Exactly and on video and still nothing. If it was a prominent person's mentally ill son I see that going different. When mentally ill patients are screened on ERs they can sedate them. police don't have that option but that is why it should be a coordinated effort with mental health professionals

How about they talk to him? Use their deescalation training to calm him down. Diffuse the situation. If they hadn't have been so confrontational and just asked him to put his knife down, he probably would have complied. He felt that his space had been invaded. I'm sure he felt scared. It's not his fault that his mental illness caused him to behave that way. Professionals should know better than to make a crazy situation worse by using force, rather than words.

This is why we need to defund the police and put more funding into mental health crisis response teams. Healthcare professionals deal with aggressive unreasonable people who have mental health emergencies on a regular basis and somehow they manage to diffuse the situation without using deadly force but cops tend to jump straight into forceful tactics which often makes things much worse.

@RoboGraham they, or at least the older officer tried, but when confronted with a lethal weapon....you can’t talk to them defenselessly. Didn’t see what movement triggered the shooting

@Canndue

If it becomes clear that he is becoming agitated and possibly violent, it would be a good idea to leave his residence so he doesn't feel so threatened and call in mental health professionals to take the lead. They absolutely did not need to murder the man.

@RoboGraham I have worked with cops who do just that.

@gigihein

Awesome.

I wish all of them were like that. They should be. If they aren't, they really ought not be armed.

That would be my dream job. I go with police occasionally when I outreach clients on Adult aprotective service cases that warnings sre given. But usually only if I am familiar with them. My experiences are usually positive.

@gigihein The proper network would allow for people like you in every community to be contacted in cases like these instead of or in addition to the police to properly handle mental health situations.

I am unsure they are a leading cause of death, but you are right, untrained police are a menace to mentally ill citizens, among others.

@gigihein Use of deadly force by police against people with mental health conditions, the neurodiverse, and people with other disabilities is so common that people in these communities, and now their family members, are increasingly avoiding calling law enforcement to help with crisis situations.

@The-Krzyz The sad part now is many of the supports they had are not outreaching clients because of COVID. They aren't brought to get monthly injections which helps for those who don't take meds etc.

@gigihein In California, I’m working with several organizations to make sure our folks in jails are getting the services and patients’ rights protections they are entitled to. The systems in charge always have an excuse, though, and COVID gives them another one!

@The-Krzyz well because the mental health supports are not seeing people we have 2 clients in the criminal system that shouldn't be.