Journalist – Historian – Speaker
Here’s a disturbing and complex manifestation of the cult of compliance: Starting next week, San Francisco will be the fifth county in the state to implement Laura’s Law, the measure that allows judges to force severely mentally ill people to get treatment.The measure is targeted toward people who are resisting care and have a history …
Prisons are the asylums of our age. We just don’t call them that. Then, when people with mental disabilities end up incarcerated, they are horrifically vulnerable to abuse from both prison employees and other prisoners. Moreover, prison staff even when not intentionally abusive, are not well-trained in responding to the needs of people with disabilities, …
“The [naked] man who appeared mentally ill ran at the officer and ignored demands to stop before the officer shot him twice.” Hill and his parents. Used by permissionof the picture’s owner. Yesterday, in DeKalb, GA, a police officer responded to a call about a naked, unarmed, man at an apartment complex. He was clearly …
Yesterday CNN published my new essay on the shooting of a black, homeless, disabled man by the LAPD. I argue that the focus on whether of not “Africa,” as the man was known, was reaching for a gun, is the wrong question. Instead, use-of-force incidents should be assessed by taking a broad time frame, looking …
It started, as it so often does, with a family member calling 911 for help for a loved one in mental health crisis. Lavall Hall was outside, in Miami Gardens, when police arrived. He had a broomstick. Miami Gardens police officers Peter Ehrlich and Eddo Trimino fired their Tasers at Lavall Hall after he struck them …
Yesterday, CNN published a piece of mine on the death of Kristiana Coignard. Here’s how she died [warning – the video is very disturbing, so follow the link with caution]: In late January, Kristiana Coignard, a seventeen-year-old woman with bipolar disorder and depression, walked into the police department in Longwood, Texas, with “I have a …
The Portland OR police department has been sanctioned by the DoJ for its handling of cases involving people with psychiatric disabilities. There’s been too many deaths, too many tasings, too much violence, too much ignorance. Now, Portland has announced a new policy. The Portland Police Bureau has drafted a much-expanded policy that stresses the need …
In Texarkana on Monday, a woman called 911 (click for the call) at around 2 AM to report a person in her garage. The woman was frightened and said that she heard banging on the windows from the person in the garage. A police office came to investigate, and found an African-American man holding something in …
On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) took the case of Sheehan vs San Francisco. In 2008, Sheehan, who has schizophrenia, threatened her social worker with a knife, then threatened the two police officers who came after. They called for backup. Before backup arrived, the police broke into her apartment, pepper sprayed her, …
Donald Ray “Hambone” Wilson, an African-American man has schizophrenia. This fact was known to the police. He was shot in the chest. In this video, he is surrounded by police as he holds a steak knife. He is clearly in mental health crisis and as the police engage into close proximity, they become in danger …