The police came knocking at the home of Parlier, California, resident Terry Hillblom (59) in April 2006. They were there to deal with a dispute between Hollblom's daughter and her son, but Hillblom got involved and ended up scuffling with a sheriff's deputy, and getting arrested. Hillblom, who has diabetes and wears an insulin pump, says his pump's needle was torn out during the incident. Worse still, he claims the deputy involved would not let him reinsert it before taking him into custody. He says when he told the deputy he needed to fix the pump, the officer said "I don't care." Hillblom was later allowed to reattach the pump but says by then his blood sugar was more than twice its normal level.

Hillblom's not taking this lying down though - last week he filed a lawsuit over the incident. The deputy, Hillblom says, not only damaged his pump connection, but also entered the home without permission or a warrant, and Hillblom wants damages. The Fresno Bee reports that Hillblom is a prominent local resident, former attorney, and vice president of a medical-related non-profit.

As for the deputy involved, he maintains Hillblom caused his own injuries by resisting arrest. Says Hillblom's lawyer, however, "What I know from prior cases is that officers sometimes lose their temper and feel civilians fail the attitude test and they sometimes misuse their power."

What is most disturbing about this case? It's not the fact that the needle was torn out, but the fact that Hillblom was not allowed to fix it immediately. Like the incident involving Doug "Mr. Universe" Burns, this seems like yet another example of police ignorance causing harm to diabetics. Police must be better informed about diabetes, particularly the seriousness of disconnecting person from pump!

Last week Amy Tenderich, creator of Diabetes Mine and co-author of Know Your Numbers, Outlive Your Diabetes, sent out an email asking us to speak out on behalf of Mr. Universe. I remembered the gist of the story when it first happened, back in April. What I didn't realize was the ensuing atrocities for Mr. Burns after the event.

Back in April, Doug Burns was maced by police during a hypoglycemic event at a movie theater. During the episode, the police assumed he was intoxicated, despite a bystander's insistence that it might be a diabetes issue. He was handcuffed, thrown into a car, and driven to a nearby ER without proper treatment for his hypoglycemia. Officers arrested him for assault and resisting arrest. Prosecutors initially insisted Burns needed to provide more medical evidence that he was a Type I diabetic suffering from insulin shock at the time. For some unknown reason -- a blood sugar of 40 isn't proof enough? The records from the event show that Doug never struck anyone, and in fact, he was the only party injured in the incident. However, the case was raised to assault and resisting arrest when one of the policemen suddenly reported an injury -- week-and-half later.

Turns out the county prosecutors have dropped misdemeanor charges against Mr. Universe. Ladies and gentleman, this is proof of how misinformed the general public is of the hurdles diabetics must overcome to continue life, uninterrupted. I'm proud to say that when issues are raised, awareness prevails. Thanks to everybody who called into the DAs office last week and thanks to Amy for calling out for the help.