http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/10/little-rock-arkansas-police-shooting-landris-hawkins
Grandmother says police made no attempt to disarm Landris Hawkins, who was mentally ill, before they shot him dead
Life had not been easy for Landris Hawkins, who struggled with several health problems, mental and physical. But his close-knit family in Little Rock, Arkansas, were loving, and looked after him as best they could.His sisters, Deshuna and Levonne, called him their "gentle giant", a reference to a 6ft 7in stature caused by Marfan syndrome, a genetic growth disorder. His grandmother, Neomia, with whom he had lived since he was six, called him "Twiki", after the robot in the Buck Rogers television series they watched together when he was small.On the afternoon of 3 November 2009, things got too much for the 28-year-old. His grandmother found him with a kitchen knife, threatening to kill himself. The sound of her voice, which was usually enough to calm him, had little effect. She called 911, hoping someone would come and get through to him or take him to hospital, where he could get help. He was too big for her to physically remove the knife, she told them, although she had tried, sustaining a cut to the hand in the process. She was still on the phone to the 911 dispatcher when police arrived.Less than two minutes later, according to a police recording of the scene obtained by the Guardian, Hawkins lay dead, shot four times by officers from the Little Rock police department (LRPD).
is this a matter of substandard training, race, fear, intolerance or what?
"I called because I thought someone would come and help me get him to the hospital," said Hawkins, 63, in the home she shares with Deshuna, Levonne and her mother, Willie, 80, Landris Hawkins' great-grandmother, surrounded by pictures of her three grandchildren. "I would never have called them if I knew …" Her words trail off.The family, including Hawkins' mother, Nikita, remain shattered by the tragic turn of events that day. They say that despite Hawkins' intention to harm himself, the police were not justified in shooting him dead. Neomia Hawkins said:
They could have done something different. They could have tried to calm him. All they did was holler a couple of times and it was all over. I never heard them say once they had a gun. All I heard them say was 'Put the knife down'. It was all over so quick. It probably didn't take 10 minutes.
In fact, according to analysis of a video recording from the police car seen by the Guardian, only 98 seconds elapsed between the first officer arriving at the Hawkins' home and the firing of the fatal shots.Two of the most highly charges aspects of police work, particularly in a town like Little Rock, one of the most violent in the nation, are deciding when to use deadly force and dealing with the mentally ill. Which is why the LRPD, in common with police departments across the country, has clear rules governing those situations. According to a lawsuit brought by the Hawkins family against the LRPD, officers failed to follow these rules during the brief and fatal contact they had with Landris Hawkins. It is one of three lawsuits filed against the LRPD by families whose loved ones have been shot dead by police, with what they claim is excessive use of deadly force.The Hawkins family allege that Jason Roberts and James Christ, the first two police officers at their home that day, violated two LRPD general orders. The first, GO 303, on the deadly use of force, forbids officers from firing inside a building "unless the officer or someone else is drawing deadly fire and the suspect can be identified and is clearly visible".
it will be interesting to see how this is handled, and will this be th MO when confronyted with the mentally ill we have been hearing about in relation to mass murders, just blow the hell out of them no questions ask or answered.
if so we really need to have comprehensive training by qualified persons not a bunch of cops or polituicians sitting around devoid of those who have actual real input, you know like Issa and his all male women contraception talks.
Ark democrat gov. Bebee has a plan i guess getting the law to enforce the l;aw on itself is the issue.
