Utah cops shoot boy with autism after mom calls 911 for help

Even white kids aren't safe from these pigs. Will we ever see police reform?

 

https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/

 

Have a feeling we won't get the "#SayHisName" protests on this one.

 

He deserves it...we're all in this together.

 

****ing b****es.

 

Hideous.

 

Officers made it home to their families that night. Another successful day on the job.

 

Why did the mom call the cops. The cops aren't there to help you.

 

I kinda agree. That's one of the parts to the defund movement, sending social workers instead of armed cops to mental health crises. I'm curious why cops thought he made threats to neighbors, though.

 

You know you can all ways protest if you choose.

But this needs to protested as well.

 

Who else was she supposed to call? She called for a "crisis intervention team", their purpose is to deescalate a non-life-threatening situation using minimal force. Instead, the kid freaked out and ran away from them (not surprising), so he was shot by (apparently) 1 of the 2 officers.

Says Neurodiverse Utah: “Police were called because help was needed but instead more harm was done when officers from the SLPD expected a 13-year-old experiencing a mental health episode to act calmer and [more] collected than adult trained officers.” They also heavily emphasize that calling the cops is a last resort only if serious violence is imminent.

This is also why the "defund the police" movement is important, to solve situations just like this without violence, since the police seem largely incapable.

 

cops really ain’t sh*t...I have zero respect for these incompetent, corrupt, lying idiots

they’ll let anyone be a cop these days

Shooting a 13 yo kid multiple times who was suffering an episode? What a joke.

I feel for the mom

if I had a kid with a mental disorder, there is absolutely no way in hell I would ever call the cops to deal with him...the slightest perceived threat, and they’ll bust out multiple shots

 

I wanted to agree and add to Buck’s response.

Speaking from experience - there are no options in our society. Our public health apparatus is abysmal and our mental health one is worse. There are no crisis teams to call out randomly with a special needs issue other than the cops. Also what if you want you child to go to a psychiatric hospital due to violence? You can’t drive them because of safety and even if you could they often can’t be admitted immediately against their will (usually would take a court order). So the option then is to call the cops and the cops drive to the hospital while you follow. Or sometimes they will call an ambulance but you have to have cops first to trigger a “crisis” and a 36-72 hour psych hold and evaluation.

This is also true in schools. Children in special ed are more at risk of having police contact and the group that is the highest risk among the SpecEd population are autistic children. Both in numbers and arrest rates.

The system constantly fails these kids. These cops either weren’t trained properly or didn’t care. Either way they should be terminated and the department re-evaluated for their procedures.

 

Did he have any sudden movements?
He was probably reaching for something.
He was resisting arrest.
He just needs to follow the law, follow commands.
Probably had a criminal history.
/bootlickers

 

Police claimed there were reports of him threatening people with a weapon.
No weapon found at the scene.
His mom wanted him taken to the hospital.
Officers were wearing body cams.
Independent investigation to be completed within 10 days

 

there are non emergency lines operated by the police for mental health issues. It happened in Montgomery county a few years ago. Parents called the non-emergency line for their autistic kid. An armed cop showed up instead and blew the kids brains out within 5 seconds of arriving.

Cops shouldn't be handling these things but the do, and they do it terribly.

 

Horrible story and I agree that this points to a major problem with LE responding to mental health incidents.

 

If he had a weapon and that is a possibility then a unfortunate split second decision must be made.

As a side note, I’m sure this won’t help his anxiety

 

By "weapon" do you mean gun. Otherwise, split second decisions do not need to be made for something that isn't a gun.