hi! definitely have a few thoughts. it's hard to give universal advice about this, because a lot of what works is really going to depend on what kind of wheelchair someone has (manual or power, self propelled or not), and also on what health variations people have, whether they're ambulatory, if they have other medical devices like a catheter, etc. so disclaimer that all of this stuff is not absolute advice + best practices is just to ask people what their needs are when it comes to dearresting them. ik that dearresting is always chaotic and fast paced, but listen to any instructions people are yelling at you and work together with your comrades to try to make it as functional as possible.
list of things to consider in no particular order:
in general, I think most wheelchair users do not want to get lifted out of our chairs by people that we don't know, and who don't have experience in safely lifting people. If possible, first option should always be to de-arrest someone while we stay in our mobility aid instead of separating people from our chairs.
when i've been arrested as a manual wheelchair user, there's usually been 2-3 cops arresting me. one or two cops in the front to zip-tie my hands and physically push me against my wheelchair, another cop in the back holding onto my handles to move me wherever they want.
in that kind of scenario, best way to de-arrest is to try to get in the way of the cop who's trying to use my push handles. if you're able to get a hold on the handles, you can have more options of where to move--backwards away from other cops, forward into the cops to shove them off the person and then backwards, etc. if you have multiple people you can push from multiple directions (ie someone pulling backwards on my wheelchair handles while someone else is pushing directly onto my legs/knees/wheelchair frame from the front.)
if you're putting your hands on someone's wheelchair, try to only grab on to places that are more stable like handles, wheelchair frame, maybe backrest. avoid things like wheels and spokes, footplates, headrests, anything removable, and anything that's bracketed on instead of solid.
ending up with a broken wheelchair is absolutely a worst case scenario--i actually worry more about my wheelchair breaking then about myself getting injured, because my wheelchair cannot be easily repaired, my insurance won't pay for it, and it can takes weeks or months to get repaired. it is very, very important not to break someone's chair.
For power chairs, it can be incredibly, incredibly dangerous if the power chair tips over and people get caught underneath it. This can cause severe injury or even death. So if you're trying to help dearrest someone in a power chair--number one priority needs to be making sure their chair doesn't tip.
many wheelchair users have unique seating and positioning needs. keep an eye out for things like headrests, neck support, cushioning, seat belts and harness, etc. this can be a sign that it would be a lot more dangerous for someone to be removed from our wheelchair because we might need supports in order to avoid neck injuries.
if the cops have already grabbed us out of our wheelchair, that's a different scenario. in that case, priority should be to get us out of the cops hands and back into our wheelchair as soon as possible. one person should always have direct hands on the wheelchair and make sure it doesn't get into the cops hands. if you're grabbing someone out of the cops hands and they're nonambulatory, keep in mind that you're going to need to keep lifting them back to wherever their wheelchair is without dropping them. you might want to do a two person lift, and ABSOLUTELY listen to the person you're lifting about whatever the safest way to hold them is. you can look up resources about safe lifting techniques designed for physical therapists and nurses to get some ideas about what that might look like.
if you don't have enough people with you to safely lift someone, carry them for long enough, and have someone else to grab the chair then it's probably not a good idea to try to de-arrest through that means. at that point you'd probably want to switch to something like trying to block the van from moving instead.
if cops arrest a wheelchair user and leave our wheelchair on the side of the road, it is SO important for someone to grab our wheelchair, keep it safe, and coordinate to bring it to jail support so we have it as soon as we get out.
that's all i can think about rn but generally just reiterating that this stuff is going to be so individual for every wheelchair user, so whenever possible, finding out this info beforehand and also just asking and listening to instructions in the moment is important.
if any other wheelchair users have thoughts about best practices for de-arresting please feel free to add on!