Officials with the Sacramento Police Department released a new video several weeks after a man suffered a medical emergency and dἰed while being detained. On June 27, police responded to a 51st Avenue residence and located a suspect who appeared confused and disoriented.
The man maintained he was at his own home, but police say it’s not his property and he’s frightening the residents because it’s 4:00 a.m. Police attempt to determine why he is in this location and whether he was involved in a nearby automobile accἰdent.
The man ultimately informs police that he needs to take a seat and admits he was actually involved in the collision. The individual identifies himself as Joseph, and the police ask if he is injured and whether they should contact the fire department. Joseph says yes.
The police attempt to assist him, but he suffers a medical emergency and is later pronounced deceἀsed. During the encounter, the officers did not use force and did not handcuff the man. It is unclear whether this was the result of mental illness, substance misuse, a medical emergency, or a combination of the above.
Do you know that Long Island, New York, has made an arrest in the unsolved deἀths of at least ten women stretching back a decade? The perpetrator will be arraigned on Friday, according to officials, following his arrest in Manhattan on Thursday night (13 July):
However, questions persist regarding these types of deἀths in custody. The Mental Health Unit of the Sacramento Police Department trains officers for such situations. Officer Dan Bean of the unit explains that officers are trained more specifically to see objects in these situations.
Bean said –
“They’re able to identify mental health developmental disabilities. Things like that and realize that maybe there is something more going on here. Maybe it’s not that they don’t want to comply, but maybe they can’t mentally or physically comply in that moment.”
On Friday, community leaders inaugurated the inaugural Stephon Clark Mental Health Expo. Stevante Clark, a community activist said –
“I believe my mental health was affected after the deἀth of my brother and I believe if I’m not showing people the difference between pain and mental illness, if I’m not showing people that what I went through was because of untreated trauma.”
“It was passion but it had no direction”.
The Sacramento Police Department shot and murdered Stephon Clark in his grandmother’s backyard. The police had been pursuing Clark after receiving reports of car theft. Officers reportedly believed he was armed, but only a cellphone was discovered. In the future, the Clark family hopes this expo will aid those who are struggling or have unanswered concerns following a tragedy.