Diabetic Shock Turns Into Police Scuffle

A local man with diabetes took control of his disease when it drove him down the wrong path.

He had a frightening encounter with police as he was going into a diabetic shock, but he turned a misunderstanding with authorities into a lesson that changed his life for the better.

Jason Rosenberg, 38, has been living with type 1 diabetes nearly all his life.

Diagnosed at age five, Jason became an expert at giving himself insulin injections several times a day.  But, four years ago, while behind the wheel, his sugar levels dropped to a dangerous low.

Jason described being in a fuzzy state, which was the result of his body going into insulin shock.
 
Jason needed food to get his insulin levels back up.

He remembers pulling to the side of the road as he tried to gain consciousness.  But, before that could happen, police came knocking on the window of his SUV.

“I didn't let them in and they proceeded to forcefully enter…The window shattered all over,” Rosenberg said. 

Jason couldn't communicate what was happening to him.  Police thought he was under the influence, and in the confusion, they roughed him up with a nightstick.

“It was a little shocking and surprising.  I didn't know what was going on,” Rosenberg said.

One of the biggest mistakes he made that day was not wearing his medic alert bracelet that would have informed police he was a diabetic, Rosenberg said.

“I did not have it on.  Now I don't go anywhere without it,” he said. 

He also doesn't go anywhere without his insulin pump, a nearly care-free way for him to monitor his blood sugar and inject insulin as needed.
“It has changed his life, by simplifying it.  It is easier, because it’s there,” Rosenberg said.
 
There have been other diabetics like Jason who have had run-ins with police after their behavior was misinterpreted.
 
The American Diabetes Association now provides training for officers to recognize someone going through insulin shock.

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