This is a continuation in part of application Ser. No. 270,083, filed Nov. 14, 1988, for "APPARATUS FOR SECURING AN INDIVIDUAL'S HANDS ADJACENT HIS WAIST", now U.S. Pat. No. 4,949,679.
This invention pertains to apparatus for restraining and controlling the movements of an individual.
More particularly, the invention pertains to a method and apparatus for seating an individual in a vehicle with his wrists handcuffed behind his back, the method preventing the individual from working his hands under his buttocks and legs to the front of his body.
In a further respect, the invention pertains to a method and apparatus for walking an individual to a vehicle and seating the individual in the vehicle, the method and apparatus minimizing the likelihood that the individual can escape from or injure a police officer or other person escorting the individual to the vehicle.
Apparatus for restraining an individual being transported in a vehicle is well known in the art. See, for example, U. S. Pat. Nos. 1,823,697 to Nenstiehl and 3,007,331 to Irwin. Such prior art apparatus has important disadvantages. These disadvantages are probably why such apparatus is apparently not utilized by various law enforcement agencies in the United States. In particular, in the Nenstiehl and Irwin references, the suspect's hands are cuffed in front of the individual. A police officer must put his head, hands and arms inside the vehicle to attach the securing strap or member to the suspect's handcuffs. The officer must do the same when the individual is being removed from the vehicle. When the officer's head, arms and hands are inside the vehicle, the officer is vulnerable to being kicked in the head by the suspect's knees or to being struck by the individual's wrists and handcuffs.
Another disadvantage of conventional handcuffing procedures is that a handcuffed individual is normally walked to the officer's car with the officer behind the individual and holding on to his belt. A suspect can often break the officer's hold on his belt and turn and strike the officer or turn and run from the officer.
Finally, since the apparatus described in the earlier mentioned Irwin and Nenstiehl patents is not utilized in present day police vehicles, suspects are placed in the back seat of the car with their hands cuffed behind the back. After the vehicle door is closed and the officer is driving the vehicle to a desired location, the suspect can sometimes work his hands underneath the buttocks and legs to the front of his body. When the officer opens the door of the vehicle to remove the suspect, the suspect is better able to kick the officer or strike him with his handcuffs.
The importance of the afore-mentioned disadvantages in conventional procedures for securing an individual while in a vehicle and while the individual is walked to the vehicle is demonstrated by the fact that handcuffed suspects have managed to knock police officers down and take their gun, with dire consequences.
Accordingly, it would be highly desirable to provide an improved method and apparatus for walking a handcuffed individual to a vehicle and securing him in the vehicle so the individual cannot work his hands beneath his buttocks and legs to the front of his body.
It would also be highly desirable to provide an improved method and apparatus for walking a handcuffed individual to a vehicle, the method increasing the ability of an officer to control the individual and prevent the individual from escaping or injuring the officer.
Therefore, it is a principal object of the invention to provide an improved method and apparatus for controlling and restraining an individual when the individual is walked to a vehicle and secured therein.
Another object of the instant invention is to provide an improved method and apparatus for controlling an individual which reduces the likelihood a suspect can escape from a police officer, in particular a female officer, while the suspect is being walked to a vehicle.
A further object of the invention is to provide an improved method and apparatus for controlling a handcuffed individual while the individual is escorted by a police officer to a vehicle.
A harness for wearing by a person allows the weight of a stretcher with a casualty to be carried on the shoulders, hips, or hands of the person. The harness has two padded shoulder straps which are vertically adjustable. The shoulder straps are connected by a horizontal piece of fabric which is horizontally adjustable, bringing the shoulder straps closer together or farther apart. The shoulder straps are attached to a padded hip belt. The hip belt is horizontally adjustable and has four fabric loops, two on each side. The loops are used for the stretcher arms. The two arms of a stretcher are placed in the loops, one arm in two loops. The weight of the stretcher is thus carried on the loops and the harness allows the weight of the stretcher to be transferred to the shoulders, hips, or hands.
A restraint device and lockable buckles therefore are disclosed which serve to secure a person's arms and legs, while providing for a limited amount of movement but only under complete control of an escorting person. The device includes an elongated belt having a hasp/belt buckle connection to secure the belt around the person's waist, arm restraints each including a tether and a handcuff, each arm restraint independently attached to the belt by a tether buckle, and optionally an adjustable leg tether with buckles for restraint of one or both legs. The buckles (and handcuffs) all have locks to control releasability of each restraint or tether, with the locks all preferably operable by a single key such as a handcuff key. Use of the tethers permits the person's arms or legs to independently have limited freedom for walking, fingerprinting, holding objects, etc., while remaining under the control of the escort. The length of the belt is adjustable, so that different waist sizes can be accommodated. The device is advantageously used by law enforcement agencies, by prisons or jails, by park or forest rangers or wardens, in courts by bailiffs and by other similar agencies for restraint of violent, uncooperative or dangerous criminals. It will also find use in medical and psychiatric hospitals and facilities, particularly in emergency facilities where restraint of violent persons for appropriate emergency medical treatment may be necessary.
A positioner releasably positions a portion of a person's body relative to a supporting surface. The positioner includes a wide flexible band of sufficient length to encircle a portion of the person's body. The flexible band has accessible ends which have adjustable connections for connecting end portions of the band together around the body portion. An intermediate portion of the flexible band has a first velcro patch of predetermined size and shape facing away from the person's body. The positioner further includes a second velcro patch which is attached in a predetermined position on the supporting surface. When the patches are engaged, the positioner thus releasably supports the portion of the body relative to the supporting surface to aid in holding the body portion in position until the flexible band is released or until the two velcro patches are separated.
A strait jacket including a front panel for positioning against the chest of a wearer and a rear panel for positioning against the back of a wearer. The front panel is disguised to look like the front of a conventional jacket. The rear panel is divided into side-by-side parts and has a releasable fastener joining these parts together. A pair of tubular sleeves for receiving the arms of a wearer is joined to the front and back panels and extends therefrom. The sleeves are sewn to the front panel so that a wearer cannot raise such.
An adjustable limb holder apparatus for use in securing a patient's limb to a fixed object, to, in turn, substantially restrain movement of the limb. A cuff member, having a top surface and a bottom surface, is positioned about the limb of the patient, and preliminarily secured in position by cooperating cuff retention members operably attached to a portion of the top and bottom surfaces of the cuff member. A strap provides operable secured cooperation between the cuff member and the fixed object, and is attached to a substantially central region of the top surface of the cuff member. Attachment of the strap to the substantially central region serves to preclude the inadvertent, potentially painful and injurious, constriction of the strap about the limb--wherein such constriction would otherwise be caused as the result of the strap inadvertently tightening about the limb during movement of the substantially restrained limb in a direction away from the fixed object.
