The ability for police departments to deal with people suffering from mental illness is basically zero.
In 2019, the local PD executed a mentally disabled man in our neighborhood. Three cops could not deal with one 125 pound man weilding a shovel, FFS. So he was shot by one of them.
I mean, this is FROM the PD statement -
“As the officers entered the backyard area to determine the location of the man, he quickly emerged from an outbuilding, holding a shovel. The officers gave the man verbal commands to drop the shovel. One of the officers drew his Taser at that point. The man did not cooperate with the officers’ commands and began to rapidly advance on the officers as he swung the shovel. One officer fired the Taser, which did not have any effect on him. The man continued to advance, prompting the other officer to fire his service weapon.”
The family didn’t know what to do when he was acting erratically and called the police to the home hoping they would assist with the situation. What happened in the end is horrifying.
I saw the guy every single day from the window in my office as he would walk through the neighborhood keeping to himself. His extended family down the street was taking care of him because he had nowhere to go. The whole this was just fucking sad…
