Mental crisis leads to shooting, again
Philly is latest scene of such a death by police
The fatal police shooting of Walter Wallace Jr., 27, in Philadelphia this week is raising questions about what the officers involved were told before arriving at Wallace’s home and whether police officers should respond to mental health crises. Wallace, an aspiring rapper and father of nine, had a mental illness and had been taking lithium, a mood stabilizer, said Shaka Johnson, an attorney representing Wallace’s family, on Tuesday. His brother had called 911 on Monday to request medical assistance and ambulance, Johnson said. Police officers responded twice to the Wallace residence Monday before returning a third time to a report of a person with a weapon, police said. Two officers – who did not have Tasers – each fired at least seven rounds at Wallace after yelling at him to drop a knife, according to police. Wallace was hit in the shoulder and chest. One of the officers put him in a police vehicle and drove him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later. His death is the most recent incident of police fatally shooting someone with a mental illness. Daniel Prude was experiencing a mental health crisis in March when Rochester, New York, police officers responding to a 911 call pinned him to the
pavement while he was handcuffed and naked; he died of asphyxiation. In April, Nicolas Chavez, 27, was “having a mental breakdown” in Houston when he was shot 21 times. Twenty-eight officers responded to the scene. And last month, 13-year-old Linden Cameron, who has autism, was having an episode when officers shot him, leaving him with injuries to his shoulder, ankles, intestines and bladder.
“When you come to a scene where somebody is in a mental crisis, and the only tool you have to deal with it is a gun ... where are the proper tools for the job?” said Johnson, Wallace’s family attorney.
Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said Tuesday that the two officers had not been given Tasers, “as is with many officers in the department.” The department has about 2,300 Tasers but would need 4,400 for every operational officer to have one, Outlaw said Wednesday. “It’s common for officers to respond to domestic disturbance, or any type of call, with a gun because it’s one of the tools that we carry on our toolbelt,” she said.
The shooting has sparked peaceful protests and two nights of looting in Philadelphia. More than 1,000 people have looted businesses, dozens of officers have been injured and more than 170 people have been arrested, police said. On Wednesday, police reportedly found explosives inside a van.
Mayor Jim Kenney issued a curfew Wednesday night and called in the Pennsylvania National Guard to help protect property and assist the police.
The Philadelphia Police Department was investigating the shooting and could not confirm that the initial call was a mental health call, Outlaw said. “We’re still backtracking to find out what the officers knew and what was dispatched to the officers,” she said.
The city of Philadelphia declined a USA TODAY request to confirm that the family had called for an ambulance, citing the ongoing investigation. Outlaw said Wednesday that she plans to release 911 tapes and police body camera footage of the shooting once the department shares it with Wallace’s family.
Nearly 15% of men and 30% of women booked into jails have a serious mental health condition, the National Alliance on Mental Illness estimates. And more than 1 in 4 people shot and killed
“When you come to a scene where somebody is in a mental crisis, and the only tool you have to deal with it is a gun ... where are the proper tools for the job?” Shaka Johnson Wallace family attorney
by police have a mental illness, according to a Washington Post database of fatal shootings by on-duty police officers.
Police have fatally shot more than 1,300 people with mental illnesses since 2015, according to the database. The majority were white, but a disproportionate percentage were Black. Of the more than 800 people shot and killed by police this year, 155 had a mental illness, and, of those, 17% were Black.
In police training academies, officers may receive anywhere between four and 12 hours of training in mental health, and it varies by state, according to Peter Scharf, a criminologist at the Louisiana State University School of Public Health and Justice. New recruits spend about 58 hours in firearms training and eight hours in crisis intervention training, according to a 2015 survey by the Police Executive Research Forum, an independent research organization that focuses on law enforcement.
“A lot of people are asking – how can we train police to do a better job? But that’s the wrong paradigm. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to send a police officer,” said Charlie Ransford, senior director of science and policy at Cure Violence, a Chicago-based nonprofit that treats violence with disease control and behavioral change methods. “We can’t just put in an eight-hour training and expect them to be up to speed with things people get degrees in.”
Some departments, such as in Los Angeles and San Antonio, have partnered with mental health professionals to work as “co-responders,” assisting street cops responding to a mental health crisis. Other cities rely on response models that do not involve police. In Eugene, Oregon, teams consisting of a medic and a crisis worker respond to calls of mental health crises.
Philadelphia’s department recently began a pilot program that has a behavioral health specialist in the radio room during limited daytime hours, Outlaw said Tuesday. The specialist was not working when Wallace’s call came through, she said.