Investigation launched after black patient with double pneumonia arrested while hooked to IV feed

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A black patient with double pneumonia was arrested after walking outside an Illinois hospital pushing his IV stand.

Shaquille Dukes, 24, claims he was let out of the hospital for a walk while connected to an IV feed when he was accused of trying to steal the stand “to sell on eBay”.

According to a Freeport Police Department statement, a hospital security officer called police when three men shouted at him and approached him in what he believed was a threatening manner.

Shaquille Dukes was hooked up to his IV feed when he was stopped by security. Credit: Freeport PD

Police arrested Mr Dukes, who was dressed in a hospital gown, and two others with misdemeanour disorderly conduct, on an allegation of theft.

Mr Dukes wrote on Facebook “come to Freeport on Vacation and leave on Probation” and called the city “one of the most racist in America”.

“After receiving doctor’s orders to walk around, I was stopped by an overzealous, racist, security officer, who claimed that I ‘was trying to leave the hospital to sell the IV equipment on eBay’,” he wrote.

“I told the [officer] I was being treated for pneumonia and asthma, and his words were ‘I don't care why you're here, you're going to jail’.

Shaquille Dukes described Freeport as one of the most racist cities in America. Credit: Freeport PD

“They took my rescue inhaler and began to transport me to the city lockup, while in transit I began to have a seizure, and subsequently an asthma attack, I pleaded with officers for almost four minutes to retrieve my inhaler from the transporting officer, and finally, when I became unresponsive, it miraculously appeared.”

An investigation into the incident, which happened on June 9 outside FHN Memorial Hospital, is underway and police ask the public “to reserve judgement”.