is unable to escape.
It follows one of the internet’s latest crazes – the Ice Bucket Challenge – which sees people douse themselves with icy water in exchange for a donation to charity.
Many celebrities have taken part in the challenge which aims to raise money and awareness for motor neurone disease charities.
The man doused in the prank video is a well known rough sleeper. Some online comments suggested he may have agreed to take part in the video.
Police are looking into the incident.
He said he was making his way through the Grizedale estate in Everton on Saturday when he was cornered by the gang and trapped in an alleyway.
He spoke to the ECHO but did not want to reveal his name amid concerns for his safety.
He said: “What can I say? I’ve been living on the streets for 17 years and I’ve never had unkindness like that. The people of Liverpool have been keeping me alive for 17 years so it was a shock.”
With nowhere to go that night he said he was left to sleep out in the cold in his damp clothes.
He said: “One minute I was just cutting through the estate and the next minute I saw a giant bucket of water. They came from every angle.
I tried to get away as quick as I could.
“I didn’t have a room for the night, I can’t get anywhere that’s wheelchair accessible and I couldn’t dry off so I was really cold. I didn’t know what to say so I just turned around and said ‘aren’t you good?’.”
He said he did not mind people having a laugh for charity but that the prank was anything but funny.
“I thought charity began at home but where’s the charity in that? I’m homeless, it was not good. I was even more cold.
“I feel like everyone has seen it but everyone has been supportive. No one’s made fun of me, I’ve only had good comments.”
A Merseyside police spokesman said: “We can confirm that we are making enquiries into the incident.”
Same Difference 
Reblogged this on nearlydead.
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more contempt for disabled and vulnerable people
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what am i thinking? i’m thinking that i hope my sister doesnt read that. this is another incident where local authorities and housing associations let down people in wheelchairs. my sister and her partner after 20 years together have been forced to live apart for over a year so far. since he had one of his legs amputated.he has been pushed from pillar to post in that time. first 13 weeks in hospital. 7 weeks in respite.then a further 7 in HOTEL ROOM …once in that he couldnt get out again as he hadnt the muscle strength to get him in the wheelchair up a slope outside his room and into the lift. on the one occasion he did he found that although he could get down the slope outside the hotel he couldnt get back up it. so in that room he stayed. practically no help till we started kicking up a stink bout it all. Mps etc finally got him into a 1 bed flat. so tiny ws more like a bedsit. no room for my sis.shes 67and a stroke victim hes in his 50s.they both need to be together to support each other. she has had to do all the running about this situation entails. its now telling on her. but still no sign of a specific bungalow for them, they are told that they (the LHA) are looking into a new build which will be ready about xmas. but if someone else more eligable needs it they will get it. nothing to hang onto or look forward to. ok they both hasve roofs over their heads.shes in a 2 bed house.but its the lack of accomodation for wheelchair bound people like this man in the article and my sis/bro in law that sticks in my craw.
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Reblogged this on Britain Isn't Eating.
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The media normalise these kind of stunts as “fun”. And when copy cat assaults occur against the defenceless the perps are hardly ever caught and when they are they get a slap on the wrist. Everyone in outdoor sports – camping, mountaineering know the greatest danger to a person exposed to the elements is getting wet. The danger of hypothermia is greater in an elderly person, someone who is ill or has limited mobility. If the authorities are not condoning attacks on the homeless the police should prioritise catching those yobs, and give them a seriously long jail term in the nastiest prison available. But I’m dreaming. The authorities are OK with this. They don’t mind if homeless people are killed in a way which has plausible deniability.
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