Body Camera Footage of Lakeland Police Officer investigating a disabled male being dumped in Lakeland by an Uber ride who was paid by a mental health facility in Wesley Chapel to bring him to Lakeland. The man was told there was a facility that could take care of his medical needs. He was dumped at a homeless shelter that has no facilities to handle those with special medical needs. The man has never lived in Lakeland and did not want to come here.
It is becoming increasingly common to encounter homeless in Lakeland who were forced here from their hometowns and wished to dump their homeless or disabled someplace else and make them someone else’s problem. In some cases, they transfer them through mental health care facilities to Lakeland Hospital where they are released by the hospital once stabilized and are not returned to their homes which are sometimes across the state. In some cases, they are simply forced into Ubers or taxis and dumped in Lakeland.