Local Woman To Receive National Award

Patti Saylor will be honored next month by ARC.

WASHINGTON (AP) – A national advocacy group for people with developmental disabilities is honoring the mother of a Maryland man with Down syndrome who died in police custody.

The Arc said Wednesday that Patti Saylor of New Market will receive the Catalyst Award for Community Activist of the Year on Oct. 28 at the group’s national convention in Orlando, Florida.

She shares the award with another Marylander, Erica Wheeler, who has worked with Saylor to promote police training standards and greater community inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities.

Robert Ethan Saylor died from asphyxiation in 2013 as three Frederick County sheriff’s deputies, moonlighting as security guards, tried to forcibly remove him from a cinema because he hadn’t purchased a ticket for a second viewing of a movie. A wrongful death lawsuit is pending.

By The Associated Press