Another Mental Health Call Ends in a Fatality, But Also Manslaughter Charges
Two Indianapolis Metro police officers are facing criminal charges in the death of a Black man after responding to a mental health call by his parents last year, according to The New York Times. The autopsy ruled his death a homicide caused by law enforcement restraint.
Nearly, a year ago, on April 25, the parents of Herman Whitfield III called the police to report a mental health crisis. According to the body camera footage of the incident, five officers and one trainee responded to the home. Things started off calmly as the officers tried to talk to Whitfield, who was naked, and asked him to put on clothes because an ambulance was coming. He did not respond to his mother nor the officers for about 22 minutes and suddenly became frantic, looking for water. He ran around the dining room table and one officer deployed his Taser.
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The officers then handcuffed him while he was face down on the ground and tried to restrain him. “I’m dying, I’m dying…Can’t breathe” he cried out as he tried to free himself from their grip. Moments later, he went silent and when the paramedics arrived, they began CPR. He died at the hospital hours later.
Two of the responding officers are facing serious criminal charges in connection to this mental crisis intervention gone wrong.
Read more from USA TODAY:
The indictment of officers Steven Sanchez and Adam Ahmad follows a federal civil lawsuit filed in June by Herman Whitfield III’s family against the city of Indianapolis and six police officers over the 39-year-old pianist’s death.
Sanchez was indicted on two counts of involuntary manslaughter, while Ahmad was indicted on one count, Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears said in a news release. Both were also indicted on charges of reckless homicide, battery resulting in serious bodily injury, battery resulting in moderate injury and misdemeanor battery.
It hasn’t even been a full month without another man in need of mental assistance dying in police custody. In March, Virginia officers responded to the home of Irvo Otieno to arrest him for an alleged robbery but his mother called them for help because he was in need of mental treatment. He died after being beaten and pressed into the ground by the weight of seven deputies. The officers involved are also facing criminal charges.
America has a trend of police interactions with mentally ill individuals turning deadly. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, one in five US adults has mental illness and people who are untreated are 16 times more likely to be killed in a police encounter. Still, while states are pushing to pour funding into police departments, there is no training on how to approach mentally ill people.
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