Mother of autistic boy shot by police speaks out: 'Why didn't you just tackle him?'

[Cattledog]

?1599450929470

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (KUTV) – A 13-year-old autistic boy is still recovering in the hospital after getting shot several times by police on Friday night in Glendale.

Linden Cameron had injuries to his shoulder, both ankles, intestines, and bladder, according to his mother, Golda Barton


https://kutv.com/news/local/mother-of-child-shot-by-slcpd-officer-speaks-out-why-didnt-you-just-tackle-him?fbclid=IwAR0OKE57rISk4C-N_SFuQpWQ7T-p5VPfeIfwo4RuwGlshLAjCiNyHVc40tY

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Jesus!! We need huge policing reforms. Huge!!!

[SheltieLover]

2. Wtaf?????

[Blue_true]

3. All of them should be fired.

To often, police officers don’t think before using their guns. Simple observation then response is foreign to some of them.

[SheltieLover]

12. And prosecuted to the fullest extent!

[LAS14]

4. That's what I wondered when I saw the Jacob Blake video. What ever happened to...

... just grabbing someone you're worried about?

[magicarpet]

5. What meat-headed cops,.. shoot a 13 year old boy multiple times.

The kid likely weight less than 1/2 as much as the cops yet the only way to control him was to shoot him ?

,These cops never heard of deescalation ?

[SheltieLover]

7. Exactly!!!

[SheltieLover]

6. These fking police are completely out of control

This is FAR from an isolated incident with autistic kids & teens!

Yet, somehow, school staff are trained to descalate!

The kid was probably having vestibular issues. Being driven crazy by coil whine.

And, as per usual, the mother, as primary care giver, had ZERO support.

[dalton99a]

8. "I said he's unarmed, he doesn't have anything, he just gets mad and he starts yelling and screaming

Barton said she was the one who called the police and asked for a crisis intervention team (CIT). She said her son, who was Asperger's, was having a mental breakdown. She spoke briefly about how she was told how the CIT would respond:

This is how to deal with people with mental health issues. So, you call them, and they're supposed to come out and be able to deescalate a situation using the most minimal force possible.

She explained to the CIT that her son was having a mental breakdown and needed to be transported to the hospital for treatment. It was the first day Barton had returned to work in almost a year because she can't be away from her son: "he has bad separation anxiety," she explained. On the phone with officers, Barton told officers the best way to approach her son:

I said, he's unarmed, he doesn't have anything, he just gets mad and he starts yelling and screaming. He's a kid he's trying to get attention, he doesn't know how to regulate.

She said she was to stay while the two officers went through the front door of the home in the area of 500 S. Navajo Street in the Glendale neighborhood. She said in less than five minutes, she heard "get down on the ground" and several gunshots were heard.

[TheBlackAdder]

20. It wasn't the police's fault. The boy hurt them.

.

He said something bad about them and hurt their feelings. 🙁

.

[ck4829]

9. Jesus...

[Matthew28]

10. The police use deadly force

First and far too often. It is sick and needs to stop.

[Blue Owl]

11. K&R for exposure

Poor kid...

[Calculating]

14. Shooting 13 year old white kids in the back now

Police are completely out of control

[SheltieLover]

13. Points up that people of color are not alone in police brutality!!!

This is SO wrong on so many levels!

Qualified immunity has got to go!.

Let police buy their own professional liability insurance policies, like all other professions! Insurance companies would never insure such unstable people! Especially those with a history of such behavior!

No insurance, no job.

This must stop!

[uponit7771]

15. Just wtf?!?? Keystone cops

[SheltieLover]

18. Kid was prob having vestibular issues from electrical coil whine

Fking cops!

[qwlauren35]

16. #DEFUNDTHEPOLICE

This is an example of how, if the city invested in specialized groups who were trained to deal with the mentally ill, instead of sending police, this would not have happened.

[SheltieLover]

19. Precisely!

Kid likely was upset due to vestibular issues from.electrical coil whine.

Answer: shoot him. Wtaf?

A ride in a car or some time on a swing or trampoline likely would have calmed him.

[MizLibby]

17. My son Tom is autistic

He's had meltdowns in his time on earth but I never needed to call the police, thank God. He's screamed, hit his own skull with his fists, but never ever hurt anyone. Thankfully with age he has "improved" but to this day I will not allow him to get a drivers license. He needs one to get to and from his job, he can understand the laws of the road, BUT, if he was in an accident, or involved in some incident he hadn't programmed his autistic mind for, who knows what the police would do to him. A 45 year old 6'3" man starts screaming and spanking himself?? The police would find him a prime target I'm afraid. We need to take part of our police funding and fund those with mental health training to assist the police with dealing with people like my Tom, not just shoot them.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

21. The institution is unreformable. ACAB, FTP, abolition now.

[radius777]

22. Alot of them are out of shape cowards w/personality issues,

who really should not be doing that job, but the unions protect them.

The reality is that cops also abuse alot of whites, yet many whites view the police as defenders of white America, so don't join in BLM and others who critique the police.

[SheltieLover]

23. Very true!

This kid was probably having vestibular issues from electronic coil whine.

A ride in a car, time on a swing or trampoline likely would have calmed him.

These sociopathic cops should not have qualified immunity! If they had to purchase their own professional liability insurance like other professionals, as a condition of employment, that would go a long way to get them.out. no insurance company would insure someone with such behavior!

[VPHawk]

24. Autism and mental health care

This is horrifying, especially to those of us with family and friends on the Autism spectrum. I can't even imagine how the parents must feel? I hope Linden heals quickly from the injuries caused by Law Enforcement. Another, of many, many examples, of law enforcement brutality and not being properly trained and/or not following the steps to descalate the situation. Law Enforcement needs mental health professionals on board. With the rapidly increasing Autism numbers and more people needing access to mental health care, appropriate training and staff is needed immediately. Unfortunately, pediatric and adult inpatient mental health facilities, in our experience, have been extremely lacking in their knowledge of how to talk to or help people on the Spectrum. I hope the ACLU and/or Disability Rights Commission will become involved so people won't be afraid to call for help and so that no other families will have this happen. Our hearts go out to Linden and his family. I hope the officers who did this will be fired and receive no financial or other benefits from their positions.

There was a young man in our neighborhood who was on the Spectrum. He was shot and killed a half block from our home. My son, who is on the Spectrum, saw all the police and the body covered with a blanket when we were leaving for school. It's not something that either of us will ever forget and it made the world more frightening. People who have disabilities don't seem to carry much value in our society. When you see statements, regarding Covid, like 'My kid is more important than your Grandma' or 'the people dying from covid-19 already have one foot in the grave,' it doesn't make anyone feel good that others think they are expendable.

[brer cat]

25. Good points, VPHawk.

I'm sorry that you and your son witnessed the aftermath of a shooting. It must have been disturbing to your son.

Welcome to DU.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

26. People with mental illness

And neurologically atypical people get shot too often by ignorant
reactionary police.


https://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/overlooked-in-the-undercounted