Do you know someone with anxiety, depression, or autism? Not knowing someone with a mental illness is becoming more and more rare. As this number has grown, so has the concern for how these patients are treated by law enforcement. Mental health issues touch us all, but they do not have to be a tragedy. In order to prevent on-going tragedies with mentally ill patients in the criminal justice system, we all need to increase the attention and concern surrounding these continuing devastations.

Each night you get to come home to your family or friends, relaxing while you get ready for the next day. This wasn’t the case for Linden Cameron and his parents, as one day their lives changed forever. In September of 2020, just one year ago, Linden Cameron was shot 11 times by police. What the police failed to take into account on that heartbreaking day, was that Cameron was a 13-year-old with autism. During a mental breakdown, or what the PMHC program would label as a mental crisis, Cameron ran from his home. His frantic mother, not able to keep up with him being violent, called 9-1-1 asking for a crisis response team, not police. What happened next would change their lives forever, the responding officers began a chase with Cameron until he tripped over a fence and the nearest officer proceeded to fire 11 shots at Cameron. Cameron’s response was heart-wrenching as he lay there dying. They heard, “I don’t feel good. Tell my mom I love her.” Linden Cameron, a now 14-year-old who has undergone multiple surgeries and therapies, is still asking his mom to this day why they shot him. 

This is not the only case that we have seen of this happening. It is even happening closer to you than you may think. Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old with autism, never made it home during his walk there on that night in 2019. Many people know the story of McClain, but I am going to recount it so that you see the severity of what is happening in law enforcement. McClain was walking home one night when someone called the police reporting him as a “suspicious person.” Three officers then proceeded to approach him to question him. Not being able to hear them due to headphones, McClain ignored their advances. They then proceeded to put him in a chokehold and call for firefighters to administer ketamine in order to “calm him down.” In the bodycam footage, McClain is heard saying, “Please respect my boundaries.” After administering the ketamine, they realized he had passed. It wasn’t until 2021 that McClain’s family finally found justice. In February an investigative report came out where it was said that the police had no right to stop and frisk McClain while making note that the medical responders were wrong for even giving him a sedative. 

These are just a mere two gut-wrenching cases of people with autism being harmed or even killed by police. There are so many other individuals with mental illnesses that have a history of being harmed by law enforcement. This is a prime example of why the PMHC programs are so important to helping law enforcement identify what is a mental health crisis and how to properly handle it. Click on the links below to learn more about how people with mental illness are at risk of being harmed by police.

References

Burke, M. (2021, May 16). Policing mental health: Recent deaths highlight concerns over officer response. NBCNews.com. Retrieved October 4, 2021, from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/policing-mental-health-recent-deaths-highlight-concerns-over-officer-response-n1266935.

Carroll, H. People With Untreated Mental Illness 16 Times More Likely to Be Killed By Law Enforcement. Treatment Advocacy Center. Retrieved September 28, 2021, from 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-.

#lawenforcement #autism #crisisintervention #mentalhealthawareness