'They took him from me': South Bend community mourns police killing of Dante Kittrell

SOUTH BEND ― Dante Kittrell's sister bent over to hug her mother as a witness told how Dante had seemed to know he was going to die three days prior, on the same field where his family gathered Monday night.

"I know you're here to shoot me. I know you're here to take my life," Dante told the dozen or so police officers who had formed a ring around him, according to the Rev. J.B. Williams, a bystander. Karana Kittrell-Smith tightened her grip on her mother, Marcia Kittrell, who sat and listened.

Then Brianna Johnson took the microphone to speak. She wasn't family to Dante, she explained. She was just walking down the street near Coquillard Elementary School and felt compelled to film the 51-year-old Black man she saw pacing in a field, in the throes of a breakdown and surrounded by armed officers. Because of Johnson's video, Dante's family doesn't have to guess what happened at the moment he died.

Johnson was saying how, as a mother, she saw what must have been Marcia's worst fear: "watching our child be shot down in front of us." She paused, voice trembling.

Dante's sister was up in an instant, walking quickly over to Johnson. Karana hugged her forcefully, saying "Thank you for what you did." The crowd stood quietly for the next minute as Johnson closed her eyes and wept. She leaned into the embrace of someone she hadn't known days before, someone with whom she was now bonded.

More: Mayor, city officials respond to the police killing of Dante Kittrell

They were two women in a crowd of more than 100 people who gathered Monday night outside the elementary school in northwest South Bend, where three days ago South Bend police officers shot and killed Dante Kittrell as he paced on a wide lawn. Kittrell was threatening suicide and apparently waving a handgun in the 40 minutes before his death that police spent negotiating with him.

Monday's vigil for Dante portrayed him as a Black man with serious, lifelong mental health issues who needed the help of medical professionals ― not a confrontation with armed officers. Activists saw his death as proof that police officers, no matter their certification, are ill-equipped to deal with mental health crises.

Several bystanders said they actively negotiated with officers as the minutes ticked by. They said the arrival of a South Bend Police Department SWAT Team truck was not a de-escalation tactic, but was bound to scare Kittrell into a reaction. Within seconds of the vehicle driving onto the field where he stood, Kittrell's pacing quickened and shots rang out from officers, ending his life.

"My main question here is why did we need a field full of cops," Johnson asked, "for a man who was only threatening himself?"

The police department's use of force policy says “officers shall attempt to de-escalate situations and use de-escalation tactics to reduce the need for force when safe and feasible under the totality of circumstances.” The policy lists a number of de-escalation tactics including clearly communicating, placing barriers between uncooperative suspects, giving verbal warnings before using force and giving suspects a reasonable amount of time to comply with commands.

Deadly force should be used only “as a last resort” and when it does not endanger innocent people.

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The officers' behavior is being investigated by the St. Joseph County and Mishawaka police departments. A spokeswoman for St. Joseph County prosecutor's office said the investigation is active and has not yet been sent for review.

South Bend Mayor James Mueller, who publicly addressed Kittrell's death for the first time Monday, said he'll wait for the investigation to finish before he comments on the officers' behavior.

"Our policy is that lethal force is a last resort," Mueller told The Tribune on Monday. "We're going to need all the facts. We’re going to need the investigation to see exactly what transpired and see if there’s anything going forward that we need to adjust.”

Activists said the mayor's response more than 72 hours after the killing comes woefully late. And his urging that the Black community be patient is particularly painful, they said. Reforms advocated for in the three years since Eric Logan was killed by police, such as a civilian review board and a behavioral crisis response center, have been slow to implementation.

"Black people in America have been patient in a country that has been mistreating us for hundreds of years," said the Rev. Claval Hunter. "So Mr. Mayor: Stop telling us to be patient."

Activists list demands of city

Kittrell's death has prompted activists to make several demands of city officials regarding law enforcement.

Led by Faith in Indiana and Black Lives Matter South Bend, they are calling for the public release of all body-cam footage and dispatch recordings related to the incident. Activists also seek police's commitment to using a clinician-led crisis response team to address mental health crises and the appointment of a special prosecutor from outside of St. Joseph County to investigate the SBPD officers' response.

And amid a shortage of about 30 officers, Black Lives Matter leader Jorden Giger said activists urge city leaders to change their approach and allocate at least 10% of the police department's budget to a separate mental health intervention unit.

"If we took just 10 of those positions ― because the money's going unspent, because they have trouble recruiting and retaining officers, and many are retiring ― that frees up about ... $1 million that we could streamline and use for this program," Giger said. He said factoring in benefits and salary, the department spends about $100,000 per officer.

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Mueller told The Tribune dispatch records and body-cam footage will be publicly accessible after the investigation, though it's unclear if SBPD will freely offer the records. The Tribune requested those records this week.

St. Joseph County Prosecutor Ken Cotter is on vacation this week, according to a department spokeswoman, and is unable to answer questions about whether he will request a special prosecutor be requested to oversee the case.

Faith in Indiana leaders say Oaklawn Psychiatric Center is actively piloting a crisis response team for people experiencing mental illness. The goal is for officers to interact with medical professionals, not police officers who may be certified in de-escalation but are not medically trained, said leader Rebekah Go.

It is unclear if South Bend police work with the crisis response team or had protocol in place to summon it Friday. Regardless, Mueller said he knows of no city where medical professionals would be sent to a potentially deadly scenario. Their use would be supplementary to non-violent interactions, he said.

A crisis center, however, is being supported by the city and St. Joseph County. In December, the county approved $2.7 million for a behavioral crisis center for people in need of mental health treatment to be taken to in lieu of jail.

The city will host a community discussion Aug. 23 on crisis procedures, Mueller said, adding that further details on location and time will be released in the coming days. Black Lives Matter will host a conversation about police funding reform on Aug. 10 at 6:30 p.m. at the Near Northwest Neighborhood Center on Portage Avenue, Giger said.

The reach of trauma

Lynn Coleman, a police officer of 23 years and an esteemed Black west side native, said after the vigil that Kittrell's death is traumatic first and foremost for his family but also for the officers who were involved.

"Those police officers didn't come to work that day saying, 'We're going to go kill somebody,'" Coleman said, adding that every day he put on the uniform, he was aware it could be his last. "They have to deal with this too. This is tragic for everybody.

"We have to stop reacting and begin to act. We have to begin to try to do some things before it happens."

As the pastor at the Kittrells' church said a prayer for his family, his sister stood behind their mother once more. She and a few other women crouched in front of the mother to hug her tightly or rub her shoulders as she tried to summon the will of God to help her recover.

"They took him from me," Marcia Kittrell began to repeat, her voice nearing a yell as her family soothed her and wept alongside her.

"I'll see him again," she said of the afterlife. "They took him from me, but they can't take him from me again."

Reporter Marek Mazurek contributed to this report.

Contact South Bend Tribune city reporter Jordan Smith at 574-235-6480 or JTsmith@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jordantsmith09

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Black leaders at vigil tell South Bend 'stop telling us to be patient'