Police promising better response in wake of killing
PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia police pledged to release 911 tapes and police body camera footage “in the near future” in the shooting death of a Black man with a history of mental health problems, a death that prompted protests, widespread vandalism and an overnight curfew days before election day.
Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw pledged to release the video evidence once the department shares it with the family of Walter Wallace Jr. Outlaw, who came to Philadelphia less than a year ago from Portland, Ore., lamented at a news conference Wednesday that her department lacks a mental health unit or consistent way to coordinate police calls with specialists.
“We don’t have a behavioral health unit, which is sorely needed,” Outlaw said when asked about reports that police had been called to the home twice before that day. “There’s clearly a disconnect on our end in terms of knowing what’s out there” at the scene.
Police say they fatally shot Wallace on Monday after he ignored orders to drop a knife, a death that intensified already heightened tensions in the presidential battleground state. Wallace’s mother said she warned police Monday afternoon that her son was in the throes of a mental health crisis.
In the days since, more than 90 people have been arrested and about 50 police officers injured in clashes with protesters and vandals, including the 1,000 or so who suddenly swarmed a shopping center Tuesday night, breaking windows and stealing merchandise. That scene erupted on the other side of the city, miles from Wallace’ neighborhood, where protests were under way.
“We had zero information to warn us of this,” Deputy Commissioner
Melvin Singleton said. “By that time … the damage was done.”
City officials announced Wednesday they would enact a curfew in the city from 9 p. m. until 6 a. m., as business owners cleaned up damage from the melee and boarded up windows.
Mayor Jim Kenney told reporters the Pennsylvania National Guard would also be deployed to help protect property and assist the police. The first troops were expected Friday and Saturday.
The unrest started Monday evening, shortly after Wallace, 27, was killed, and set off protests elsewhere, including in Washington, D. C., the Brooklyn borough of New York City and Portland, where demonstrators held their hands in the shape of a “W“in his honor.
His family’s lawyer said the family had called for an ambulance to get him help with a mental health crisis.
Wallace’s wife, Dominique, is pregnant and was scheduled to be induced Wednesday, according to the family’s attorney, Shaka Johnson. Johnson said Wallace had nine children.
“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?” Johnson said, arguing that Philadelphia police officers are not properly trained to handle mental health crises.