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Why Cop City Must Be Stopped:
When colonialism, race science, and eugenics
are embedded in our police systems

By KG 11-15-2023

Part 2: Cops Hate Disabled People

Daniel Prude from the chest up wearing a navy blue unzipped hoodie

Daniel Prude
Photo Credit: public domain

A smiling Jada Johnson wearing a black tank top with brown shoulder-length 3c curls. She is seated in a car with her left fingers touching her left jaw. There is a dark gray seat belt strap across her right shoulder and torso.

Jada Johnson
Photo Credit: family

A seated Anthony Lowe with his body facing his left, but his shoulders and head twisted frontward. He has short black hair and black beard and mustache and is wearing a white shirt with red writing on it. Behind his is a mostly gray stone wall.

Anthony Lowe
Photo Credit: Yatoya Toy

Many activists, journalists, family members, and regular citizens have reported on and written about what has happened to the many victims of police brutality. I have compiled their stories in hopes of illuminating the obvious pattern of mistreatment and abuse of power carried out by law enforcement in America.

On March 23, 2020, Daniel Prude, a 41-year-old Black man, was naked and having a mental health crisis in the snowy streets of Rochester New York. When officers arrived they tackled him to the ground, handcuffed him, and put a hood over his head. One officer had his knee on Prude’s back, another held down his legs, another pushed his head into the pavement and used the “hypoglossal nerve technique” which is when someone jams their fingers into the nerve below the jaw to cause pain and gain compliance. Bodycam footage shows Prude pinned to the ground, vomiting, and repeating “In Jesus Christ, I pray, Amen” for over two minutes before he stopped breathing (1, 2).
 

On July 1, 2022, Jada Johnson, a 22-year-old Black woman, was having a mental health crisis and threatening suicide. Her grandfather called the police for help and when they arrived they tackled her to the ground and fatally shot her 17 times in front of her daughter and grandparents (3). 

 

On January 26, 2023, Anthony Lowe, a 36-year-old Black double amputee who used a wheelchair to get around, was having a mental health crisis in Huntington Park, California. Police officers confronted Lowe, who was holding a knife, flipped him out of his wheelchair, and shouted commands at him. Lowe, who was on the ground attempted to run away but was unsuccessful because he had no fucking legs. He was tased and shot 11 times in the back, which killed him (4)

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On November 3, 2022, a Black autistic boy was attending a recreational tennis program for children run by Richmond Virginia police officers. His mother signed him up because she wanted him to feel comfortable around law enforcement. While at the event a police officer began shouting orders at the boy. Confused and distressed, the child, who was taught to walk away from overwhelming situations in order to self-regulate, walked away. Naturally, police officers interpreted his actions as not complying with their orders, so he was slammed to the ground, handcuffed, and restrained by 4 officers, resulting in a traumatic brain injury concussion, and PTSD (5)
 

On June 26, 2020, Karen Garner, a 73-year-old woman with dementia and sensory aphasia left a Colorado Walmart without paying for $14 dollars worth of merchandise. When the police arrived they broke her arm, dislocated her shoulder, mocked her, arrested her, and denied her medical attention. Surveillance video shows officers replaying their bodycam footage for other cops, celebrating, laughing, fist-bumping, and making fun of Garner (6).

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Surveillance video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iuuyg94-yI&t=2906s 

Statistics

Statistics

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Disabled and mentally ill people are subjected to a disproportionate amount of violence by law enforcement (9), and because of the ingrained racism in policing, Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous disabled people are killed more than any other group (1, 7). (Footnote 1, Footnote 2).

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Disabled people make up between 30%-50% of the people subjected to police violence and 50% of the people killed by law enforcement (7, 8, 9).

Between 20% and 25% of fatal encounters with police involve someone with a mental illness (1, 75) and 76% involve people who have had previous treatment for a mental health condition (1). 

A study released by the Treatment Advocacy Center reports that people with untreated mental illness are 16 times more likely to be killed by police (10).
 

People with mental illness are 10 times more likely to experience excessive use of force by Law enforcement (76).

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Policing creates a neverending cycle in the criminal justice system where people never receive the care they deserve (11).

 

Police are twice as likely to arrest someone with an obvious mental illness (11).

Over 50% of disabled Black people have been arrested by the time they are 28, which is twice as much as disabled white people (12).

There are 3 times more people with serious mental illness in prisons and jails than in hospitals and in every county in the country, there are more people in local jails than in the local treatment center (11).


In 2016, almost 2 out of 5 people incarcerated in federal and state prisons had at least one disability (13). 
Footnote 1: Databases that track incidents between disabled people and law enforcement don’t have data regarding the different types of disabilities or the intersectionality of race and disability (8).

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Footnote 2: In the 1980s, Kimberlé Crenshaw, a legal scholar and critical race theorist proposed the concept of Intersectionality as a framework for understanding oppression and accounting for the ways a person can be “multiply-burdened” by a variety of sources of oppression that are all interconnected (14).

Footnote 1 and 2
Cops Don't Recognize

Cops Don't Recognize or Understand Disability

 

Many disabled people fear interactions with law enforcement because police officers don’t recognize or understand disability, they don’t respect disabled people, and they are excessively violent (8, 15),.

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An officer’s default mindset is to assume anyone who looks, acts, thinks, and communicates differently than the average white person must be inebriated, dangerous, or a criminal. Police officers might see someone who has an atypical gate, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, or low blood sugar as being intoxicated.  People with anxiety or PTSD might appear suspicious and deaf and nonspeaking people might appear noncompliant. Disabled people are often targeted for their medical condition and not because they are committing a crime (11).

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In November 2014, Carl Leadholm, a 41-year-old man living in Commerce City, Colorado went into diabetic shock and blacked out while driving home from work causing him to drive erratically. The police were called and followed him until he stopped driving. They immediately pulled Leadholm out of his vehicle, threw him to the ground, pepper sprayed him repeatedly, struck his legs with a baton, and arrested him, wrongly assuming he was inebriated (72).

 

In 2015, Melvin Thurber, a diabetic man living in Cannon City Colorado, was arrested for a DUI when his insulin dropped. Despite, not being drunk and having adequate medical documentation about his condition, his license was taken away until he could afford to install a breathalyzer in his car that required him to blow into every time he wanted to drive for the next 2 years (73).

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In August 2022, a man with developmental disabilities was in the process of paying for items at a self-check-out register in an Albuquerque, New Mexico, Target. Officer Kenneth Skeens walked over to him and told him he was taking too long and had to leave. The man apologized and explained that he was having a little trouble. Instead of helping him, the officer threatened to issue a citation for criminal trespassing which would ban him from shopping at the store. The man, believing that the hostile man was a security guard and not actual law enforcement, called 911 to report the harassment he was experiencing. Officer Skeens dragged him out of the store and demanded to know his name. The man did not give his name because he was still on the phone with 911 trying to get help. The police officer arrested the man and charged him with resisting arrest and concealing his identity (74).

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Full police cam footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KENU8awIXhA 

Cops and Autistic Children
A close-up of Magdiel Sanchez’s neck and face. He is wearing a white collared button-up shirt and a dark-colored baseball hat with his brown hair showing. The background is green.

In September 2017, Magdiel Sanchez, a deaf 35-year-old man, got into a car accident and walked to a nearby porch. He was holding a metal pipe he used to scare away stray dogs in the neighborhood. When the police arrived they ordered him to drop the metal pipe, but Sanchez could not hear them. Instead, he walked toward the police, moving his hands to indicate he was deaf. Witnesses at the scene told the police Sanchez was deaf, but the Oklahoma Police Department tased and shot him. He was pronounced dead on the scene. (NPRmagd)

Magdiel Sanchez Photo Credit: family

Cops and Autistic Children

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Police officers prioritize compliance through shouting demands and threats and those who don’t immediately fall in line are labeled as “defiant", which justifies the use of force and arrest. (8,16). Following hostile police demands is especially difficult for autistic people, who often have sensory processing and communication differences. 

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In September 2020, a 13-year-old autistic child was anxious and dysregulated so his mother called 911 and requested a crisis intervention team, but instead, the Salt Lake City police arrived and shot the frightened child as he tried to run away. (17).


In April 2021, a California police officer confronted a 17-year-old autistic teen for getting into a fight with his friend. As the teen was seated on the ground in compliance with the officer's orders, the officer threw the teen's scooter and lunged at him, scaring him, so he tried to run away. The police officer threw the teen to the ground, got on top of him, and punched him in the face. This was all caught on a doorbell cam (18).

 

Doorbell Camera Footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gar6zs2lyfs  

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On April 18, 2022, a New York police officer in a Clifton Park Target body slammed and pinned a Black 14-year-old autistic boy to the ground while he was waiting for his 17-year-old sister to finish checking out. A target employee wanted him removed, so they called the police. The boy’s sister tried to intervene and explain that he was autistic, but they didn’t listen so she threw a soap dish at a deputy's face and was arrested on assault charges. (19,20)

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Witness Cell Phone Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8W77KAGiEg 

Eric Parsa grins, showing his front teeth, wearing a gray shirt against a gray background.

On January 19, 2020, Eric Parsa, a non-speaking autistic 16-year-old, was experiencing sensory overload in the parking lot of a laser tag center. Parsa was hitting himself and the staff called 911. Louisiana sheriffs arrived, wrestled him to the ground, and put him in a chokehold for 9 minutes, which killed him. Then the police filed an unconstitutional search warrant hoping to find a history of violence, so the murder of an autistic child seemed justified (21)

Police During MHC
Eric Parsa
Photo Credit: The Parsa family
Andre Gladen wearing black pants, a black and gray argyle sweatshirt, and a black and gray baseball hat. He is closed-mouth smiling with his hand crossed in front of his waist and he is leaning against a white car.
Porter Burks from the chest up wearing a white Detroit Lions t-shirt and a necklace. He is sitting in a brown chair, smiling and showing his front teeth.
Porter Burks
Photo Credit: Geoffrey N. Fieger
Brian Babb in army fatigues and dark sunglasses, with a gun strapped around his right shoulder pointing to the ground.
Captain Brian Babb
Photo Credit: Babb Family
Andre Gladen
Photo Credit: public domain
Police During Mental Health Crises
 

On January 6, 2019, Andre Gladen, a 36-year-old unarmed blind Black man with schizophrenia was visiting family in Portland when he began experiencing a mental health crisis. Barefoot and wearing only a hospital gown, Gladen ended up at a stranger's house, explained that someone was trying to kill him, and refused to leave. The person living in the house called 911 and a Portland Police Officer arrived, failed to de-escalate, and fatally shot him (22). 

 

On October 2, 2022, Porter Burks, a 20-year-old Black man with schizophrenia was having a mental health crisis. His brother called 911 so they could bring him to the hospital.  Detroit police officers and a Crisis Intervention Team arrived and when he immediately didn't drop the knife he was holding 5 officers shot him 38 times within 3 seconds, killing him instantly (23, 24).

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Police presence during mental health crises is unhelpful and dangerous because they lack adequate training, are unqualified to understand or speak to people in crisis, and are armed (25, 26). 

Police conflate distress with anger and agitation with aggression (27), so people in a mental health crisis are almost always seen as threatening or out of control, which exposes them to unnecessary force. Police officers approach someone struggling with mental illness the same way they approach a terrorist or someone with hostages.

Christopher Kalonji wearing a white t-shirt, and a green army-style jacket. He has a reddish-brown afro and is sitting in a blue camping chair, outside.
Christopher Kalonji
Photo Credit: Justice for Christopher Kalonji Facebook page

On March 30 2015, Brian Babb, a 49-year-old with a traumatic brain injury and PTSD from serving in Afghanistan, was feeling suicidal and had a gun so he called his therapist who then called 911. Twenty minutes later a militarized Eugene, Oregon police force showed up in several squad cars and an armored SWAT vehicle called the Bearcat,  Babb was fatally shot in the face as soon as he opened the door. The officers lied and said he was pointing a gun at them (28).

 

On January 28, 2016, Christopher Kalonji, a Black 19-year-old who was dealing with PTSD from a prior incident where he was profiled and beaten by police, was having a mental health crisis and called 911. The Clackamas County Sheriff’s Department showed up with hostage negotiators who forced Kalonji’s family to vacate the apartment, leaving a frightened Christopher to be left inside, alone, and surrounded by heavily armed officers. They spoke on the phone for an hour. He had stripped down to his underwear to prove he wasn’t armed and then the police fatally shot him (29, 30, 31).

Police and Homeless Peopl

Some mental health advocates believe police shouldn’t have any involvement in situations when an unarmed and nonthreatening person is having a mental health crisis (25). Retired lieutenant from the Redondo Beach Police Department, Diane Goldstein, doesn't believe police should have any involvement in responding to a mental health crisis unless lives are in danger (25).

Police and Homeless People

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Many disabled and mentally ill people are forced into homelessness as a direct result of institutional racism, ableism, and capitalism. Shelters are often filled, overcrowded, underfunded, and inaccessible, so living on the streets is the only option, which exponentially increases people's likelihood of interacting with hostile police departments. 

 

According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, between 2020 and 2022 the number of chronically homeless disabled people rose by 16%  (32). There are over 580,000 people in America who are homeless (33, 34); between 25% and 57% of them have some type of disability (35, 36, 37); and 25% have a mental illness (36, 38). 


Homeless people are disproportionately targeted, harassed, and arrested by law enforcement, but the arrests are rarely for serious crimes-mostly loitering and drinking in public, which they cannot help because they have no homes (39). Many cities and states have made it illegal for homeless people to engage in basic daily activities that sustain their lives, like sleeping, eating, sitting and lying down in public, and soliciting food or money (33).

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In 2017, half of the arrests made by the Portland Police Department were of homeless people, despite only making up 3% of the population (40). In the Spring of 2018, it was discovered that the Department was stopping, questioning, and running warrant checks, and searches without reasonable suspicion of probable cause. (40). 

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It is crucial to understand that experiencing homelessness directly causes post-traumatic stress and other health conditions in those with and without a history of mental illness. Living outdoors without money, food, safety, and stability, being the victim of or witnessing assault and crime, having to be constantly vigilant, and being criminalized and dehumanized causes and exacerbates mental illness (41).

Tyrell Wilson wearing a Black suit, a tan tie, and a ring on his right ring finger. He is holding his right hand up to his chin.
Tyrell Wilson
Photo Credit: John Burris
Robert Delgado standing in front of a white brick wall and a table with a 2 ft white Christmas tree, with decorations, lights, and a lit up star at the top. Robert is wearing a blue, gray, and white plaid button-down shirt and jeans, and his hands are clasped in front of him. He has a slight smile.
Robert Delgado
Photo Credit: Delgado Family

In March 2021, Tyrell Wilson, a 33-year-old Black homeless man with schizophrenia and bipolar who was living in California was experiencing a mental health crisis. When a Danville police officer arrived, a distressed Wilson, who was holding a knife, told the cop to kill him. Instead of de-escalating or using a slightly less lethal weapon like pepper spray or a taser, the officer shot Tyrell Wilson to death (44).

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On April 16, 2021, Robert Delgado, a 46-year-old homeless man who was having a mental health crisis was in a park aiming a BB gun at a fence. Someone called 911 and by the time officers from Portland Police Department’s Enhanced Crisis Intervention Team showed up Delgado was no longer holding the BB gun. Two officers stood behind trees, pointed their guns at him, and began shouting conflicting orders. Delgado started pacing, yelling "Get the fuck away from me" and "Just fucking shoot me". He walked over to his tent and both officers shot him and he bled to death within minutes. It took 7 minutes for medics to approach him. Then, with Robert Delgado’s body lying in the park, Portland police officers decided to order and eat pizza (43).

Crisis Intervention Teams

Crisis Intervention Teams 

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Some believe that police officers should have mandatory training on mental illness and have mental health professionals accompany them on calls where someone is in crisis (25) Crisis intervention teams (sometimes called “mental health units”) are teams made up of law enforcement and mental health and addictions specialists that are intended to decrease lethal outcomes in mental health-related police interactions and connect people to the services that they need (1, 44). But can law enforcement even be trained to better handle disabled and mentally ill people? Does partnering with mental health professionals help reduce police use of force? And can Police Crisis Intervention Teams really combat centuries of anti-Black police violence? 

 

No.

 

The most widely used CIT curriculum (the Memphis Model) requires 40 hours of instruction from community mental health workers, people with mental illness, advocates, and police officers who are already on crisis intervention teams. Dispatchers are trained to recognize when a call involves someone with a mental illness who is in crisis and a centralized mental health facility is available to admit any people brought by the police(45). 2,700 CIT programs have been running in America for over 3 decades, but the data shows they are inconsistent and ineffective at reducing arrests or use of force against people with mental illness (1, 46). Some peer-reviewed research shows CIT has no benefit on the use of force or injury reduction, but it does divert people from jails to mental health facilities (45). 

 

The National Institute of Justice conducted a meta-analysis of 5 different studies that claim CIT is ineffective when it comes to arrest rates and use of force (48). One study (49, 50) that looked at 586 police officers found that those who underwent CIT training were more knowledgeable about mental illness and treatments, had better attitudes, and made better de-escalation and referral decisions, but found CIT had no direct impact on the use of force except in cases where a person is resisting (47). They only really reduce police officers’ “self-perceived likelihood of using force in hypothetical mental health encounters” (1, 45).

 

Ex-police officer and director of Crisis Intervention Team International, Ron Bruno, said, in a 2020 NPR article, that the program is often misapplied and misconstrued by law enforcement, police departments treat training as a box that needs to be checked, and no substantial change is made (51).

 

Associate professor of criminal justice at Coppin State University, Johnny Rice, who is a proponent of CIT, told CNN that officers should also undergo cultural sensitivity training because Black and Brown people are more likely to have trauma related to inequity, inequality, and police violence (25). The CIT curriculum fails to address how race and racism impact law enforcement's excessive use of force, the complicit racism among mental health professionals, and structural racism as it pertains to accessing mental health services or being sent to the justice system (1).

 

Lauren Bonds, the legal director for the National Police Accountability Project, told CNN that programs where police are paired with mental health professionals have not shown any success because officers insist on being in control. She believes that crisis intervention teams be purely civilian (25)

a mirror selfie of Dylan Murphy, who is wearing a gray t-shirt with Mario (from Super Mario Brothers) on it. His head is slightly tilted to his left and both hands are holding a black cell phone in front of him.
Dylan Murphy Photo Credit: Murphy Family
Irvo Otieno smiles in tan pants and a blue short sleeve button-up top. He is standing on a raised area with a highway, water, and a cityscape behind him.
Irvo Otieno Photo Credit: Otieno Family

There was a Crisis Intervention Team present when Porter Burks was shot 38 times in October 2022 (24). A Crisis Intervention Team was present when 33-year-old Dylan Murphy, who was unarmed, was shot to death in Sandy, Utah on March 26, 2023 (54). When Raul de la Cruz, a 42-year-old man with schizophrenia, was having a mental health crisis his father called 311 to get him help, but instead the NYPD arrived and shot him. All 3 of the officers had crisis intervention training (53).

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On March 6, 2023, Irvo Otieno, a 28-year-old Black man was being transported to a psychiatric hospital by Henrico County Sheriff’s deputies. When Otieno arrived he was wearing handcuffs and leg restraints and not struggling at all. 7 deputies and several hospital security guards put him on the ground and smothered him to death. One officer had their knee on Otieno’s neck (54). All 7 deputies underwent 40 hours of CIT training and 12 hours of refresher courses (55).

Police Alternatives
Police Alternatives

Mental health crisis teams, that don’t involve law enforcement unless absolutely necessary, have proven to work, but most cities refuse to create or properly fund these types of alternatives. Also, the majority of non-police crisis response teams have been forced to carry out or assist with policing, which goes against the entire model and philosophy of police alternative services. 

One program that has proven to be successful at reducing police violence and fatality during mental health crises since 1989 is CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets) which operates in Eugene and Springfield, Oregon (1, 51). Its mobile crisis teams are made up of a nurse, paramedic, or EMT and a highly-trained crisis worker who uses trauma-informed de-escalation and harm-reduction techniques (56). They have handled mental health crises and threats of suicide; conflict resolution and de-escalation; overdoses and drug and alcohol-related incidents; welfare checks, referrals, and transportation to treatment and medical facilities; and they provide people with information and advocacy assistance on the services they can receive (56). They can be reached by calling a non-emergency police number or 911 (56) .

An estimated 20% of calls to the police involve someone having a mental health or substance use crisis (25, 51). In 2017, CAHOOTS answered 17% of Eugene Police Department’s calls (56). In 2019, CAHOOTS received around 24,000 calls, and police backup was only requested for 150 of those (56). The yearly budget for CAHOOTS is about $2.1 million a year. The combined budget for the Eugene and Springfield police departments is $90 million. It saves Eugene $8.5 million in public safety spending a year (56).

After George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police officers in 2020, more people, including lawmakers, started calling for police alternative programs, like CAHOOTS, to expand and receive substantially more funding (57). As part of the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 economic stimulus package Congress passed in March 2021, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services awarded $15 million in grants to 20 states to create or expand community-based mobile crisis intervention services (57)

The Star (Support Team Assisted Response) program was launched in Denver, Colorado, in 2020, to respond to situations involving mental health and/or homelessness. By March 2023, the mental health professionals who worked for the team were asked to police and conduct sweeps of homeless encampments (58). 

In November 2020, the mayor of San Francisco announced the creation of the Street Crisis Response Team. In March 2023, the city decided to remove the mental health professionals, including peer support workers, who were specially trained and hired to assist people having mental health crises from the mobile units and replace them with emergency medical technicians, citing a staffing shortage. Five people quit (59).

Portland Street Response is a mobile crisis team launched in 2021 to handle 911 calls relating to mental health and homelessness, between 8 am and 10 pm,  in one specific neighborhood (60). In April 2023, the Portland Fire Chief announced that Portland Street Response must assist in sweeps of homeless encampments, essentially asking them to work in conjunction with law enforcement to traumatize the people that they are supposed to help (61). Jenni Lovall, who worked for PSR quit because of it (61).

In June 2022, the L.A. County Department of Mental Health launched a hotline (988) for people having a mental health crisis to call and request a team of trained mental health workers. As of November 2023, the hotline system is unable to dispatch emergency teams, so the caller in crisis is transferred to another hotline where they are bounced all over that system. Waiting times take anywhere from a couple of hours to days (62).

The success of these kinds of programs is reliant on receiving actual resources and funding; having a medical and mental health system devoid of racism, sexism, ableism, inequity, discrimination, and constant barriers; and lastly, they cannot engage in policing the people they are trying to protect from the police (1, 25, 45). 
The Fucking Brutality

The Fucking Brutality

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Policing in America is rooted in genocide, racism, and ableism, which has resulted in the targeting, brutalization, and murder of anyone who is not straight, white, and able-bodied. They don’t just arrest and incarcerate people, they target, harrass, torture, lynch, and then laugh about it. Disabled and mentally ill people are not seen or treated as human, and 40 hours of training cannot fix this kind of brutality. 

James Chasse wearing a blue collared shirt and blue jacket seated and facing his right. He has long brown hair, a beard and a mustache and he is looking slightly upward. Behind him is an off-white wall with windows with sunlight coming through.
James Chasse
Photo Credit: Oregon Live
Ethan Saylor wearing a black long-sleeve t-shirt with a gray and white graphic of the Grim Reaper. In his left hand, he is holding 3 paperback books up to his left chest. His right arm is not in the frame. Behind Ethan is grass and some park equipment.
Ethan Saylor
Photo Credit: Saylor Family
Michelle Cusseaux wearing white shorts, a colorful buttoned shirt, and a tan fedora with a black band. She is standing at an angle with her left foot in front. She is smiling and holding her arms open.

On September 17, 2006, James Chasse, a 42-year-old musician and artist with schizophrenia who was living on the streets of Portland, was stopped by police for “doing something suspicious”. Chasse, who was unarmed, tried to walk away, but Portland police officer, Christopher Humphreys, tackled him to the ground and, along with Multnomah County sheriff's deputy Bret Burton and Portland police Sgt. Kyle Nice, began tasing, beating, and kicking the fuck out of Chasse, while he was pinned to the ground. His collarbone and 16 of his ribs were broken, his lung was punctured, and his spleen was torn. James Chasse had a total of 26 broken bones, and the police failed to tell the fire and ambulance personnel what they had done, so they cleared Chasse to be restrained and taken to jail instead of a hospital. Two nurses at the jail refused to admit him because he was so injured and by the time he got to the hospital he was dead. The medical examiner ruled his death "accidental" and the result of "blunt force trauma". The police covered up the fact that they beat him. Three years later with enough public outcry an investigation uncovered what really happened (63, 64).

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In January 2013, Ethan Saylor, a 26-year-old man with Down syndrome went to the movies. When it was over he decided he wanted to see it again. The manager called 3 off-duty deputies who were moonlighting as mall security, who threw him to the ground and restrained him. Ethan Saylor’s throat cartilage was fractured and he died of asphyxiation (65).

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In August 2014, Michelle Cusseaux, a Black woman with schizophrenia had a court order to be picked up and transported to treatment by Pheonix police officers. When they arrived Michelle wouldn’t let them in, so they busted down the door and fatally shot her in the chest at point-blank range (66, 67)

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On April 12, 2015, Baltimore police officers were patrolling a poor neighborhood when they encountered Freddy Gray, a 25-year-old developmentally disabled man, who allegedly ran when he saw them. The police officers chased him, beat him with batons, and restrained him face down on the ground. One police officer bent Gray’s legs backward and the other knelt with his knee on Gray’s neck. When they lifted him up to place him in the police van he was unable to walk or lift his head. After he was placed in the van the police drove several blocks and pulled over to put him in leg irons. The officers claim Gray was acting irate, but a witness took cell phone video which shows he was completely motionless. Police then made a 2nd stop at a grocery store, and a 3rd to pick up a 2nd person headed to jail before finally arriving at the police station where he was taken by paramedics to a trauma center. He was in a coma, and doctors discovered he had 3 fractured vertebrae, an injured voice box, and his spine was 80% severed from his neck, which caused him to die a week later, on April 19. (68, 69).

Michelle Cusseaux
Photo Credit: Cusseaux Family
Freddie Gray in a red t-shirt with a street, a sidewalk, and 2 brick houses behind him
Freddie Gray
Photo Credit: Family photo
A smiling Brianna Grier, showing her upper teeth, wearing a white tank top with a red tank top underneath. She has long dark wavy hair with the front pulled back.
Brianna Grier
Photo Credit: Brianna Grier’s Family

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In October 2021, LaDonna Paris, a 70-year-old woman with bipolar was having a manic episode and locked herself in the bathroom of a Habitat for Humanity store. The Tulsa Police Department kicked down the door and violently tackled her to the ground while taunting her with a Taser and saying “This is gonna be so fun” and “I love my job”. (70).
 

Bodycam Footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t16uCMhjPnE 

Referencs

In July 2022, Georgia police arrested Brianna Grier, a 28-year-old Black woman who was having a mental health crisis. Police failed to properly close the door and she fell out and died.(66)

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In December 2022 Hialeah, Florida police officers handcuffed and drove Ortega Guitierrez, a 50-year-old homeless man, six miles away to a dark and isolated location where they proceeded to beat him until he was unconscious. He woke up hours later alone and bleeding from his head. Surveillance footage of Guitierrez’  “arrest” showed he was not doing anything illegal (71).

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A 2016 report by the Ruderman Family Foundation found that the media coverage of police-related violence fails to report on disability and health conditions accurately (9). Many reports leave disability out completely while others use a medical condition or mental illness to blame the victim for their death or excuse the brutal murder altogether (8, 9). 

This is because our society does not understand, respect, or value disabled people.

 

Disability is framed through the eyes of a white supremacist government and scientific community that viewed anyone who deviated from the straight, white, non-disabled, Anglo-Saxon norm as defective and dangerous. 

 

Disabled and mentally ill people were often banished from their families and communities, locked away in overcrowded, dirty, run-down asylums and prison farms where they would be neglected, starved, tortured, denied medical care, and even experimented on. The scientific and medical communities saw disabled and mentally ill people as less-than-human which justified the most inhumane and barbaric treatments, like fever, seizure, and insulin coma therapy; electroshock and electroconvulsive therapy; lobotomies; seclusion and physical and chemical restraints; and behavior modification and aversive therapy. 

 

In the late 1800s, a scientific theory known as eugenics categorized people as either “fit” or “unfit” and in the 1900s, the US government and medical establishment decided to forcefully segregate and sterilize anyone seen as “unfit”. Doctors, judges, social workers, and cops worked hand-in-hand in criminalizing, institutionalizing, and sterilizing people. The failure to rectify or even address this only serves to reinforce an inequitable and ableist system.

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Interactions between law enforcement and people with disabilities or mental illness should be as minimal and infrequent as possible. They are incapable of treating the most marginalized in our communities with anything less than hostility and violence.

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References

 

  1. Sonya M. Shadravan, Matthew L. Edwards, and Sarah Y. Vinson “Dying at the Intersections: Police-Involved Killings of Black People With Mental Illness” June 10, 2021. Psychiatric Services. Volume 72. Issue 6. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.202000942 

  2. Killing of Daniel Prude. (2023, May 9). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Daniel_Prude 

  3. Charles Duncann “Woman having 'mental health crisis' killed by Fayetteville police, new lawsuit says” APR. 07, 2023. Spectrum News.  https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/charlotte/news/2023/04/07/woman-having--mental-health-crisis--killed-by-fayetteville-police--new-lawsuit-says

  4. Alicia Victoria Lozano “Police killing of double amputee in wheelchair sparks outcry and demand for answers” Feb. 1, 2023 NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/police-killing-double-amputee-wheelchair-sparks-outcry-demand-answers-rcna68705 

  5. Zack Linly “Cops Handcuffed Black Boy With Autism During Tennis Program Run By Police, Mom Claims” January 3, 2023. NewsOne.https://newsone.com/4475695/cops-handcuffed-autistic-black-boy-during-tennis-program-run-by-police-mom-claims/ 

  6. KGarner C.J. Ciaramella “Tulsa Police Officers Taunt Elderly Woman With Bipolar Disorder Before Violently Arresting Her” April 1, 2022. Reason.https://reason.com/2022/04/01/tulsa-police-officers-taunt-elderly-woman-with-bipolar-disorder-before-violently-arresting-her/

  7. Disability Rights Ohio “Policing and Racial Injustice: A Disability Rights PerspectiveImpacts and Solutions” Ohio Disability Rights Law and Policy Center, Inc.  https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/Racism/RES_43_1/NGOsAndOthers/disability-rights-ohio.pdf 

  8. Vilissa Thompson “Understanding the Policing of Black, Disabled Bodies” February 10, 2021. Center for America Progress. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/understanding-policing-black-disabled-bodies/ 

  9. The Ruderman White Paper. “Media Missing the Story: Half of All Recent High Profile Police-Related Killings Are People with Disabilities” March 8, 2016. The Ruderman Family Foundation.https://rudermanfoundation.org/media-missing-the-story-half-of-all-recent-high-profile-police-related-killings-are-people-with-disabilities/ 

  10.  “People with Untreated Mental Illness 16 Times More Likely to Be Killed By Law Enforcement” Treatment Advocacy Center.https://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/key-issues/criminalization-of-mental-illness/2976-people-with-untreated-mental-illness-16-times-more-likely-to-be-killed-by-law-enforcement- 

  11. Transforming the System “Eliminating the criminalization of disabilities” The Opportunity Agenda. Retrieved May 9, 2023https://transformingthesystem.org/criminal-justice-policy-solutions/eliminating-the-criminalization-of-public-health-issues/eliminating-the-criminalization-of-disabilities/ 

  12. Erin J. McCauley, 2017: The Cumulative Probability of Arrest by Age 28 Years in the United States by Disability Status, Race/Ethnicity, and Gender. American Journal of Public Health 107, 1977_1981, https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2017.304095 

  13. Kiara Alfonseca “Crime against disabled people is rising and advocates say more needs to be done” November 21, 2021. ABC News.https://abcnews.go.com/US/crime-disabled-people-rising-advocates/story?id=81210410 

  14. Crenshaw, Kimberle () "Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics," University of Chicago Legal Forum: Vol. 1989: Iss. 1, Article 8. Available at: http://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/uclf/vol1989/iss1/8  

  15. David M. Perry and Lawrence Carter-Long “How Misunderstanding Disability Leads to Police Violence” MAY 6, 2014. The Atlantic.https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/05/misunderstanding-disability-leads-to-police-violence/361786/ 

  16. Lily Robin and Evelyn F. McCoy “Policing Is Killing Black Disabled People. Centering Intersectionality Is Critical to Reducing Harm” November 15, 2021. Urban Institute.https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/policing-killing-black-disabled-people-centering-intersectionality-critical-reducing-harm 

  17. Rachel Treisman “13-Year-Old Boy With Autism Disorder Shot By Salt Lake City Police” September 9, 2020. NPR.https://www.npr.org/2020/09/09/910975499/autistic-13-year-old-boy-shot-by-salt-lake-city-police 

  18. Minyvonne Burke “Father says son with autism was slammed to ground, punched by officer” April 23, 2021. NBC Newshttps://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/father-says-son-autism-was-slammed-ground-punched-officer-n1265142 

  19. Geoff Herbert “Cop tackles autistic teen at Target store in Upstate NY; mom claims racial profiling” Apr. 20, 2022. Syracuse.comhttps://www.syracuse.com/state/2022/04/cop-tackles-autistic-teen-at-target-store-in-upstate-ny-mom-claims-racial-profiling.html 

  20. Jovonne Ledet “Cops Tackle Black Autistic Boy In Target: Video” April 25, 2022. Black Information Network.https://www.binnews.com/content/2022-04-25-cops-tackle-black-autistic-boy-in-target-video/ 

  21.  Emma Camp “Police Killed an Autistic Teenager. Then They Filed Search Warrants Looking for Past Bad Behavior” November 14, 2022 https://reason.com/2022/11/14/police-killed-an-autistic-teenager-then-they-filed-search-warrants-looking-for-past-bad-behavior/ 

  22. Alex Zielinski “What New Grand Jury Transcripts Reveal About Andre Gladen's Death” May 9, 2019. Portland Mercury.https://www.portlandmercury.com/news/2019/05/09/26454677/what-new-grand-jury-transcripts-reveal-about-andre-gladens-death

  23. Michelle Watson and Christina Maxouris “Family of a 20-year-old shot by police 19 times during a mental health crisis is suing the city and five unidentified officers” November 1, 2022. CNN.https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/01/us/porter-burks-black-man-fatally-shot-detroit-police-family-lawsuit/index.html 

  24. Andrea May Sahouri and Christina Hall “After Detroit man killed during mental health crisis, questions of police training abound” October 12, 2022. Detroit Free Press.https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2022/10/12/does-police-crisis-intervention-work/69542987007/ 

  25. Nicquel Terry Ellis “After the death of another mentally ill person in police custody, experts call for widespread training and health resources” August 11, 2022. CNN.https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/11/us/brianna-grier-mental-illness-police-response-reaj/index.html 

  26. "Media Missing the Story: Half of All Recent High Profile Police-Related Killings Are People with Disabilities” March 8, 2016.The Ruderman Family Foundation. https://rudermanfoundation.org/media-missing-the-story-half-of-all-recent-high-profile-police-related-killings-are-people-with-disabilities/

  27. Psychiatry Confronts Its Racist Past, And Tries To Make Amends By Addrew Shawn On May 1, 2021https://vervetimes.com/psychiatry-confronts-its-racist-past-and-tries-to-make-amends/

  28. TaylosPerse“How Police Respone To a Suicidal Veteran Cost the Eugene Man his Life and Altered His Family Forever” September, 3, 2020. Eugene Weekly.https://eugeneweekly.com/2020/09/03/failed-by-the-system/#:~:text=On%20a%20clear%20spring%20evening,serving%20in%20Afghanistan%20in%202006.

  29. Raymond Rendleman “Grand jury: Deputies justified in shooting Christopher Kalonji” Mar 7, 2016 Updated Nov 22, 2022 CLackamas Reviewhttps://www.clackamasreview.com/news/grand-jury-deputies-justified-in-shooting-christopher-kalonji-19/article_f6e44814-077f-5f85-bac1-776b9cd97c25.html 

  30. Everton Bailey Jr. “Police shooting of Oak Grove teen ruled justified, joins growing list of cases deemed 'suicide by cop'” March 04, 2016. Oregon Live.https://www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/2016/03/police_shooting_of_oak_grove_t.html 

  31. Pacific Northwest Family Corcle. Christopher Kalonji.https://www.pnwfamilycircle.org/christopher-kalonji/

  32. Linda Richmond “M.D.s Call for Community Resources Amid Plans to Force Homeless Into Care” January 26, 2023. Psychiatry Online. Physciatric News.https://psychnews.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.pn.2023.02.2.36 

  33. “Police Violence, Homelessness, and Black Lives” October 1, 2020. National Alliance to End Homelessness.https://endhomelessness.org/blog/police-violence-homelessness-and-black-lives/ 

  34. Margot Kushel “Violence Against People Who Are Homeless: The Hidden Epidemic” July 14, 2022. UCSF University of California San Fransisco Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative.https://homelessness.ucsf.edu/blog/violence-against-people-homeless-hidden-epidemic 

  35. Erin Vinoski Thomas, MPH, CHES, Health and Disability Fellow, NACCHO; and Chloe Vercruysse, MBA “Homelessness Among Individuals with Disabilities: Influential Factors and Scalable Solutions” Jun 14, 2019. the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO). https://www.naccho.org/about/our-mission 

  36. “Homelessness Statistics” Homelessness Toolkit: City of Portland. About 2013-2015. Retrieved June 14, 2023.https://www.portlandoregon.gov/toolkit/article/562207 

  37. Gary Warth “County’s homeless: Disabled, 55 and older and Black” Sept. 15, 2020. San Diego Tribune. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/homelessness/story/2020-09-15/countys-homeless-disabled-55-and-older-and-black

  38. Statistics on Homelessness. MentalHealthPolicy.Org https://mentalillnesspolicy.org/consequences/homeless-mentally-ill.html

  39. Melissa Lewis “Police Know Arrests Won’t Fix Homelessness. They Keep Making Them Anyway” June 23, 2022. Reveal News.https://revealnews.org/article/homeless-unhoused-police-arrests-west-coast-cities/ 

  40. “Mayor Wheeler and Chief Outlaw: Stop the Police Harassment of Homeless People” June 28, 2018. ACLU Oregon.https://www.aclu-or.org/en/news/mayor-wheeler-chief-outlaw-stop-police-harassment-homeless-people

  41. “Addressing Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Caused by Homelessness” National Alliance to End Homelessness. Retrieved June 15, 2023.https://housingmatterssc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/PTSD-and-Homelessness.pdf

  42. "Jury finds fatal Danville officer shooting of Tyrell Wilson was a homicide” July 22, 2022. CBS Bay Area. https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/jury-finds-fatal-danville-officer-shooting-tyrell-wilson-homicide/ 

  43. Emma Camp “Lawsuit Claims Portland Police Shot Unarmed Homeless Man, Then Ate Pizza While His Body Lay on the Ground” April 12, 2023. Reason.https://reason.com/2023/04/12/lawsuit-claims-portland-police-shot-unarmed-homeless-man-then-ate-pizza-while-his-body-lied-on-the-ground/ 

  44. “CIT is More Than Just Training...it's a community program” CIT International. Retrieved June 15, 2023. https://www.citinternational.org/What-is-CIT 

  45. Michael S. Rogers, Dale E. McNiel and Renée L. Binder “Effectiveness of Police Crisis Intervention Training Programs” Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online September 2019, JAAPL.003863-19; DOI: https://doi.org/10.29158/JAAPL.003863-19 

  46. Michael S. Rogers, Dale E. McNiel and Renée L. Binder “Effectiveness of Police Crisis Intervention Training Programs” Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online September 2019, JAAPL.003863-19; DOI: https://doi.org/10.29158/JAAPL.003863-19 

  47. Amy C. Watson, Michael T. Compton “What Research on Crisis Intervention Teams Tells Us and What We Need To Ask” Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online Nov 2019, JAAPL.003894-19; DOI: 10.29158/JAAPL.003894-19 https://jaapl.org/content/early/2019/11/01/JAAPL.003894-19 

  48.  CrimeSolutions.gov: Practice profile: crisis intervention teams (CITs). Available at: https://crimesolutions.gov/practicedetails.aspx?id=81. Accessed September 13, 2019Google Scholar

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  50. Compton MT, Bakeman R, Broussard B, Hankerson-Dyson D, Husbands L, Krishan S, Stewart-Hutto T, D'Orio BM, Oliva JR, Thompson NJ, Watson AC. The police-based crisis intervention team (CIT) model: II. Effects on level of force and resolution, referral, and arrest. Psychiatr Serv. 2014 Apr 1;65(4):523-9.  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24382643/ 

  51. Eric Westervelt “Mental Health And Police Violence:How Crisis Intervention Teams Are Failing” September 18, 2020. NPR. All Things Considered.https://www.npr.org/2020/09/18/913229469/mental-health-and-police-violence-how-crisis-intervention-teams-are-failing#:~:text=A%20study%20last%20year%20in,of%20the%20criminal%20justice%20system. 

  52. Emily Tencer , Jeff Tavss “Family of man shot, killed by police officer in Sandy react to sudden loss” Mar 26, 2023.Fox 13 Salt Lake City.https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/suspect-killed-in-officer-involved-shooting-in-sandy 

  53. Bahar Ostadan “NYPD officers shot man in Bronx after his father called 311 for help with mental health crisis” Mar 27, 2023. The Gothamist.https://gothamist.com/news/nypd-officers-shot-man-in-bronx-after-his-father-called-311-for-help-with-mental-health-crisis 

  54. “Video Shows US Cops Restraining Black Man Who Died At Mental Hospital” March 22, 2023. NDTV.comhttps://www.ndtv.com/world-news/video-shows-us-cops-restraining-black-man-who-died-at-mental-hospital-3881970 

  55. Olivia Jaquith “Crisis intervention training for deputies accused in Irvo Otieno’s murder: What is it? Was it followed?” April 4, 2023. ABC * News.https://www.wric.com/news/local-news/irvo-otieno/crisis-intervention-training-for-deputies-accused-in-irvo-otienos-murder-what-is-it-was-it-followed/ 

  56. CAHOOTS. White Bird Clinic. https://whitebirdclinic.org/what-is-cahoots/   

  57. Adam Duvernay “Oregon awarded nearly $1 million federal grant to begin CAHOOTS-like programs” September 20, 2021. The Register-Guard.https://www.registerguard.com/story/news/2021/09/20/oregon-awarded-federal-grant-begin-cahoots-programs-mobile-crisis-intervention-services/5786051001/ 

  58. Robert Davis “Denver’s STAR community says program has been ‘misused’ and is demanding change” March 24, 2023. Denver Voice.https://www.denvervoice.org/archive/2023/3/24/denvers-star-community-say-program-has-been-misused-and-is-demanding-change 

  59. Eleni Balakrishnan “SF homeless response program stalled for lack of funds” April 6, 2023. Mission Local.https://missionlocal.org/2023/04/unfunded-homeless-response-team-isnt-giving-up/ 

  60. Demi Lawrence “Portland's unarmed crisis response team looks to go 24/7” KGW. https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/homeless/portland-street-response-24-7-pbj-expand/283-d7dffa41-f8af-4b9c-944d-c210f98aefa7 

  61. Nicole Hayden “Portland Street Response staffer resigns amid sweeps directive” Apr. 22, 2023.  | The Oregonian/OregonLive.  https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2023/04/portland-street-response-staffer-resigns-amid-sweeps-directive.html 

  62. Lila Seidman “L.A. promised mental health crisis response without cops. Why isn’t it happening?” April 13, 2023. LA Times. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-04-13/988-hotline-mental-health-crisis-system-police   

  63. Berth Slovic “Sept. 17, 2006: Police beat James Chasse to death…” November 04, 2014. Willamette Week.https://www.wweek.com/portland/article-23444-sept-17-2006-police-beat-james-chasse-to-death.html  

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  65. David M. Perry “Justice for Down syndrome man who died in movie theater” August 29, 2013. CNN.https://www.cnn.com/2013/08/29/opinion/perry-down-syndrome-death/index.html 

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  67. Miriam Wasser “Phoenix Cop Who Killed Michelle Cusseaux Violated Department Policy, PPD Board Rules” September 18, 2023. Phoenix New Times.https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/phoenix-cop-who-killed-michelle-cusseaux-violated-department-policy-ppd-board-rules-7670775 

  68. Killing of Freddie Gray. (2023, May 9). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Freddie_Gray 

  69. Lauren Appelbaum “Freddie Gray: Nearly Half of People Killed by Police are People with Disabilities” May 23, 2016. Respectability.org https://www.respectability.org/2016/05/freddie-gray-nearly-half-of-people-killed-by-police-are-people-with-disabilities/ 

  70.  C.J. Ciaramella “Tulsa Police Officers Taunt Elderly Woman With Bipolar Disorder Before Violently Arresting Her” April 1, 2022. Reason.https://reason.com/2022/04/01/tulsa-police-officers-taunt-elderly-woman-with-bipolar-disorder-before-violently-arresting-her/  

  71. “2 Florida police officers charged with kidnapping, beating handcuffed homeless man” January 28, 2023. ABC News.https://abc11.com/police-brutality-florida-homeless-man-attack/12745703/ 

  72. Brian Maass “$825,000 Settlement After Police Beat, Tase, Pepper Spray Diabetic Man” October 29, 2018. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/825000-settlement-police-beat-tase-pepper-spray-diabetic-man/  

  73. “Police admit ‘potential error’ in DUI arrest of diabetic man” Jun 04, 2019 KOAA Newshttps://www.koaa.com/news/news5-investigates/2019/06/04/police-admit-potential-error-in-dui-arrest-of-diabetic-man/

  74. Curtis Segarra, Natalie Wadas “Video: Albuquerque Police officer charged for disabled man’s arrest” July 17, 2023. KRQE News.https://www.krqe.com/news/crime/video-albuquerque-police-officer-charged-for-disabled-mans-arrest/ 

  75. Matt Drange “They called 911 for assistance. Then police used lethal force” Nov 22, 2022. Insider.https://www.insider.com/police-deaths-transgender-people-officer-killings-mental-health-crisis-2022-11

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