The Atlantic: Methods That Police Use on the Mentally Ill Are Madness

[Colorado Vince]

Why do so many American cops believe that shooting a schizophrenic man dead for failing to drop a screwdriver is an acceptable outcome?

Conor Friedersdorf Mar 25 2015, 7:32 AM ET


When This American Life dedicated two episodes to law enforcement in the United States, they titled them, "Cops See It Differently." Citing examples like the NYPD killing of Eric Garner, which gave rise to the "I can't breath" protests, the show illustrated how police and non-uniformed citizens assessing the same incidents would draw wildly different conclusions even after watching video footage. Last year, I observed the same phenomenon when St. Louis, Missouri, police officers shot and killed Kajieme Powell in another videotaped encounter. Many cops saw a guy with a knife who didn't drop it and a justified use of lethal force. Critics pointed out that there was never an attempt to deescalate the situation. A similar disconnect followed the Cleveland police killing of 12-year-old Tamir Rice.

And this week, newly released video footage is giving Americans yet another glimpse at how police are trained, their mindset, and how the results can be lethal. The killing happened last year in Dallas, Texas. The mother of Jason Harrison, a black man with schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder, called police to say that he was off his meds. She wanted help getting him to the hospital—something she'd received before without incident—and requested cops trained to handle the mentally ill.

What happened next is graphic and upsetting to watch.

Within seconds of the door being opened, the two police officers saw that Harrison was fumbling with a screwdriver. They began shouting at him to drop it and quickly shot him five times. The moment just prior to the shooting is captured incompletely in the body cam footage. In conflicting reports each officer said that Harrison lunged at the other, according to CNN. An attorney hired to represent Harrison's family says Jason posed no threat and argues that had he really lunged, his body would've filled the lens of the officer's body cam before he was shot.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/03/methods-that-cops-use-with-the-mentally-ill-are-madness/388610/

Gosh, I guess I'm so lucky because I'm a white man! But wait: I do have OCD. That's a mental illness! Oh my God oh my God!

Let's face facts, here: If the psychopatholigizing of our cops continues apace, not one of us, regardless of race, creed or color, can subtract ourselves from the list of potential targets.

[AndreaCG]

1. It's not just cops

Not excusing them but Americans in general do not know how to deal with the mentally ill. I am bipolar and will not go on at length but physical ailments get far more understanding, sympathy, financial and medical help. Even when people mean well there is a huge gap in understanding. I wish I had more time when I dined with Obama to bring this up, but the one man at our dinner kept interrupting us women. I think the ACA will help the problem but not to nearly the degree needed.