Police were called on someone acting suspicious, they found someone matching the description, so they stopped and tried to talk to him.
That is literally not, because the cops didn't start this call; they were responding to a 911 complaint. Unless you are saying that cops (or dispatchers) should simply ignore certain requests for service based on the color of a person's skin? because that sounds kind of racist....
Let be honest... in the last 10 years, how many times have you seen a person walking around with a ski mask on, in an urban area? assuming the answer is less than 10 times a year, it's a once-a-year event... doesn't that make it unusual and worthy of investigating why?
Sure it’s not illegal to be wearing a ski mask around town nor waving your hands around. But if I drive by and see someone doing that, I am going to think it is very odd. Someone decided to call 911 to have the police investigate.
newtoski.com
Nobody is disagreeing with this, especially the training aspects of it. But should a lack of training, as you put it, form the basis for criminal charges?
Two questions for tou
All of that is up to the oversight for the personnel involved whether that be managerial or judicial. I think that I shouldn't die because I'm neurodivergent and the police can't handle that. Our country's police uses force far too easily, in the video you can see he went hands on immediately when Elijah didn't respond... likely due to approaching him from the flank and Elijah having headphones in. So now our initial encounter is someone grabbing you and yelling at you while you have no idea what's happening. If you have panic attacks or anxiety issues, do you DEMAND that that person handle the situation calmly? Should clinically depressed people, "JUST BE HAPPY"? We know better as trained medical providers don't we? I do DEMAND that the public servants in this scenario be able to manage the situation and make good decisions in a way this individual was not capable of doing. Because it's not HIS responsibility to do so, it's OURS.
You’re not answering my question. You asserted early on that this was “walking while black”. In your opinion, what do you think should happen when someone calls 911 to report a suspicious person and then a person matching that description is located.
Point 1: Perhaps the officer could have simply observed Elijah instead of making direct contact. Perhaps they could have sent a social worker along or instead of an officer. Perhaps nobody should have been dispatched, as case law has set the precedent that police have no duty to respond. Perhaps many things should or should not have happened. I think that perhaps Elijah should not be dead.
Hindsight is great, but how would it be known to anyone involved in taking the call or responding to it that a social worker should have been sent? Keep in mind what you know now about this was *not* known to those involved in it until it was over.
Point 1, but incorporating your logic of point 2 - I will agree, in a vacuum, that observation prior to contact is a valid tactic. But what we aren’t privy to everything the investigators know, such as standard operating procedures, crime statistics in the area of the contact, and how officers are trained. What may seem reasonable as an approach can become an unreasonable approach once all factors are considered. In this case, officers chose to make contact to investigate the complaint that someone else made. They identified themselves and attempted to speak with Elijah prior to force being applied (contradictory to your earlier statements).
Well, we do send caseworkers with police to calls all over Colorado. Sometimes there's even a dedicated paramedic with them. Just because you haven't seen it doesn't mean it is not viable strategy that had potential to change the dynamic of how this all transpired. Aurora doesn't do that, but I bet they're thinking about it now. There's a lot to be said for bringing the right resources at the right time. This call would have gotten a behavioral health response in all the jurisdictions I work for. Maybe they wouldn't have been available but the point is that police are seeing benefit and patrol officers here would want their help.
I agree that I would have attempted to play the “good medic, bad cop” game to see if we could get him to comply. With that said, I can see how it played out - they show up, cops still pinning him down and said they’ve been fighting him for several minutes, corroborated by the on scene firefighters. He probably should have questioned this, but everything we know about group dynamics and social psychology explain why he didn’t.
Back in the day, PD used to dogpile on a violent/combative person, and once the cuffs went on, they would throw them in the back of a BLS ambulance for a ride to the ER for a mental health eval. Not saying it was the right way to do things, but it is what happened.