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    The SovereignAngela Helm
    3/22/19 5:26pm

    If you’re serving a mental health check armed with guns, and you end up shooting the person you’re checking on, killing them is* a feature and not a bug.

    If multiple grown adults can’t confront someone with a likely small knife without shooting them to death they shouldn’t be police officers. Guns shouldn’t be allowed on mental health checks.

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      Kasstastr0phyThe Sovereign
      3/22/19 10:43pm

      Wait what? How do you know the size of the knife? Second, You just pointed out why you should be armed when serving a mental health warrant.... they had a knife! Not in any way saying this particular case warranted death, but are you seriously advocating being unarmed when approaching a mentally unstable or potentially violent individual? They stated the collected taser remnants so they tried less than lethal and I assume it didn’t work so they went to the next level..

      Remember we have little facts here, while there are plenty of bad acts being done buy police out there.. not all acts are bad.

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      The SovereignKasstastr0phy
      3/23/19 3:17am

      If you’re such a coward as to be afraid to confront someone without a gun don’t be a cop. If you can’t deescalate a situation without shooting someone don’t be a cop. If you fear for your life with multiple other officers backing you up against one guy with a knife, don’t be a cop.

      Lastly, if you cannot protect the public, don't be a cop. Full stop. A police officer knows how to disarm someone. They were just cowards.

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    CryptoAmygdalaAngela Helm
    3/22/19 5:43pm

    All of these living (or dying) while black stories today are wearing me out.

    Now, when white people have “mental health” problems, they usually get pills. Consider what that entails. They have to go to a doctor (after confirming the doctor is in-network) and get a prescription. Then they have to go to the drugstore, where the insurance co-pay is a crapshoot. They have to struggle with one of those damned child-proof caps just to get at these pills. They have to find something to wash it down their dry throat with. And they have to remember when to take the next one.

    On the other hand, a bullet is shaped a lot like a pill, but it doesn’t have all those hassles. It’s provided free of charge by the taxpayers, and it’s administered on-site using a rapid delivery system without any effort required on the part of the victim patient. And — when administered by a professional — it’s a single-dose cure.

    Honestly, sometimes I think These People would complain if they were lynched with a new rope.

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      FredCee71CryptoAmygdala
      3/23/19 12:59am

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      Mercenary ChefCryptoAmygdala
      3/24/19 1:13am

      Lake City Quiet Pills.

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    My KinjaAngela Helm
    3/22/19 7:02pm

    Considering most police have mental issues - they are the wrong people for the job of escorting someone to a mental health facility. And the laws governing those with mental health issues need an overhaul.

    § 5100.86. Involuntary emergency examination and treatment not to exceed 120 hours.

    (c) Any person authorized under section 302 of the act to take a person to a treatment facility for involuntary emergency examination and treatment shall explain to the person {How Sway!?} in need of such examination and treatment the nature and purpose of the action to be undertaken.

     (d) The escorting individual shall make every effort to use the least force necessary and shall act to the extent possible in a courteous manner toward such individual giving attention to the dignity of the person. Transportation to and from a facility remains the ultimate responsibility of the administrator.

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      PumpkinSpiesMy Kinja
      3/23/19 9:35am

      See also the "military to police pipeline."

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      FormedrasPumpkinSpies
      3/23/19 10:00pm

      Damn straight. At a courthouse in Pasadena, a long time ago, there were two former Marine Corps enlisted at the cage. (Yes, I was arrested.) They both knew me from the recruiting center on Colorado Blvd. (I enlisted over 15 years ago. I failed to complete basic training.)

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    decgeekAngela Helm
    3/24/19 11:11am

    No police agency should make a mental health check or serve a mental health warrant without a trained psychiatric professional on scene. Their primary responsibility once on scene should be to protect that professional or any other civilian from harm. These officers should also have received training on how to deal with the mentally ill and defer to the orders of the professional on scene unless there is imminent and compelling danger.

    State College PA is the home of Penn State. There must be mental health agencies connected with the university that the police department could have contracted with to make this service available to officers. The article also pointed out that this is the first line of duty fatal shooting in the department’s 100 year history. They should do everything in their power to make sure it’s their last.

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      JRWdecgeek
      3/24/19 4:15pm

      They used to have a counseling non-profit called the Second Mile. Why weren’t they called.

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    MwatuangiAngela Helm
    3/24/19 6:57pm

    Being neurodiverse is almost always an excuse for cops to extrajudicially murder folks in this country. Even being adjacent to people with it puts a person at risk. But yeah, these rasclots have murdered well-known Black community activists dealing with mental illness issues in their lives before, so this sadly doesn’t surprise me, especially in a country that already associates neurodiversity with violence and criminality. 

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      Fuzzy86Mwatuangi
      3/25/19 10:55am

      I’m going to answer it this way because I don’t want to ungrey someone who’s already done an All Lives comment in this thread.

      Illustration for article titled

      “Neurodiverse” is an umbrella term that is usually used by the autistic community to describe themselves. It is way of showing that they’re minds work differently than someone who is usually described as “neurotypical”. The term is mostly used when one wants to point out that people on the autism spectrum are not dangerous or anti-social but only function differently than the norm.

      In this case, the OP is using that umbrella to include those with mental illness as well as those who fall on the autism spectrum.

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      MwatuangiFuzzy86
      3/26/19 5:52am

      They’re really not worth your effort. But yes, I include those with mental illnesses and other neurological conditions, etc., in addition to those on the spectrum when constructing neurodiversity. It’s worth noting that those who are on the spectrum are also at-risk of being victims of police brutality and in several cases have been.

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    Old white guyAngela Helm
    3/23/19 11:04am

    Generally speaking, the police are taught one way to de escalate a situatiOn. Pull out your gun. People are afraid of guns, so they’ll be tame.

    Seriously, this explains everything. No time for talk. Just pull out your gun and show your more powerful. Who cares if the person ends up dying. He was probably guilty anyway, since the cop pulled a gun on him.

    See, simple!

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    JRWAngela Helm
    3/24/19 4:09pm

    The would-be attacker has a knife - let’s say it’s got a ten-inch blade, which would be rather long, but we’ll go with that. The cop has a weighted baton either 20 or 24 inches long. So why is a gun the go-to weapon here?

    I miss the grumpy, alienated Vietnam War veterans. The would have broken this guy’s arm and waled on him within an inch of his life, but they have been ashamed to rely on their gun.

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    Old white guyAngela Helm
    3/23/19 11:10am

    Once again, everyone can agree that the police are going to be spending over a year investigating this “incident”, looking into reams and reams of reports, information, footage, testimony, before reaching the conclusion that either nothing was done incorrectly or the officer didn’t act perfectly but they’ll address that with a two day suspension.

    Meanwhile, yet another member of the civilian population who the police have sworn to protect lies dead because the police spend no time at all before reacting with lethal force. 

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