We had a similar incident here where I live a year and a half ago, when a 19 yr old was trying to commit suicide. He had consumed an entire box of rat poison, and had grabbed a large knife from the kitchen and was injuring himself.
His parents called the police to get help to stop him from committing suicide. The boy had been completely normal up until he turned 18. He was an honor student, Eagle Scout, and talented and strong Rugby player. He was well liked, and had tons of friends. His father is a most successful business man, and they lived in one of the biggest and nicest homes in the city.
But something went horribly wrong chemically with his brain during his senior year in High School, and he quickly degenerated into being severely mentally ill. He was hospitalized a couple of times, and put on numerous anti-psychotic medications. But despite this, he went out of control again that night.
The police showed up, and immediately confronted him. When they saw the knife in his hand, they fired two shots from bean bag guns at him, with no effect. He continued to come forward at them with the knife, just like this other mentally ill fellow. As he neared, pepper spray was also used. But it also was unable to stop him.
Finally, the back up officer opened up with his M4 carbine, and 4 of his 6 shots hit the teenager, killing him almost instantly.
He died right in the driveway in front of his home, as his parents watched the event from a window.
It just seemed so wrong that if the police go out to stop a suicide, that their answer to stop the suicide was to riddle him with high velocity rifle bullets.
Over 500 people showed up for his funeral.
The teenager's parents are extremely devote Christians, and told the press that they accepted what happened as being "God's Will". So they decided not to sue the police department.
Since this incident, though, the police department has added Tasers to the options that officers now have at their disposal.
In fact, earlier this year a man in our area who beat his live in girlfriend, and was holding both her and her infant daughter hostage, was confronted by police when she called 911 to report the beating. The fellow raised a large functional Japanese sword at the officers, and threatened them. The abused woman and her child were right nearby, and in grave danger.
However, in this case, the officers tased him, and immediately took him into custody. So he is now in jail for domestic abuse, while the poor mentally ill teenager, who was so loved and had so many friends, is dead.
Unfortunately, there are no easy answers here. But I think the key is that officers deserve to have the best possible training and equipment for handling different types of scenarios. For without that, they are really going to be at a disadvantage in handling these difficult situations.
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