A 13-year-old Utah boy with autism was shot by police after his mom requested for assist getting him hospital mental-health therapy and officers agreed to speak with him, police footage launched Monday confirmed.
The videos present Salt Lake Metropolis officers chasing him down an alley after they arrive at his residence, then yelling at him to get on the bottom. The boy collapses after a collection of photographs ring out, moaning, “I don’t really feel good. I don’t really feel good.” He survived however suffered damaged bones and pierced organs, the household’s legal professional has mentioned.
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His mom, Golda Barton, had warned police that her son mentioned earlier that day, Sept. 4, that he had a gun and had threatened to shoot her male coworker and break home windows in the home, the video confirmed. However she instructed officers she thought it was a BB gun or pellet gun. There have been no indications he was armed.
She wished him to be hospitalized for assist together with his psychological well being points.
Officers mentioned they must proceed as if the boy did have entry to an actual gun, the movies present. Barton instructed officers the boy was “triggered” by seeing police.
“He sees the badge and he routinely thinks you’ll kill him or he has to defend himself indirectly,” she mentioned. “He freaks out.”
The video was made public underneath a Salt Lake Metropolis ordinance requiring the discharge of video from police shootings inside 10 enterprise days.
The taking pictures has raised new questions on how police cope with individuals with psychological well being points amid nationwide requires police reform. It got here hours earlier than new deescalation techniques have been as a result of take impact for Salt Lake Metropolis police, which can also be co-operating with an unbiased investigation of the taking pictures.
In a single video, two officers might be heard discussing whether or not or to not method the boy as a result of they have been involved that the incident would end in a taking pictures.
“Particularly when he hates cops, it’s in all probability gonna finish in a taking pictures,” one officer mentioned.
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As officers method the home, one says he can see motion within the yard. The officers begin to run after the boy — yelling at him to cease and get on the bottom. After they catch as much as the boy, they ask him to get on the bottom once more.
The boy ignores their instructions and continues strolling earlier than a collection of photographs ring out.
The movies don’t appear to point out the boy holding any weapon and police don’t point out any in a report additionally launched Monday.
Barton has mentioned she instructed dispatchers her son was having a breakdown and he or she wanted assist from a crisis-intervention officer.
On the 911 name recording, she mentioned she has known as the cops earlier than on her son and that he has beforehand run away from officers.
“My largest concern is that, I don’t know I simply don’t need him to die,” Barton mentioned. “However the occasions they’ve got here he has been gone like he’ll take off and go operating. That’s why I don’t need to go there?I simply don’t need to alarm him.”
She added: “That’s why we want a psychological well being employee,” she mentioned. “It’s tremendous essential.”
The Salt Lake Metropolis officers who arrived had some mental-health coaching however weren’t specialists in disaster intervention.
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Linden, who the household desires to be referred to solely by his first title, “was fortunate to be alive,” his legal professional Zach Weyher mentioned.
Two weeks later, he stays hospitalized.
“No matter occurred, it was a 13-year-old boy who was unarmed. The police have been known as for a mental-health name, not a felony act,” Weyher mentioned. “A baby is laying in a hospital mattress … there must be a greater response.”
The mayor of Salt Lake Metropolis, Erin Mendenhall, mentioned at a information convention Monday that as a mom of a 14-year-old boy she was profoundly upset by the taking pictures. She known as for a fast however thorough investigation about what occurred.
“I’m profoundly heartbroken and pissed off,” she mentioned. “It’s a tragedy for this younger boy, for his mom and for households and people who’ve acute psychological well being wants.”
© 2020 The Canadian Press
