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“It could take years for a 12-year-old boy with autism to trust anyone in uniform again after having his skull fractured while in the care of police, says a Calgary-based autism expert.

Alberta’s police watchdog is investigating how the child’s injuries occurred Tuesday night. Police say parents called for help when their son became uncontrollable, causing damage to his grandparents’ home.

The boy’s father, Doug Parcells, told Global News his son Jack was “body slammed” to the ground after calling one of the two attending officers a “bastard.”

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team said officers didn’t handcuff the unco-operative preteen while transporting him to a cruiser when he was injured.

But Lyndon Parakin, executive director of Autism Calgary and father of two autistic children, said the boy’s physical recovery in a Calgary hospital is only the beginning of a long journey toward re-establishing trust in first responders.

“This family’s turmoil won’t end at their son healing from this,” Parakin said. “I’m certain that there’s going to be years of psychological intervention needed to support that young man.

“That father is also thinking ‘What is my son’s life going to be like for the next five years with, now, his lack of trust in persons of authority?’””

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