Copeland was later transferred to Tufts Medical Center. Medical staff accepted the cops’ assumption that Copeland was drunk and left him in the emergency room for seven hours until his wife, Valerie, tracked him down, whereupon doctors finally determined that Copeland actually had suffered a stroke. The delay between the onset of Copeland’s symptoms and when he got medical treatment for his stroke might have made the difference between permanent disability and a full recovery.

For ischemic strokes, the most common kind of stroke, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes the narrow window of time patients have to break up the blockage. “If you get to the hospital within 3 hours of the first symptoms of an ischemic stroke, you may get a type of medicine called a thrombolytic (a “clot-busting” drug) to break up blood clots,” the agency’s website says.

Copeland went on to spend weeks in the hospital. He could no longer could do certain routine tasks and ultimately had to quit his job with the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority. Copeland wife told reporters she believes the arrest was racially motivated.

“Why they didn’t assume he was sick?” Valerie told WBUR. “I can only and strongly believe it’s because he’s a Black male. To see how uncaring they were. It is unfortunately ⁠— it should be shocking, but it’s not.”

Copleland says two years later and he’s still experiencing  issues. “My balance, my attitude, my appetite,” he told the station.

“Tasting food, and some cognitive things that are still happening, and some physical things as well.” He doesn’t remember much from that night and was made aware of the incident after waking up at the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital two months later.

The officers involved were disciplined not for how they handled Copeland, but for not promptly responding after he hit his head. The department nor the city of Boston have talked to the Copelands about the incident.