Parents called for mental health help. Police arrived and fatally shot their son.
Parents called for mental health help. Police arrived and fatally shot their son.
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.
Got a problem?
Call the cops.
Now you've got two problems!
Just to be clear, the family didn’t call the police. The mobile response team did, which is typically done when there’s a weapon.
Ok, that's fine. We'd need more details about what actually transpired and what the support team told the cops.
But it sure seems like in a situation where the support team calls them, it should be with the understanding that they're there for backup, not to barge in and fire.
But looking at the report, that's what happened.
Also:
On May 2, 2024, at 10:58 a.m., Olympic Division uniformed officers responded to a radio call at an apartment in the 400 block of South Gramercy Place to assist the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (DMH) who were attempting to place an individual, later identified as 40-year-old Yong Yang into custody.
Why was the Department of Mental Health "attempting to place him into custody"? They were trying to detain him and take him from the premises, under the law...which sounds an awful lot like an arrest with a different set of paperwork.
So basically these were just cops without guns...who went ahead and called the cops with the guns anyway.
I said it another comment but where was the emergency here? Why did they need to get him into custody immediately? He could not hurt anyone but themselves locked in an apartment alone. He was showing aggression when people tried to enter, but could not hurt them if they stayed out.
Why did they enter and give him someone to hurt? Seeing as how all that was going to do was give them justification to hurt him.
I'm telling you, cops work. Anytime I had a problem and I called the cops, boom! Right away, I had a different problem.
(Warning, some graphic imagery)
I honestly don't know what the hell you're supposed to do in America if a loved one has a psychotic episode and threatens you, because calling the cops for help could be a death sentence for them, but not getting help could be a death sentence for you. Maybe make some sort of plan with neighbors in case something happens? But then you get the neighbors all worried that they're living next to someone who could get dangerously psychotic. I'm not talking about what should be done if things were more ideal, I'm talking about what people with such loved ones should do if it happens today, May 22, 2024. Because it sounds like someone has a good chance of dying no matter what.
You just have to fucking deal with it yourself basically, our social safety net is a bad joke. If you're a minority, neurodivergent, queer, or anything else they decide they don't like, you have a much higher likelihood of literally being murdered by the people who are supposed to help and protect society.
I have a family member who had a wellness check called in for her and the cops came in and immediately beat her ass. Don't let these fuckers into your house. Ever.
Never call a wellness check on someone if you aren't cool with them being killed.
Wellness checks are notorious for being lethal, it's absurd.
It sounds like what it is, Flying. Not a tasty pill to swallow but these are the dues of the division modern society has allowed.
No more Village raising the children. No more respected elders, trusted craft people, or neighborly bonds.
For the illusion of connection and its subsequent gamification and for the enrichment of those who say what we want to hear, these are the dues to be paid.
We live and die alone, bemoaning a loss of bonds that could be mended at any time; let he who is lonely lay their cynicism down first.
No, I don't believe it's that easy (and recognize the risks of being first) but it probably is that simple. No clue how the message is amplified back through time in a manner that gets enough likes though.
You've got to get really fucking friendly with the cops and you've just gotta hope. You want to take your child to the local precinct office and introduce them and their disability to officers in a calm setting and discuss how to deesclate situations... especially if you can talk clearly on certain trigger scenarios and double especially if your child can voice these things himself. Then you've got to hope they create a file on your child and hope they fucking remember this shit if your child goes off.
Written by the step parent to a child with bipolar disorder and autism - though we're in Canada things are extremely similar wrt policing culture up here.
You want to take your child to the local precinct office and introduce them and their disability to officers in a calm setting
This might work in a smaller town, but this family was in LA. I've never lived there, but I have lived in NYC and I doubt anyone in the precinct would care. They would just file some paperwork and move on to the next thing. There's probably less than a 50/50 shot that the paperwork would be communicated to any officer in a crisis. And back when I lived there in the stone age, that chance would have been zero.
Maybe if your precinct does community policing, it would be beneficial to introduce yourself to any officers you know are local, but that assignment can change on a whim.
they asked me and others to leave the house when i called (active suicidality and psychosis). i told them we would not, that i was sitting next to him on the floor and two minors were in their rooms nearby. i hoped they would be less likely to do something stupid when they knew there were three other people here and one actively witnessing and close to him.
i think it ensured they were more thoughtful entering my home, and he was calmer when they entered because i remained.
fortunately, i had calmed him enough and taken the weapon that this was even a possibility. i suspect it doesn't hurt that we're white.
Some places have mobile response teams for mental health issues. Florida has a few programs being piloted right now. They have direct numbers. So, the police are not necessarily involved in reported events.
I mean if you need help, you can always ask a neighbour for help. Would be useful if everyone had a mancatcher pole as well, as messed up as the implications of everyone in society having a mancatcher is.
We had this happen in my town a couple weeks ago. Cop got called for a mental health check because a 19year old with a knife was acting erratic. Cop pulls up and gets out the car, the kid runs at him yelling "shoot me! Shoot me! Shoot me!" so the cop pulled out his gun and shot him. Didn't go for the tazer or the his mace, just right to deadly force despite being called over specifically to prevent the kid from dying.
Cops should neve, under any circumstances, be called in for a mental episode. All they will do is escalate the situation and cause harm.
The family didn't call the cops in this case. They called a mental health crisis team, and that team called the cops due to the presence of a weapon.
depends where in the world you are.
in the USA, yeah, no argument from me.
At the same time you can call social services and you end up with them being dead instead because someone having a psychotic episode slashed/shot them...
Edit: Thanks for the downvotes, you can now take the time to go two replies down for a bunch of examples
There are some police departments with salaried social workers and "community specialist" officers that are employed explicitly to deal with issues like this. The problem is that a change to law enforcement in this direction must come directly from each individual community and must be supported by those in charge of the local department.
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.
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.
1 good cop isn't gonna stop the other 20 from shooting your family and pets.
Exactly how much training do you think someone needs to not unload a gun on someone within 10 seconds of seeing them? Somehow every other non-cop present managed to not use him for target practice.
The bastard in question is even a repeat offender:
Lopez had been involved in a 2021 nonfatal shooting of a man who had a replica firearm.
Cops are bastards because the non-bastards either get fired, harassed out, or murdered. Being nice to people while you turn a blind eye to the shit your coworkers do is still being a bastard.
As someone who struggles with mental illness, but has been lucky enough to not need intervention or hospitalization in my life so far, this seems like another good time to say ACAB.
It's never a bad time to say ACAB. Occasionally, one does something decent, but even a serial killer might occasionally hold the door open for somebody at the post office or whatever.
Every time I see a positive police story, I suspect copaganda. They are class traitors, restricting our liberties in order to protect capital, and it's by design.
I've dealt with cops during bad mental health episodes. Honestly I've been extremely lucky - assuming ALL cops were bastards I'd 100% be dead right now.
ACAB
Please do not spread misinformation.
Step 1) Find out the name of the cop who shot your son
Step 2) Call a mental health check on the cop
Bonus step) Call the cops over the previous cop's mental health
/s
Step 1) Find out the name of the cop who shot your son
Step 2) Become a cop
Step 3) ???
Step 4) Enjoy a paid vacation
I feel like I'm reading this same story once a month. There are so many people that need help and then the police show up and murder them. All the time.
That's not entirely true.
Sometimes they just shoot the family dog(s) for barking and go back to work like nothing happened.
There are countless stories of people cradling their dogs as they bleed out from bullet wounds weeping as the cops write up a ticket or something. Just constantly, all the time, and for some reason we don't DO anything about it. Like, as a group, we could end this nightmare tomorrow if we could all cooperate for one goddamn day without horrible shitty people trying to politicize and subvert every community action we try to do to make the world a little better.
So damn true on all points. And yeah we could do so much if we could organize but trying to get Americans off their ass just once to stand up for something is damn near impossible. I wish I was in France. Those mofo's start a riot the moment the government does anything even remotely stupid.
This is one of my biggest (hopefully irrational) fears. My dog is not violent but she is reactive, there's no way she wouldn't be shot dead if police ever had occasion to come into our house.
It sounds like the family did the right thing. They did NOT call the police, they contacted LA’s mental health team, who sent a mobile response unit.
The issue with mobile crisis teams (which most cities have by now) is that they won’t do anything if there’s a weapon besides call the police. That’s where things went south.
There needs to be more collaboration between mental health response teams and police to prevent this sort of thing. Also, wtf is the point of carrying a taser if you pull out your gun on a dude who is barely moving and holding a knife? Probably didn’t even need to be tased.
No repercussions, so they shoot to kill
Less chance of liability. A lawyer friend of my parents said to never use a taser or pepper spray for self defense at a home. Just use a gun and empty it into center mass, anything else increases a chance of a lawsuit. Trying to shoot to injur vastly increases your chance of losing a suit, because they can argue if you had the time to do that you didn't really think you were in danger.
Police have 1 job....
And it's to uphold order for the ruling class.
Police are class traitors. ACAB.
And they are trigger-happy like barbaric IDF personnel.
Police should NOT be involved in the mental health process.
Currently they are legally required.
They should, they just need to be competent.
I doubt medical personel would be too keen to go alone in situations like these.
I think the point is that we have appropriately trained crisis response professionals, and those people should not be law enforcement. Cops have their role, and it is enforcing the law. They are not not should they be tasked with becoming mental health professionals.
I don't want cops showing up when I really need an ambulance.
I thought this was a repost from a while ago, but USA gonna USA.
I do that all the time. I go "oh there's an update on this case, cool. Wait, these names aren't familiar. Am I remembering wrong?" one google later "no this is a second time, and I also found a third and fourth that didn't make their way to me."
Would be curious about stats on how many wellness calls end in the person being checked on dying.
Off the top of my head ~50 or less officers in the US die from violence every year if you exclude traffic fatalities. At least according to this (178 killed in 3 years) that means police are killing the people they're called to help at a higher rate. Would seem to point to a person calling the police for help is in more danger than the police are on any random call.
Can always trust the cops to show up and make everything infinitely worse.
Yup. The way I like to phrase it is "there's no problem that cops can't make worse."
Cops aren’t your friend. They aren’t there to help you or protect you. They are there to oppress you.
Very genuine question: why do cops never use taser guns for situations like this? Presumably they knew the weapon was a knife, so no risk of a shootout.
Honestly this is what infuriates me when 2nd amendment enthusiasts say "UK cops should carry guns" - fuck off mate, we de-escalate and use non-lethal way more effectively than your wanker cops who only have a hammer and everything is a nail.
Give your cops a toolkit instead of just a hammer and you'll see the difference.
very genuine small penis.
HEY! Civilian, stop talking about stuff you know nothing about!
In dangerous situations and non-whites (same thing , right) we need LETHAL FORCE to control the situation. If someone us murd...I mean, fatally shot, so be it.
Tasers are just for torture. It's fun but we can't be always playing! We're working here!
/s
Tasers kinda suck.
Dunno man. Gunshot wounds suck pretty bad too.
"police recount a clinician’s saying Yang was violent before the shooting on May 2"
Yeah, they knew that surely.
They knew they were going into an environment where someone with diminished mental capacity had access to bladed weapons.
They likely knew he was actively wielding bladed weapons.
They had access to less than lethal methods of self defence, tasers, body armour, mace, tranquilizers, superior numbers, training in hand to hand combat, fucking nets etc.
They chose to use firearms in lieu of these and shot a mentally ill person to death unnecessarily.
Guns should be a last resort, not a first resort
American cops are such fucking pussies
Acab tho but especially American ones
They likely knew he was actively wielding bladed weapons.
I watched the full video. They were repeatedly told he didn't have any weapons. The clinician just said the man was violent and kicked him.
I have no idea why they didn't use less than lethal first, they talk about it but I don't know which officer was tasked with it. It seems like they didn't expect him to be armed when they entered.
do not call the police. many countries outside the united states understand this already
Uhm, in Germany it's completely normal for police to assist in situations of mental health and instead of shooting them they talk to them, or, as a last resort, restrain people and bring them back to a care facility, unharmed.
Police receive proper 3 year training and most of them even have a required university degree.
The training is the difference.
this is the way. there is a place for policing in society, and it should be composed of highly trained, educated professionals held to a high standard.
While the cops in Germany are a lot better trained and won't kill you or harm you, many are still on power trips and try to screw you over. Some abuse their authority especially towards teens and they try to fine you if you're an adult. Society needs that job, but man I rarely hear about good encounters with police. I feel like older people had a better experience with cops and younger people in Germany like the police a lot less, but I could be wrong.
It's normal practice in the UK for police to aid the handling of mentally unstable people. The difference is that British police don't shoot people. Ever.
The US only has 911 for emergencies AFAIK, who else would you call? Of course, police is basically useless here as opposed to an ambulance, particularly in the US when they know little more than brute force, but IDK how much say you have in what service they dispatch.
We have separate numbers for each service other than the central Europe-wide 112, and they are free unless misuse happens. A boarding school roommate had a mental health breakdown so severe an ambulance was called, with actual trauma-trained doctors who provided basic psychiatric treatment (sedation pills and further care advice to dormkeepers). So an ambulance is helpful for mental health crises but I cannot imagine cops helping in any way in this case - they have restraint tools that might thwart violence or suicide attempts but this situation did not need them, and a doctor on the phone (which you get immediately) can help with everything else better than the police anyway.
Just fyi, 112 is normally a GSM standard emergency number and should work anywhere in the world on a GSM network. (In theory, so always worth a try in case of need)
A boarding school roommate had a mental health breakdown so severe an ambulance was called, with actual trauma-trained doctors who provided basic psychiatric treatment (sedation pills and further care advice to dormkeepers).
Holy shit. PTSD from suicide attempts is common, at least in the US they send in the fucking cops! You’re having the worst experience in your life, and the first thing you see is a condescending prick putting you in handcuffs. I’ve had teens I care deeply about subject themselves to this experience, and it makes things significantly worse. I feel like my life would have been improved by having that experience.
988 - the mental health hotline that is supposed to be the alternative to 911 - will call the cops too. There’s no winning.
Edit: I can suggest the Trans Lifeline, and suggest other people look to warm lines, to be a little less nihilistic. They will not involve emergency services without your consent. Unfortunately, hours/availability are limited for most.
Everyone say it with me, FUCK THE POLICE!
Anyone that had lose someone to yhe police knows how hard it is to get "justice." Especially if they are sheriffs.
We shot the sad person, mental health crisis averted!
*jumping highfive over the sounds of grief *
The only way to stop a suicide with a gun, is a homicide with a gun.
Shoot the hostage.
The less interactions with Police you have the better. Even if a family member is having a mental health episode, you're better off trying to figure out something yourself at this point. This same thing keeps happening where people call for help during a mental health crisis and Police kill them.
At this point we need to treat Police with rules similar to the handling of a firearm. Always assume they can go off, only ever point them at something you're willing to kill, and be aware of possible collateral damage.
There needs to be a way to call for help from unarmed specialists. 😖
There needs to be a restructuring of the entire law enforcement system so blood-thirsty cops aren't required to show up at all 911 calls with guns drawn.
There needs to be accounting and actual oversight from the community, their bosses who pay their checks to ensure they are held accountable and the actual number of times a cop murders a beloved family pet in front of the children, or murders the children, is actually tracked and recorded so we can see how bad the problem really is.
It's almost as if we should, collectively, as a society, stop over-funding violent, tight-knit groups who cover for each other and ostensibly "uphold the public trust."
I will say, I work ambulance for a very right wing rural community. I have done this for a number of years now.
While I do have issues at times with our local LEO, they do a good job with not shooting my patients, or their dogs.
They have done a good job in my community with securing the scene without escalating and then standing back and let us deal with medical/mental health crisis.
These stories do happen to often, and there are policy changes that need to happen, but there are a significant number of communities that have law enforcement who are acting appropriately and therefore get no news coverage.
in the civilized world, there is. You call the police for an event like this, and they send their psych staff over with support. The issue where I am is that they work normal hours, so late night/weekends you'll get the support team only (who are still not regular, untrained cops).
There sort of is now but most people don't know about it yet. Instead of 911, dial 988. I don't think 988 sends people to you, but they are trained mental health specialists who can talk instead of shout and threaten violence.
Read more here: https://988lifeline.org/
Not likely helpful in a situation like this, but a truly helpful resource in other ways. Thanks!
TIL
This keeps happening and it is infuriating. It's also scary for people with SMI/SEMI (severe and enduring mental illnesses) such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, as if the fear of the illness itself wasn't enough.
Tale as old as time.
Note to everyone here: 988 is a new emergency number for mental health crises. https://988lifeline.org/
They too will call authorities when a dangerous weapon is in play.
what the fuck
Oh look, another crime against a minority in America! I am SHOCKED.
