Less than 10 seconds after officers opened the door, police shot Yong Yang in his parents’ Koreatown home while he was holding a knife during a bipolar episode.

Less than 10 seconds after officers opened the door, police shot Yong Yang in his parents’ Koreatown home while he was holding a knife during a bipolar episode.

Parents in Los Angeles’ Koreatown called for mental health help in the middle of their son’s bipolar episode this month. Clinical personnel showed up — and so did police shortly after.

Police fatally shot Yong Yang, 40, who had a knife in his hand, less than 10 seconds after officers opened the door to his parents’ apartment where he had locked himself in, newly released bodycam video shows.

Now the parents of Yang, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder around 15 years ago, have told NBC News exclusively that they are disputing part of the account captured on bodycam, in which police recount a clinician’s saying Yang was violent before the shooting on May 2.

  • refalo@programming.dev
    444·
    4 months ago

    Cops should neve, under any circumstances, be called in for a mental episode

    Yea I’m gonna have to disagree with you hard on this one. Just because you dislike police or have had bad experiences does not mean you should let someone having a crisis subject others around them to a very real possibility of imminent danger because “cops bad”.

    Do police need more training? Sure. Do they need major reform in many areas? Of course. But are they all bad? No.

    • jnk@sh.itjust.works
      241·
      4 months ago

      The mere presence of a cop, even without a visible weapon, will escalate any situation regarding mentally unstable people. Period.

      If you don’t understand why a person going through a crisis would freak out when a figure of (ultimately violent) power appears right after they picked a weapon you have a serious problem with basic empathy.

      For the record, I haven’t had any bad experiences with cops, in fact every interaction I’ve had so far has been either neutral or actually pretty nice. I’ve had my fair share of breakdowns as a teenager tho, and I can assure you that a cop would’ve never helped a single time. Even the nicest one.

      • deweydecibel@lemmy.worldEnglish
        92·
        4 months ago

        Look at the report for this case, for example:

        The officers met with DMH personnel outside the residence who indicated that the DMH were called to the scene due to Yang’s erratic and threatening behavior. The officers were also advised that Yang did not live at the location, and had attempted to assault one of the DMH employees when they attempted to speak with him. Based on their assessment, DMH determined Yang was a danger to others.

        In their efforts to assist DMH personnel, the officers requested additional units, a supervisor, and notified the Department’s Mental Evaluation Unit. Several attempts were made to communicate with Yang and encourage him to exit the residence; however, he refused. After formulating a plan and obtaining a key to the residence, the officers ascended a narrow staircase leading to the front door. The officers announced their presence and then utilized the key to open the front door. As they did so, Yang was observed standing in the living room several feet away, armed with a large kitchen knife. Moments later, Yang advanced toward the officers and an Officer Involved Shooting occurred.

        Here’s the singular question:

        What was the rush?

        They needed to take him in, but they are afraid of him acting erratic and wielding a knife.

        Why the fuck do they push to enter the building? There was no one in there. He could not hurt anyone while he remained hold up inside other than himself.

        Why couldn’t they just wait him out?

        By pushing to resolve the situation immediately and forcing their way in, they exasperated the situation.

        I think they should have been called, but they should be there as backup in case someone is getting attacked. But no one was in danger here. There was no reason to push this.

        • jorp@lemmy.world
          71·
          4 months ago

          You missed the options of using “less lethal” force as well, why go for live ammo immediately?

        • brygphilomena@lemmy.world
          2·
          4 months ago

          One of my biggest complaints with police and why things escalate unnecessarily is because they are fucking impatient. They give “orders” and if you don’t comply immediately you are met with force.

    • Gnome Kat@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      41·
      4 months ago

      As someone who has been on the receiving end of one of these sorts of calls, please for the love of everything holy, shut the god damn fuck up. Truly you have absolutely no idea what the fuck you are talking about. Calling the cops in a situation like that is so incredibly dangerous and stupid and harmful, you should feel ashamed for defending it. Please rethink your beliefs.

      Cops should never be called for mental health episodes

      Ever

      End of story

      You are wrong