Public Comment

In the news there was a recent story of two Dallas policemen encountering a mentally ill man, Jason Harrison, holding a screwdriver. The officers commanded Jason to drop the screwdriver, and within a few seconds of that, shot the mentally ill man five times. There are many more examples of police killing mentally ill people without provocation. There are also numerous examples of police brutality in which excessive force is used to apprehend a mentally ill person.  

I am not seeing news of African American people rallying to condemn the shooting, even though the victim in this case was African American. I am not seeing any persons with mental illness getting out and demonstrating. This is probably because we are too sedated by medication and controlled by the treatment system to organize and produce demonstrations.  

When a mentally ill person is beaten or killed, even when this gets a lot of publicity, people will go "Ah well, that is unfortunate…" But the outrage is missing.  

That was a human life cut short. After the police killed Jason, his mother wailed with grief. The parents are filing a wrongful death suit, but that will not bring back their son. I ask you, where is the public outrage? I personally am outraged. That man Jason could have been me.  

It seems that police behavior is especially bad and especially corrupt in the southern states. My personal dealings with police when I have been acutely mentally ill have usually been okay, although with some exceptions.  

(I don't live in the south, and I am also Caucasian (Jewish). Police probably don't or haven't felt very threatened by me, probably because I am not a very big man and have, for the past fifteen years, gained an increasingly gray head of hair. On the other hand, maybe I have been lucky.)  

In the video that showed Jason being killed, it was clear that his stance wasn't threatening. Police are claiming that Jason came at them with the screwdriver. A couple of supposed experts on CNN claimed that police were responding appropriately and that Jason could have killed police with his screwdriver, and that this screwdriver could have penetrated their bullet-proof vests. However, the stories of the two officers did not corroborate each other.  

Part of the lesson of this incident is that all police should always wear a body cam, and it should always be operational. This is one of the few items that could potentially make cops accountable. The other lesson of this incident is that society, police, and government institutions do not value the lives of mentally ill people.  

How many more people have to die before society realizes that mentally ill people are human beings, not monsters? When will we receive equal protection under the law? Those two officers need to be prosecuted for manslaughter and sued for every penny they have. The Dallas police force ought to be sued for every penny it has, and all of its officers should be made to enroll in a remedial mental health class. But unfortunately, these things will not happen.  

To all mentally ill people, be sure and take your medication, and by all means, never pick up a screwdriver.