*According to the Washington Post’s police shooting database, one in four victims of a police shooting have signs of a mental illness. As per the Post’s ongoing count for the year 2018 so far, police-involved shootings have killed 57 people suffering from mental illnesses, of which 31 (54%) were white and 11 (19%) were black.
Recently, the killing of Saheed Vassell in Brooklyn has left many in the neighborhood worried about gentrification at the hands of the authorities. Vessell is known to have been pointing an object at the approaching officers, which they mistook for a gun. The object later turned out to be a metal pipe with a knob on it.
Five police officers were responding to 911 calls regarding a man pointing a gun at people and shot 10 bullets at him. He was pronounced dead once he was moved to the Kings County Medical Center.
The issue grew complicated once it was found that The Police Department had encountered the individual before and classified him as emotionally unstable. This drew a tense and charged crowd to the streets of Crown Heights, as they raised questions about whether the officers who were involved in the shooting were aware of his condition.
A few days prior to the shooting, a verdict given by the Supreme Court had proved to be equally disheartening. To the shock of many civil rights advocates who had been pushing for reforms that addressed loopholes regarding police accountability, the Court’s decision acted in favor of the Law Enforcement Agencies and effectively relinquished them of their responsibility. All of this just gives them the wherewithal to continue acting first and thinking later.
It is no surprise then that it remains an intrinsic part of the black experience in this country to have a distrust and fear of encounters with the police, and unfortunately for tragically valid reasons. Without taking away the blame from trigger-happy officers, there is also a responsibility that white 911 callers ought to take for reporting on people they regard as suspicious simply on the basis of the color of their skin.
When law enforcement regards an individual’s psyche or physical traits as compounding risk factors and acts on them, it is then the moral obligation of institutions of justice to come to the defense of those who are vulnerable.
We Publish News 24/7. Don’t Miss A Story. Click HERE to SUBSCRIBE to Our Newsletter Now!
