A harsh public response to a police killing
Vandals in Amsterdam attacked a police station to protest the police killing of a man with mental illness. But unlike some other cases in the U.S., in which people with mental illnesses are killed prematurely by police who are ill-trained for the interaction, in this case the homicide sounds, at the very least, understandable from the police officer's point of view.
Bilal B. appeared at a police station, jumped over a desk, and immediately began stabbing the on-duty female police officer. She ran away, and Bilal chased after her, stabbing her in the back. A male officer came over to try to help, and Bilal attacked him as well; he is still in the hospital. The female officer turned around and shot Bilal. He later died of his injuries.
From that rendering of events, which I cobbled together from several news reports, I can't really blame the female police officer for firing that shot. You can imagine the chaos and fear. But not everyone feels the way I do. Bilal's parents, in turn, blame the psych clinic that released Bilal before he was competent.
Comments
Sounds from the article like the guy was a political radical and that this was why he was killed. It's not clear that he was mentally ill.
Posted by: Sally | October 16, 2007 08:18 PM
Law enforcement officers have a right to use deadly force when their life or a civilians life is in danger especially if they are attacked with a weapon. Mental illness or not.
Posted by: Tony | October 17, 2007 12:57 PM
I see a growing trend of using police techniques to handled mental problems. Another example was the lady in the airport that was in mental distress, yet treated like a criminal. In my town, there have been several similar incidents. In each incident the police, in my opinion were ill trained to handle people with mental illness, especially during a psychotic break.
Why did the did the police have to shoot the person? Why was the person released from a mental institution prematurely?
Why was society put at risk, even though mental illness had been diagnosed?
Posted by: Jim Sibley | October 21, 2007 03:13 PM