RICHMOND, Va (WTVR)- Anybody who has a child with mental problems has to feel an emotional response to the video showing the beating death of a 36-year-old last year in California.
As Kelly Thomas was beaten and wrestled down by police, he called out for his father – again and again - with some of his very last words.
He was a schizophrenic living on the streets in Fullerton, California. Police there wanted to check him and his backpack after a report of someone breaking into cars nearby.
He was tazed numerous times, then beaten with the butt of the device, smashing bones in his face. He essentially strangled on his own blood and because his windpipe was partly blocked by the way he was pinned down, according to the medical examiner during a court hearing this week.
And now the officers will stand trial, a judge ruled Wednesday.
The video is disturbing. Many across the country who have seen the abbreviated version are enraged.
But the longer, 30 minute version tells a little different story. For 20 minutes the officer tries to get Kelly to cooperate. Yes, the officer tries to intimidate him. Then he tries to humor him. He tries to outwait him.
Once the officers see some evidence in the backpack indicating he may have been the suspect, Kelly fights the arrest for the better part of five minutes. Even while begging for mercy and apologizing, he’s still fighting the cuffs with a frenzied power.
Yes, the officers should stand trial. And so should we.
We decry the state of our health care system, while the mental health system is in shambles. The streets are our defacto mental hospitals. We’ve seen the seriously mentally ill strike again and again - some of our worst murders here in Virginia, and across the country.
But far more common are the day-to-day confrontations between police and those wandering the streets. The beatings and killings by police have happened across the nation. Many times, right here, police officers responding to those having mental breakdowns have killed them, in their own homes, on their own property.
Studies show older officers tend to handle these situations more peacefully than younger officers. All are specifically trained to de-escalate, be patient, evaluate, avoid confrontations when dealing with the mentally ill.
But when our streets are our mental hospitals, we’re asking police officers to be social workers and psychiatrists, with the patience of Job, while risking their lives stopping violent criminals, some of them mentally ill.
It’s too much. This will keep happening until we decide mental health care is as crucial as regular health care.
Don’t just blame the officers. It’s our fault too.
