Chester County Lawmakers Want To Strengthen Disability Protection
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Responding to recent attacks on people with disabilities in our area, a couple of Chester County state legislators are proposing new bills to strengthen a law already on the books.
There was the attack on the man who is mentally challenged in Germantown, and in Chester County, a manhunt for a guy who police say mocked and sucker-punched a man with cerebral palsy.
When that suspect was arrested earlier this week, Chester County DA Tom Hogan said this:
"We need to change the law to make sure that people with disabilities, whether they're physical or mental, are protected."
That's the focus of proposed bills from Republican State Senator Tom Killion and State Rep Becky Corbin. Killion says they want to add to Pennsylvania's "Ethnic Itimidation Law" which mentions race, color, religion, or national origin.
"And we're adding, 'Or, intellectual or physical disability,'" Killion explained.
He says adding those words would give law enforcement another tool to prosecute those who would bring harm to people with disabilities.