Brooklyn Man Shot by the Police Was Mentally Ill, Family Says

A younger man shot and killed by New York Metropolis cops in Brooklyn on Monday was mentally in poor health and had beforehand encountered cops throughout a suicide try, in response to his household and the police.

Eudes Pierre, 26, from Crown Heights, was shot 10 instances and killed when he lunged at officers with a kitchen knife early on Monday morning, close to the Utica Avenue subway station on Jap Parkway, the police stated.

“My son was a superb child,” Marguerite Jolivert, Mr. Pierre’s mom, stated at a information convention on Wednesday. “He was sick. He had psychological illness. He didn’t should be killed like an animal.”

Mr. Pierre is the most recent individual to be killed by the police whereas within the throes of a psychological well being episode — deaths that activists and legislation enforcement specialists alike say underscore the necessity for different responses to psychological well being crises, which cops are sometimes unequipped to deal with.

“We acknowledge that police should not the perfect ones to reply to this example. And but we maintain asking them to reply to it,” stated Jeffrey Coots, a professor at John Jay School of Prison Justice and the director of From Punishment to Public Well being, a program that helps implement different responses to psychological well being calls.

Mr. Pierre had encountered cops throughout a suicide try years in the past and had later been handled for bipolar dysfunction, stated the Rev. Kevin McCall, a civil-rights chief in Brooklyn and a spokesman for Mr. Pierre’s household.

On the time of the sooner incident, psychological well being professionals responded alongside cops, Mr. McCall stated.

“The N.Y.P.D. shouldn’t be killing the mentally in poor health,” he stated. “Simply because an individual is having a psychological episode, loss of life shouldn’t be that last episode.”

A police official confirmed officers had beforehand encountered Mr. Pierre on two events. In June 2019, officers responded as Mr. Pierre was trying to leap out of a window at 1090 Jap Parkway. Later, in October 2020, officers discovered him after he had repeatedly stabbed himself within the abdomen. In each circumstances, Mr. Pierre was restrained and transported to a close-by hospital, the official stated.

Within the incident this week, cops stated, they acquired a name on Monday warning of a person armed with a gun and knife. They arrived to seek out Mr. Pierre, one hand shoved in his jacket and one other holding a small kitchen knife. They didn’t discover a gun.

When officers tried to confront Mr. Pierre, he fled into the subway station, the police stated. Two officers later deployed their stun weapons, which the police stated they believed didn’t work due to Mr. Pierre’s heavy winter coat. Mr. Pierre then lunged at officers with the knife, the police stated, and was shot 10 instances. He was pronounced lifeless at Kings County Hospital.

“The purpose at which he’s there, strolling backwards and forwards in a busy transit station with a knife, we’ve already misplaced,” stated Mr. Coots. “We’ve already missed so many alternatives to have a correct intervention.”

It didn’t seem that any psychological well being professionals have been on the scene when Mr. Pierre died. A Police Division spokeswoman wouldn’t remark.

Mr. Pierre was a couple of credit away from graduating from the School of Staten Island, Ms. Jolivert stated.

Mr. McCall known as Wednesday for body-camera footage of the taking pictures to be launched. A Police Division spokeswoman pointed to the department’s patrol guide, which requires body-camera footage to endure a departmental evaluate earlier than it’s launched to the general public.

The workplace of the New York State lawyer basic, Letitia James, introduced that it was opening an investigation into the taking pictures, as required by legislation.

Pilot packages that dispatch psychological well being professionals as a substitute of cops in response to 911 calls about individuals experiencing psychological well being episodes function in restricted pockets of town. However they’ve struggled to catch on extra broadly, regardless of repeated episodes the place mentally disturbed New Yorkers die by the hands of the police.

Mr. Pierre died simply blocks from the place one other man, Saheed Vassell, 34, was shot and killed by police officers in 2018. Mr. Vassell, who had encountered officers earlier than, was recognized to have psychological well being points and like Mr. Pierre was Black. He was shot whereas pointing a metallic pipe at cops and passers-by; officers stated on the time that they believed he had a gun.

Deborah Danner, 66, was shot and killed in 2016 within the Bronx by the police whereas within the throes of a psychological well being episode.

This summer, New York City began a mental health initiative referred to as B-HEARD in pockets of Harlem, which dispatches psychological well being professionals to psychological well being calls as a substitute of cops. Its preliminary outcomes have been promising, however wider implementation has been a problem. Based on information launched by town over the summer season, in this system’s first six months, the vast majority of mental health calls were still routed to the police. And this system has not expanded past northern Manhattan.

Social service employees elsewhere within the metropolis have taken it upon themselves to attempt to mitigate interactions between these within the throes of a psychological well being episode and cops.

“Whenever you name 911, the cops come and encompass you,” stated Imani Henry, a social service skilled who works with Equality for Flatbush, a group group in Brooklyn. “We don’t want the cops. They’re not skilled. Now we have so many different assets in our neighborhood.”

As an alternative, Mr. Henry stated, they encourage residents to contact them or one other psychological well being care skilled first in the event that they see somebody coping with a psychological well being disaster, as a substitute of calling 911.

Such networks exist throughout town, however they’re patchwork options, activists and specialists say.

“The implementation is at all times a wrestle,” Mr. Coots stated. “We’re a long time behind.”

Jack Begg contributed analysis.