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California sheriff’s deputies kill 17-year-old boy with mental health issues
(www.theguardian.com)
Can't harm yourself if the cops harm you first.
this post was submitted on 04 Apr 2024
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"Defund the police" should have always been "Disarm the police".
Cops should only be backup in a mental health situation if the person might be dangerous, not the only people there. They're woefully unprepared to deal with it and are eager to shoot first in any event.
Police are woefully unprepared to deal with anything. I would not trust them to open up can of Spagetti-O’s.
We can't even trust them next to an oak tree.
Where do you think the "Uh oh" part of the old slogan came from?
My ex worked for a county mental health crisis agency and this is how it worked. If something sounded dangerous they'd call the police out, but a trained psychologist would be the one engaging with the patient. She'd tell me stories of how she went into a suicidal guy's house armed with a clipboard while he had a gun on the table.
Nobody she dealt with was killed. Though one guy who lived in the park had the cops take his dog and the dog was put to sleep.
It's good to know that sometimes it's done the right way. We need to make it standard operating procedure. It would have saved this kid's life.
These exist in a lot of places, and I think it would be good if 911 operators were told to route mental health issues to them rather than to the police. They can then call in police if they think they'll need them.
Then again, the time she got the suicidal guy to go to treatment the cops waited outside because they said it was too dangerous. So maybe they wouldn't be that helpful after all.
the cops waited outside because they said it was too dangerous.
Better off that way. They probably would have shot him otherwise.
There are few things that cops love more than murdering people with mental illnesses.
One of those things is killing dogs.
Pretty sure they like that even more. Statistically speaking.
"I'm gonna harm myself!"
"NOT IF I KILL YOU FIRST"
Wtf America...
"Suicide is a crime. Shoot the criminal!" -SBPD, probably
Did they also shoot the family dog on their way out? Jesus. ACAB.
Foster kid having a mental health crisis attempts suicide. When authorities attempt to forcibly admit him to a mental health facility, he runs away, seeking refuge with his only family. Police come, and he doesn't want to go. Not back to the place he felt most desperately alone, not to the padded cell, he wants to be with his sister. They corner him in the bathroom. He tries to get them to leave him alone, using the only means he has available to him, threatening himself. Not anyone else, himself. So they busted in the door and beat him to it.
Were non-lethal options available? Yes. Were there other people who could have been outside that bathroom door, that would have talked him out without the need for violence? Yes. Was this boy murdered by cops because it was easier then requesting a trusted friend or counselor to help? Yes.
I read about a lot of this police savagery stuff with disgust. But your comment is the first to make me actually break out sobbing. Well written.
That poor, poor, kid.
It’s tragic. If they sent out a social worker or someone similar instead, he would likely still be alive. I can’t believe we send out cops to deal with mental health issues.
Let me fix that headline for you.
Taxpayer funded murderers murdered again - this time it was a mentally ill minor.
this time it was a mentally ill minor.
... again.
I'm not gonna speculate, but this sort of situation could literally be ended by a guy in one of those dog bite suits they train police dogs on.
Why haven't police come up with any sort of solution to a suspect with a knife? Hell even those sticks they use in Asia against knife attacks are pretty effective
They have multiple solutions to someone in this situation. A Tazer, pepper spray, brute physical force. Or just talk to the kid for a while, hear him out, and he will probably comply.
But nah, mag dump into the kid because you were scared is easiest.
Steroids
Because cops in America all fancy themselves the Punisher (don't even get me started on that) where everyone is out to get them and every one they shoot is one less bad guy on the street.
No incentive to change when they can get away with killing with impunity and fulfill their murder fantasies.
Asshole who shot this kid probably bragged to all his buddies about smoking a dude with a knife and got attaboys all around.
I refuse to even be near the police. Never let them catch or detain you. Never let them that close. It has been a lifetime game of keep away for me. Always leave. Never stick around. Don't talk to them. It's best that way.
Guns > Mental Health system
Does this happen every time or do we just hear about it when a worthless murder-pig gets an itchy trigger finger?
There are over 700,000 cops in the US so if they all wanted to shoot at least one person a year each, we could see up to about 1,900 headlines a day. If evenly spread.
I guess that's why they have to take out their violent tendencies on their spouses and other people's dogs. Doesn't make the headlines so much.
95% of the time the police get there, say "yep they're mentally ill, but not doing anything illegal" and leave. That last 5% is trips to jail or the hospital (or both) and there's a fraction of a percentage that ends in a shooting.
No one wants to hear about the boring stuff, though.
You're hearing about it because a cop got an itchy trigger finger. In any other place, they'd try talking the kid down and wouldn't bust down doors unless hostages were being taken.