this post was submitted on 22 May 2024
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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.

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[–] FartsWithAnAccent@lemmy.world 251 points 4 months ago (11 children)

Got a problem?

Call the cops.

Now you've got two problems!

[–] jeffw@lemmy.world 45 points 4 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] deweydecibel@lemmy.world 23 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

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.

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[–] PriorityMotif@lemmy.world 31 points 4 months ago

Something something, I'd rather be alone with a bear.

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[–] BakerBagel@midwest.social 91 points 4 months ago (31 children)

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.

[–] dan@upvote.au 22 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

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.

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[–] kumatomic@lemmy.dbzer0.com 85 points 4 months ago (11 children)

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.

[–] MrVilliam@lemmy.world 33 points 4 months ago

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.

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[–] alienanimals@lemmy.world 68 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

Step 1) Find out the name of the cop who shot your son

Step 2) Call a mental health check on the cop

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[–] Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 61 points 4 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] ameancow@lemmy.world 35 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

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.

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[–] jeffw@lemmy.world 56 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (3 children)

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.

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[–] MetalMartin@lemmy.myserv.one 45 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Don't call police unless you want someone to die.

[–] tiefling@lemmy.blahaj.zone 22 points 3 months ago (4 children)

Google called police on their own employees. I keep saying this.

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[–] ASeriesOfPoorChoices@lemmy.world 14 points 3 months ago

this is why SWATing is so freaking scary.

[–] Phegan@lemmy.world 42 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Police have 1 job....

And it's to uphold order for the ruling class.

Police are class traitors. ACAB.

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[–] AFC1886VCC@reddthat.com 40 points 3 months ago (4 children)

Can't have mental health issues if you've been shot dead. It's the police way

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[–] Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 36 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Police should NOT be involved in the mental health process.

Currently they are legally required.

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[–] efstajas@lemmy.world 35 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Can always trust the cops to show up and make everything infinitely worse.

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[–] warm@kbin.earth 35 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

I thought this was a repost from a while ago, but USA gonna USA.

[–] Khanzarate@lemmy.world 25 points 4 months ago

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."

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[–] Coreidan@lemmy.world 33 points 4 months ago

Cops aren’t your friend. They aren’t there to help you or protect you. They are there to oppress you.

[–] Theharpyeagle@lemmy.world 29 points 3 months ago (8 children)

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.

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[–] PrettyFlyForAFatGuy 27 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

"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

[–] Dasus@lemmy.world 15 points 3 months ago

American cops are such fucking pussies

Acab tho but especially American ones

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[–] NarrativeBear@lemmy.world 26 points 4 months ago (1 children)

If a blind man were to ask a police officer for help crossing the road, the cop would probably shoot all the drivers.

[–] Decq@lemmy.world 60 points 4 months ago (3 children)

Who are you kidding? They would shoot the blind man because he would be approaching with a stick like weapon

[–] treefrog@lemm.ee 16 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Depends on how well the blind man is dressed and what color his skin is.

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[–] nutsack@lemmy.world 25 points 4 months ago (10 children)

do not call the police. many countries outside the united states understand this already

[–] Dragster39@feddit.de 31 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (7 children)

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.

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[–] Aux@lemmy.world 28 points 4 months ago

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.

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[–] Bluefalcon@discuss.tchncs.de 22 points 4 months ago

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.

[–] HotsauceHurricane@lemmy.one 21 points 4 months ago (2 children)

We shot the sad person, mental health crisis averted!

*jumping highfive over the sounds of grief *

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[–] Suavevillain@lemmy.world 20 points 3 months ago

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.

[–] Red_October@lemmy.world 19 points 3 months ago

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.

[–] GlassHalfHopeful@lemmy.ca 19 points 4 months ago (13 children)

There needs to be a way to call for help from unarmed specialists. 😖

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[–] SaddieTheMad@lemmy.world 17 points 4 months ago

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.

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