Boy, as yet unidentified, is third child killed by San Bernardino law enforcement in less than two years and second in under a month
Southern California sheriff’s deputies shot and killed a 17-year-old boy with mental health issues after he armed himself with a knife and locked himself inside a bathroom at a home, authorities said on Wednesday.
The teen was being transferred from a hospital, where he had been treated after cutting himself, to a mental health facility when he escaped on Tuesday, the San Bernardino county sheriff, Shannon Dicus, said.
The boy, a foster youth who lived in Hesperia, later showed up at a home in Victorville, about 90 miles (145km) east of Los Angeles, where his sisters live in foster care, Dicus said. Someone at the home called deputies to come arrest him, Dicus added, because he had caused trouble there before.
The teen, who had a knife, locked himself in a bathroom, and deputies tried to get him to come out for about a half-hour, according to the sheriff. But when the boy threatened to harm himself, deputies kicked down the door and tried to apprehend him, Dicus said.
Foster kid having a mental health crisis attempts suicide. When authorities attempt to forcibly admit him to a mental health facility, he runs away, seeking refuge with his only family. Police come, and he doesn’t want to go. Not back to the place he felt most desperately alone, not to the padded cell, he wants to be with his sister. They corner him in the bathroom. He tries to get them to leave him alone, using the only means he has available to him, threatening himself. Not anyone else, himself. So they busted in the door and beat him to it.
Were non-lethal options available? Yes. Were there other people who could have been outside that bathroom door, that would have talked him out without the need for violence? Yes. Was this boy murdered by cops because it was easier then requesting a trusted friend or counselor to help? Yes.
It’s tragic. If they sent out a social worker or someone similar instead, he would likely still be alive. I can’t believe we send out cops to deal with mental health issues.
I read about a lot of this police savagery stuff with disgust. But your comment is the first to make me actually break out sobbing. Well written.
That poor, poor, kid.