Don’t Call the Cops. Especially If Your Loved Ones Are Old, Disabled or Have Special Needs

“Anyone who cares for someone with a developmental disability, as well as for disabled people themselves [lives] every day in fear that their behavior will be misconstrued as suspicious, intoxicated or hostile by law enforcement.” — Steve Silberman, The New York Times

They shot at him fourteen times.

Walter Wallace Jr. — a troubled 27-year-old black man with a criminal history and mental health issues — was no saint. Still, he didn’t deserve to die in a hail of bullets fired by two police officers who clearly had not been adequately trained in how to de-escalate encounters with special needs individuals.

Wallace wasn’t unarmed — he was reportedly holding a knife when police confronted him — yet neither cop attempted to use non-lethal weapons on Wallace, who appeared to be in the midst of a mental health crisis. In fact, neither cop even possessed a taser. Wallace, fired upon repeatedly by both officers, was hit in the shoulder and chest and pronounced dead at the hospital.

Wallace’s death is yet one more grim statistic to add to that growing list of Americans — unarmed, impaired or experiencing a mental health crisis — who have been killed by police trained to shoot first and ask questions later.