mental illness and police

A Texas grand jury has decided against criminally charging a cop who killed Damian Daniels, a Black military veteran in mental distress, despite the availability of other, non-lethal methods that could have de-escalated what became a fatal encounter.

Walter Wallace Jr., who was said to have suffered from mental illness, was killed on a Philadelphia street as his mother begged police not to shoot him.

Police frequently encounter people with psychiatric disabilities when someone calls 911 about a person acting unusually in public. If police perceive that person as potentially violent, the situation can quickly escalate.

Damian Daniels was a military veteran who was shot twice in the chest in front of his newly purchased home in Bexar County, Texas, after cops were dispatched there to perform a wellness check.

A New York cop shot and killed a 66-year-old Black woman wielding a bat in the Bronx on Tuesday evening. Police say they will investigate why the officer used lethal force instead of his Taser.

Nine Chatham County sheriff’s deputies have been fired in the wake of the death of a 21-year-old mentally ill man in Savannah, Georgia, according to CNN. The firings follow an investigation into the death of Matthew Ajibade, who died in an isolation cell on New Year’s Day, said Gena Bilbo, the Chatham County Sheriff’s spokeswoman. […]

A Dallas grand jury last week cleared two officers in the death of a 39-year-old schizophrenic man whose mother had called for assistance escorting him to the hospital for treatment, CNN reports. Dallas officers John Rogers and Andrew Hutchins will not face criminal prosecution in the death of Jason Harrison, who was shot in June, said […]