https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/community/desoto-man-given-citation-warning-after-riding-his-wheelchair-street-without-sidewalks/287-9a159fce-b85a-47a6-b7f9-3b034292fd2c#ltntokjq8ob2opqk3w“Why not just work on putting a sidewalk down, so I can be safe and you don’t have to worry about people being in the street," said Damion Hudlun, a DeSoto resident.
DESOTO, Texas — Independency matters most to Damion Hudlun -- he was born with spinal bifida.
“In 2015, I lost my leg to a bone infection. That’s how I ended up in a wheelchair,” said Hudlun, a DeSoto resident.
He said he's never felt he had a disability.
“My siblings would tell you now, I don’t have a disability. Ain’t nothing wrong with me,” said Hudlun.
That feeling changed for him on Saturday. Hudlun said he was leaving 7-Eleven on Wintergreen Road headed home on that same street when a police officer stopped him.
“First of all, he stopped in front of me, basically blocking me from going, and hops out and proceeds to ask me to tell me I couldn’t be in the street," Hudlun said. "I said, 'well there’s no sidewalk.'”
He said it had been raining earlier that day, so the grass was muddy.
“I shouldn’t have did that, but I was trying to keep myself from trying to push through grass and mud," Hudlun said. "It’s a lot harder than people think it is. Especially if you’re not in a wheelchair, you wouldn’t know how hard it actually is to get through stuff like that."
The officer offered him a ride home, but Hudlun said he was already close to home. That officer also wrote him a warning citation.
“He told me plain and simple the next time he sees me in the street, he’ll give me a ticket besides the warning that he already gave me,” said Hudlun.
The citation said Hudlun was not facing traffic, but he said crossing the street would have been more dangerous and the sidewalks end there too.
